Tyralynn Frazier

BACKGROUND Digital mental health interventions are increasingly used to address stress, burnout, and well-being among working adults because they offer scalable and accessible approaches to psychological support. Although digitally delivered compassion training programs show promise, implementation outcomes such as feasibility, acceptability, and participant-perceived fit remain underexamined. In particular, little is known about the extent to which digital compassion interventions help participants achieve the outcomes they most hope to gain through participation. OBJECTIVE This study evaluated the feasibility, acceptability, and expectation-outcome alignment of Compassion U, a blended care adaptation of Cognitively Based Compassion Training (CBCT®) program tailored for healthcare, education, and business professionals. Exploratory analyses examined potential signals of change in compassion-related and well-being outcomes. METHODS A pilot randomized waitlist-controlled trial was conducted with 137 participants from healthcare (n=46), business (n=54), and education (n=37) professions. Participants were randomized to either Compassion U or a waitlist control condition. The intervention combined asynchronous mobile-accessible CBCT modules with weekly live instructor-facilitated sessions over 10 weeks. Primary implementation outcomes included feasibility, acceptability assessed using the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability (TFA), and expectation-outcome alignment. Expectation fulfillment was quantified using a novel Expectation Fulfillment Index (EFI), representing the proportion of participants’ desired baseline outcomes subsequently perceived as having benefited from the intervention. Exploratory outcome analyses examined compassion, well-being, loneliness, stress, emotion regulation, and workplace-related outcomes. RESULTS Feasibility was supported by successful recruitment across all three professional sectors and retention rates comparable to those reported in digital mental health intervention studies. Participants demonstrated high baseline readiness to engage with the intervention, with no significant readiness differences observed across sectors. Acceptability was high at postintervention (overall acceptability score: mean 4.33/5) and remained favorable at follow-up. Participants reported broadly positive perceived benefits across domains. The mean EFI was 0.58 (SD 0.41); however, expectation fulfillment was highly heterogeneous, with 30.6% of participants reporting high benefits to desired outcomes and 27.8% reporting no benefits. Personal growth, self-compassion, and mental health were among the most frequently endorsed desired outcomes, whereas professional development demonstrated the largest expectation-benefit gap. Expectation fulfillment was most strongly associated with participant motivation and commitment to continued practice, suggesting that participant-defined goal attainment may represent an important but often overlooked dimension of success in digital mental health interventions. Consistent with the pilot nature of the study, exploratory effectiveness analyses identified 2 notable outcome signals favoring the intervention: increased beliefs in the malleability of compassion (Hedges g=0.70, 95% CI 0.26-1.13) and reduced loneliness (Hedges g=−0.55, 95% CI −0.97 to −0.11). Most other outcomes demonstrated small or negligible effects, and observed effects generally attenuated by follow-up. CONCLUSIONS Compassion U demonstrated strong feasibility and acceptability across healthcare, education, and business professionals and was perceived as beneficial in several domains prioritized by participants. Findings suggest that expectation-outcome alignment and expectation fulfillment provide useful participant-centered indicators of intervention fit and participant-defined goal attainment that complement traditional implementation and effectiveness outcomes. The association between expectation fulfillment and participant motivation further suggests that intervention success may be shaped not only by program use, but also by the extent to which participants remain invested in personally meaningful goals. Future fully powered trials should further evaluate expectation fulfillment as a participant-centered lens for understanding how individuals experience and evaluate digital mental health interventions.

