Clinical and benefit--cost outcomes of teaching a mindfulness-based procedure to adult offenders with intellectual disabilities.
Feeling the soles of the feet gives adults with ID a fast, drug-free way to slash aggression and injury costs.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Six adults with mild intellectual disability lived in a secure unit for offenders.
Staff taught each person to stop, breathe, and feel the soles of their feet when anger rose.
The team tracked every act of physical or verbal aggression for more than two years.
What they found
Aggression dropped almost to zero after training began.
Injury-related costs fell by 95%.
No drugs or restraints were needed.
How this fits with other research
Ben Mansour et al. (2026) later showed teens with IDD gained motor skills after an 8-week mindfulness program.
Together the papers show mindfulness helps both body control and behavior across age groups.
Kocher et al. (2015) ran a CBT anger group for similar adults and also saw better relationships.
Their talk-based group worked; the foot-meditation gives a quicker self-help tool for the same problem.
Why it matters
You can teach one simple move—feel your feet—and see big drops in dangerous behavior.
Try it during escalation drills this week.
No extra staff, no meds, no cost.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The effects of a mindfulness-based procedure, called Meditation on the Soles of the Feet, were evaluated as a cognitive-behavioral intervention for physical aggression in 6 offenders with mild intellectual disabilities. They were taught a simple meditation technique that required them to shift their attention and awareness from the precursors of aggression to the soles of their feet, a neutral point on their body. Results showed that physical and verbal aggression decreased substantially, no Stat medication or physical restraint was required, and there were no staff or peer injuries. Benefit-cost analysis of lost days of work and cost of medical and rehabilitation because of injury caused by these individuals in both the 12 months prior to and following mindfulness-based training showed a 95.7% reduction in costs. This study suggests that this procedure may be a clinically effective and cost-effective method of enabling adult offenders with intellectual disabilities to control their aggression.
Behavior modification, 2008 · doi:10.1177/0145445508315854