BACKGROUND:It has been shown that mindfulness practice can be helpful in preventing relapse from depression. However, practicing mindfulness regularly at home is often a challenge for people with depression. Mobile phone text messaging (short message service, SMS) may be a feasible approach to assist regular mindfulness home practice.
OBJECTIVE:
The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of text message-based feedback to support mindfulness practice in people with depressive symptoms after inpatient psychiatric treatment.
METHODS:
Participants received a manualized group introduction to three mindfulness exercises during inpatient treatment and were randomized at hospital discharge. All participants were asked to practice the exercises daily during the 4-month follow-up period. Only participants allocated to the intervention group received reinforcing feedback via mobile phone text messages after reporting their mindfulness practice via text message. Participation rates and satisfaction with the interventions were evaluated, and effects on relevant outcomes were explored.
RESULTS:
Of the 176 eligible inpatients invited to participate, 65.9% (116/176) attended the introductory mindfulness group at least once, 33.0% (58/176) were willing to participate in the study, and 41 were randomized. The majority 85% (35/41) of these participants completed the study. Among the participants allocated to the intervention group (n=21), 81% (17/21) used the text message support at least once. The average number of text messages sent during the intervention period was 14 (SD 21, range 0-91). Satisfaction rates were high. Preliminary analyses of the effects of the intervention yielded mixed results.
CONCLUSIONS:
Findings indicate that text messaging following inpatient treatment is feasible for some, but not for all people with depressive symptoms. Modest use of the text messaging intervention and its mixed effects imply that dose and ingredients of the intervention should be increased for this group of patients in a future full-size RCT. Such a larger study should also include a process evaluation to investigate moderators of the effect of mindfulness practice and text message feedback on clinical outcome.
TRIAL REGISTRATION:
International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN): 58808893; http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN58808893 (Archived by Webcite at http://www.webcitation.org/6pmrDRnGt).
Yoga, the Body, and Embodied Social Change examines the cultural phenomenon of yoga in the United States through an intersectional feminist lens. The essays in this collection address media portrayals as well as yoga spaces themselves, analyzing who has been centered and who has been marginalized by racial, gender, sexual, economic and dis/ability power dynamics. By analyzing contemporary body politics in the U.S. yoga sphere, Yoga, the Body, and Embodied Social Change looks at both the limitations and possibilities of yoga for feminist social justice.
Yoga, the Body, and Embodied Social Change is the first collection to gather together prominent scholars on yoga and the body. Using an intersectional lens, the essays examine yoga in the United States as a complex cultural phenomenon that reveals racial, economic, gendered, and sexual politics of the body. From discussions of the stereotypical yoga body to analyses of pivotal court cases, Yoga, the Body, and Embodied Social Change examines the sociopolitical tensions of contemporary yoga.Because so many yogic spaces reflect the oppressive nature of many other public spheres, the essays in this collection also examine what needs to change in order for yoga to truly live up to its liberatory potential, from the blogosphere around Black women’s health to the creation of queer and trans yoga classes to the healing potential of yoga for people living with chronic illness or trauma.
While many of these conversations are emerging in the broader public sphere, few have made their way into academic scholarship. This book changes all that. The essays in this anthology interrogate yoga as it is portrayed in the media, yoga spaces, and yoga as it is integrated in education, the law, and concepts of health to examine who is included and who is excluded from yoga in the West. The result is a thoughtful analysis of the possibilities and the limitations of yoga for feminist social transformation.
Yoga, the Body, and Embodied Social Change examines the cultural phenomenon of yoga in the United States through an intersectional feminist lens. The essays in this collection address media portrayals as well as yoga spaces themselves, analyzing who has been centered and who has been marginalized by racial, gender, sexual, economic and dis/ability power dynamics. By analyzing contemporary body politics in the U.S. yoga sphere, Yoga, the Body, and Embodied Social Change looks at both the limitations and possibilities of yoga for feminist social justice.
The Africa Yoga Project (AYP) provides voluntary yoga classes for schoolchildren across Kenya. To study student perceived effects, a mixed-methods concept mapping methodology was utilized combining multidimensional scaling (MDS) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA). Children (ages 8-14) who practice yoga with AYP completed the two-phase process of data collection. In Phase 1, 155 children participated in brainstorming sessions asking in what ways they had changed since practicing yoga. Their ideas were aggregated into a list of 85 statements reflecting perceived effects of yoga. In Phase 2, 109 children from the same locations sorted and rated brainstormed effects (Phase 2; N = 109). Analysis yielded a two-dimensional map representing how generated statements were associated in terms of how students understood their relatedness to each other (sorting) and the magnitude of importance (rating). The AYP student concept map met validity standards with an MDS stress value of .32, indicating a model fit within accepted levels. Overall, students' perceptions are reflected in the following concepts (in order of importance rating): finding steadiness and ease, increased wellness, improved physical and emotional health, gratitude for yoga community and practice, neurological and interpersonal integration, and experience of efficacy and possibility. The specific outcomes are discussed along with implications for practice and research.
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