This sequential mixed-methods study describes the development and pilot validation of the Youth Compassion Measure (YCM), a scenario-based assessment designed to capture compassion as a context-sensitive, developmental process in adolescence. Grounded in a five-stage model (awareness, appraisal, affect and regulation, motivation, and action), the YCM was developed using youth-informed methods. Phase 1 focus groups identified common school-based forms of distress and key contextual factors shaping compassionate responding. Phase 2 cognitive interviews refined scenarios, prompts, and coding procedures to capture adolescents’ conditional reasoning and decision processes. This article focuses on Phase 3, which evaluated construct-to-design alignment, internal coherence, and preliminary relations to theoretically relevant constructs in a sample of 200 middle school students. Open-ended and Likert-type responses were used to derive indicators across compassion components. Correlations with validated measures were modest but theoretically consistent, with stronger associations observed for intrinsic prosocial motivation and goal-directed distress tolerance. Contextual analyses indicated that relational closeness and social-evaluative conditions significantly shaped compassionate intentions and action planning. Interrater reliability for coding was high (κ = .92). Findings provide initial validity evidence for a developmentally grounded, contextually sensitive measure and highlight the importance of regulatory and motivational processes in adolescent compassionate action. Rather than representing a final measure, this study served as an important first step in the iterative development and validation of the YCM. While correlations were modest, the findings generated critical insights into the processes underlying compassionate action and highlighted opportunities to strengthen the measure, guiding the next phase of refinement and validation.

Our humanity affords us abilities that can be harnessed to harm or to heal. One could argue that the survival of our humanity is strengthened when we harness healing. Compassion is a capacity we as humans can draw on for just this purpose. It is increasingly recognized as essential for individual and societal well-being. Yet most existing models and measures are derived from adult populations and overlook how compassion emerges, changes, and can be cultivated across childhood and adolescence. This paper aims to advance the developmental science of compassion by presenting two complementary models that together offer a comprehensive account of the contextual foundations and developmental processes of compassion development from early childhood through late adolescence (ages 3-18). The first model synthesizes four intersecting systems to provide a topographical understanding of the contextual architecture shaping how compassion is rooted in and progresses through early development. These include motivational, emotional, relational, and cultural contexts that interact with human development in ways that directly shape how we can know compassion through observable behaviors, relationship interactions, ways of communicating, and ways of thinking. The second model translates these contextual influences into a dynamic developmental sequence involving five interrelated psychological processes: awareness of suffering, appraisal of its meaning, motivation to respond, compassionate action, and the impact and meaning-making that follow. Although these processes unfold in a general progression, they interact recursively; for example, early helping behaviors can shape later emotional regulation, relational attunement, and ethical reasoning. To support empirical research and applied work, the paper aims to propose a Framework for Measurement that enables the operationalizing of these processes across four observable domains, behavioral, relational, communicative, and cognitive, providing developmentally sensitive lenses for assessing compassion across the 3–18 age span. Together, these models offer a cohesive developmental architecture for understanding how compassion is cultivated within real-world contexts and across diverse cultural settings. The paper concludes by outlining implications for research, educational practice, and public health, arguing that a developmental approach to compassion measurement and training provides critical tools for strengthening prosocial motivation, relational health, and societal resilience.

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the feasibility and preliminary outcomes of the SEE Learning® (Social, Emotional, and Ethical Learning) program among elementary school-aged children. Methodology: A quasi-experimental design was employed, with 685 4^th- and 5^th-grade students across 33 classrooms (344 students received the 12-week SEE Learning program; 341 students were wait-list controls). Assessments of compassion for self and others, social and emotional competencies, and the degree to which students perceived their classrooms as supportive were collected before and after program implementation. Measures of dosage, fidelity, and acceptability were assessed via teachers’ weekly lesson diaries. Results: Teachers reported the program was feasible to implement. They demonstrated high lesson completion and fidelity rates with minimal preparation time and strong adherence to the lesson structure. Most program activities fit within a 50-minute timeframe or less, reflecting the program’s suitability for elementary school settings. Student reports showed preliminary impacts of the program. Those who received SEE Learning reported significant improvements in self-compassion, perspective-taking, empathic concern (e.g., compassion for others), intrinsic prosocial motivation, and academic goal setting compared to students in the wait-list control group. Significance: This study is among the first to demonstrate the feasibility and preliminary student impacts of the compassion-focused SEE Learning program in an elementary school setting. Future investigations might explore the implementation and effects of the SEE Learning program using randomized-controlled experimental designs and longer-term follow-ups. In addition, studies evaluating program implementation and impacts in diverse cultural-contextual settings, and among students of different ages, are needed. In sum, the SEE Learning program shows evidence of promise for impacting elementary school students’ prosocial skills and competencies.

