Alcohol consumption among young adult college students represents a significant public health problem. The presence of alcohol-related cues in drinkers' environments can trigger powerful alcohol cravings, which may influence drinking outcomes. Less is known about how this cue-induced craving influences behavioral economic demand for alcohol. In addition, research has suggested that trait mindfulness may be an important buffer of the effects of internal states of craving on drinking decisions. Based on this literature, we hypothesized that cue-induced cravings would be associated with increased alcohol demand, an effect that would be attenuated among drinkers who have higher levels of mindfulness. Young adult college student drinkers (n = 69) completed a laboratory-based cue-induced craving assessment, a self-report assessment of trait mindfulness, and an alcohol purchase task. Findings revealed that cue-induced craving was related to higher alcohol demand. Consistent with the study hypothesis, acceptance, a component of mindfulness, buffered the effects of cue-induced craving on alcohol demand. Results raise the possibility that mindfulness-based interventions may be useful in helping disrupt the link between internal states of craving and drinking decisions in young adult college student drinkers.
Background Students in higher education are experiencing stress and anxiety, such that it impedes their academic success and personal wellbeing. Brief mindfulness meditation and lovingkindness meditation are two aspects of mindfulness practice that have the potential to decrease students' feelings of anxiety and stress, and increase their sense of wellbeing and capacity for compassion for self and for others.; Purpose To explore how undergraduate and graduate students experience brief instructor-guided mindfulness practice; specifically, on their feelings of stress and anxiety, and their sense of wellbeing.; Study Design Qualitative exploratory pilot study.; Participants and Setting Fifty-two graduate and undergraduate students in different disciplines within a community services faculty of an urban university.; Methods Brief (five-minute) instructor-guided mindfulness practices were offered over eight weeks at the beginning and end of classes. Participating students were asked to also engage in individual home practice of five to fifteen-minute mindful breathing four to five times a week and to keep a log of their experiences. At end of term, individual and group feedback (N=13) was elicited from participating students. Six of the seven instructors who guided the mindfulness practices shared their experiences of the mindfulness activities.; Outcomes Students reported an increased sense of calm, and a decreased feeling of anxiety. Lovingkindness meditation was mostly perceived as a positive way to close the class. Their instructors also observed that the brief mindful breathing practice at start of class helped students become more grounded and focused before engaging in the course content. Challenges encountered focused on the need to provide more in-depth information about mindfulness, as it relates to higher education teaching-learning contexts, to both students and participating instructors.; Conclusions Implications for education suggest further research that includes fuller experiential training of participating instructors, as well as provision of a more comprehensive background on mindfulness to students.; * Brief instructor guided mindfulness practice in higher education can promote student wellbeing. * Mindfulness practice might help mitigate stress and anxiety among students in higher education. * Mindful breathing at the start of class supports a respectful and peaceful class environment. * Instructors might also accrue benefits from introducing mindful practice into their classrooms
BackgroundStudents in higher education are experiencing stress and anxiety, such that it impedes their academic success and personal wellbeing. Brief mindfulness meditation and lovingkindness meditation are two aspects of mindfulness practice that have the potential to decrease students' feelings of anxiety and stress, and increase their sense of wellbeing and capacity for compassion for self and for others.
Purpose
To explore how undergraduate and graduate students experience brief instructor-guided mindfulness practice; specifically, on their feelings of stress and anxiety, and their sense of wellbeing.
Study Design
Qualitative exploratory pilot study.
Participants and Setting
Fifty-two graduate and undergraduate students in different disciplines within a community services faculty of an urban university.
Methods
Brief (five-minute) instructor-guided mindfulness practices were offered over eight weeks at the beginning and end of classes. Participating students were asked to also engage in individual home practice of five to fifteen-minute mindful breathing four to five times a week and to keep a log of their experiences. At end of term, individual and group feedback (N=13) was elicited from participating students. Six of the seven instructors who guided the mindfulness practices shared their experiences of the mindfulness activities.
Outcomes
Students reported an increased sense of calm, and a decreased feeling of anxiety. Lovingkindness meditation was mostly perceived as a positive way to close the class. Their instructors also observed that the brief mindful breathing practice at start of class helped students become more grounded and focused before engaging in the course content. Challenges encountered focused on the need to provide more in-depth information about mindfulness, as it relates to higher education teaching-learning contexts, to both students and participating instructors.
Conclusions
Implications for education suggest further research that includes fuller experiential training of participating instructors, as well as provision of a more comprehensive background on mindfulness to students.
BACKGROUND: Depressive symptoms complicate pain management for people with FM, with adverse consequences such as a greater need for pain medications and limited pain coping strategies. Determining risks and protective factors associated with depressive symptoms in persons with FM could inform the development and implementation of mental health interventions.AIMS: To formulate and test a behavioral activation model of depression with mindfulness as a protective factor for people with FM.
METHODS: We conducted an online cross-sectional survey with 117 adults with FM from community and clinic networks. Path analysis was used to assess the relationships of pain intensity, perceived stress, activity interference, pain catastrophizing and mindfulness with depressive symptoms.