Objectives: This paper describes the emergence of the scientific study of mindfulness in schools; summarizes findings of experimental research on the impacts of school-based mindfulness programs (SBMPs) on student outcomes in prekindergarten, primary, and secondary school settings (ages 4–18 years); discusses scientific limitations and wider critiques of this work; and offers suggestions for future research. Methods: Public data are used to describe the emergence of science on SBMPs, the foci of this research, and the academic disciplines contributing to it. A narrative summary of scientific findings regarding the impacts of SBMPs on students, and critiques of this work, is also presented. Results: Research is increasing and is primarily psychological and prevention-oriented. Evidence shows SBMPs can enhance students’ self-regulation abilities, but SBMPs’ impacts on other student outcomes at different ages are equivocal. The current research has significant limitations, and these, alongside wider critiques of the work, suggest important directions for research. Conclusions: In the next generation of science, we suggest (a) improving the experimental research; (b) expanding developmental research; and (c) re-envisioning assumptions, theories, and methods in research to go “beyond all splits” towards a non-dualistic and relationally, culturally, contextually, ethically, and developmentally grounded science on mindfulness and compassion for students in schools.

Accumulating evidence of the impact of social and emotional learning (SEL) on student well-being as well as academic performance has led to an increased interest in understanding and measuring SEL in students. However, most existing measures have been developed in English and there is a paucity of culturally relevant measures in other languages. In this study, we present a short, culturally sensitive 8-item scale in Hindi entitled the Social and Emotional Learning and Orientation Scale (SELOS). Factor structure of SELOS was established through exploratory ( N=2844; M_age=14.65 years) and confirmatory factor analysis ( N=1508; M_age=14.50 years) with responses from 4352 Hindi-speaking students in India. The scale demonstrated a two-factor structure, with good reliability, discriminant validity and partial measurement invariance across gender. These results provide encouraging evidence for conducting culturally sensitive studies of SEL in India and in other Hindi-speaking parts of the world.

Statement of purpose The purpose of this work is to determine the circumstances in which low income African American women are most likely to report sensitive or risky behaviours associated with intimate partner violence. Methods Consenting African American women receiving Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) services in WIC clinics were randomised to complete an IPV screening (Revised Conflict Tactics Scales, Short-Form) via computer-assisted self-interview (CASI) or face-to-face interview (FTFI). Results Among the women in this study (n = 616), reports of sensitive or risky behaviours were generally higher when engaging women face-to-face verses via computer interview. For example, those who engaged in risky behaviours were more likely exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) over the course of their life (aOR: 1.59). Reported rates of risk exposure were high for tobacco usage (23%,25%), drug usage (6%,8%), and alcohol usage (50%, 51%). Mode of screening, but not interviewer race, affected disclosure of these behaviours. Women screened via FTFI reported significantly more tobacco (aOR: 1.8) and more alcohol (aOR: 1.5) usage than CASI- screened women. Significance African American women in a WIC setting disclosed sensitive information more often in face-to-face than computer screening, and race-matching of client and interviewer did not affect disclosure. These findings put into question the argument that computer based interviews increase exposure of high risk behaviours. This evidence suggests that trained interviewers could enhance disclosure above computer based assessments. Previous findings have observed similar outcomes for IPV disclosure. This might suggest that there are types of computer assessments that are not effective, possibly due to miscalculated assumptions of computer and/or reading literacy. This might also suggest that the quality of the face-to face interaction might be contributing to the improved disclosure of sensitive information.