RESULTS: Mindfulness has a negative direct association with depressive symptoms and a negative indirect association with depressive symptoms through perceived stress, activity interference and pain catastrophizing. Perceived stress, activity interference and pain catastrophizing had direct associations with depressive symptoms. Finally, perceived stress, activity interference and pain catastrophizing had indirect associations with depressive symptoms through pain intensity.
CONCLUSIONS: Mindfulness seems to play an important role as a protective factor against the negative effects of stress and depression among people with FM and should be included in mental health interventions for chronic pain.
BACKGROUND: Depressive symptoms complicate pain management for people with FM, with adverse consequences such as a greater need for pain medications and limited pain coping strategies. Determining risks and protective factors associated with depressive symptoms in persons with FM could inform the development and implementation of mental health interventions.AIMS: To formulate and test a behavioral activation model of depression with mindfulness as a protective factor for people with FM.
METHODS: We conducted an online cross-sectional survey with 117 adults with FM from community and clinic networks. Path analysis was used to assess the relationships of pain intensity, perceived stress, activity interference, pain catastrophizing and mindfulness with depressive symptoms.
RESULTS: Mindfulness has a negative direct association with depressive symptoms and a negative indirect association with depressive symptoms through perceived stress, activity interference and pain catastrophizing. Perceived stress, activity interference and pain catastrophizing had direct associations with depressive symptoms. Finally, perceived stress, activity interference and pain catastrophizing had indirect associations with depressive symptoms through pain intensity.
CONCLUSIONS: Mindfulness seems to play an important role as a protective factor against the negative effects of stress and depression among people with FM and should be included in mental health interventions for chronic pain.
BACKGROUND: Depressive symptoms complicate pain management for people with FM, with adverse consequences such as a greater need for pain medications and limited pain coping strategies. Determining risks and protective factors associated with depressive symptoms in persons with FM could inform the development and implementation of mental health interventions.AIMS: To formulate and test a behavioral activation model of depression with mindfulness as a protective factor for people with FM.
METHODS: We conducted an online cross-sectional survey with 117 adults with FM from community and clinic networks. Path analysis was used to assess the relationships of pain intensity, perceived stress, activity interference, pain catastrophizing and mindfulness with depressive symptoms.
RESULTS: Mindfulness has a negative direct association with depressive symptoms and a negative indirect association with depressive symptoms through perceived stress, activity interference and pain catastrophizing. Perceived stress, activity interference and pain catastrophizing had direct associations with depressive symptoms. Finally, perceived stress, activity interference and pain catastrophizing had indirect associations with depressive symptoms through pain intensity.
CONCLUSIONS: Mindfulness seems to play an important role as a protective factor against the negative effects of stress and depression among people with FM and should be included in mental health interventions for chronic pain.
The use of mindfulness in psychotherapy has garnered the attention of both researchers and therapists over recent years. Based on established research, use of mindfulness with clients is recommended to improve awareness during sessions, reduce ruminative thinking patterns, and increase self-compassion regardless of theoretical orientation. In this article, de-identified clinical material is used to illustrate both informal and formal mindfulness training in session. Further, we provide illustrations of presession and within-session therapist mindfulness, recommending that therapists develop their own mindfulness practice, as research has demonstrated that it is related to important clinical skills including attentiveness, nonjudgment, and improved client perceptions.
This study investigated whether changes in the technological/social environment in the United States over time have resulted in concomitant changes in the multitasking skills of younger generations. One thousand, three hundred and nineteen Americans from three generations were queried to determine their at-home multitasking behaviors. An anonymous online questionnaire asked respondents to indicate which everyday and technology-based tasks they choose to combine for multitasking and to indicate how difficult it is to multitask when combining the tasks. Combining tasks occurred frequently, especially while listening to music or eating. Members of the “Net Generation” reported more multitasking than members of “Generation X,” who reported more multitasking than members of the “Baby Boomer” generation. The choices of which tasks to combine for multitasking were highly correlated across generations, as were difficulty ratings of specific multitasking combinations. The results are consistent with a greater amount of general multitasking resources in younger generations, but similar mental limitations in the types of tasks that can be multitasked.
Stories of g-tummo meditators mysteriously able to dry wet sheets wrapped around their naked bodies during a frigid Himalayan ceremony have intrigued scholars and laypersons alike for a century. Study 1 was conducted in remote monasteries of eastern Tibet with expert meditators performing g-tummo practices while their axillary temperature and electroencephalographic (EEG) activity were measured. Study 2 was conducted with Western participants (a non-meditator control group) instructed to use the somatic component of the g-tummo practice (vase breathing) without utilization of meditative visualization. Reliable increases in axillary temperature from normal to slight or moderate fever zone (up to 38.3°C) were observed among meditators only during the Forceful Breath type of g-tummo meditation accompanied by increases in alpha, beta, and gamma power. The magnitude of the temperature increases significantly correlated with the increases in alpha power during Forceful Breath meditation. The findings indicate that there are two factors affecting temperature increase. The first is the somatic component which causes thermogenesis, while the second is the neurocognitive component (meditative visualization) that aids in sustaining temperature increases for longer periods. Without meditative visualization, both meditators and non-meditators were capable of using the Forceful Breath vase breathing only for a limited time, resulting in limited temperature increases in the range of normal body temperature. Overall, the results suggest that specific aspects of the g-tummo technique might help non-meditators learn how to regulate their body temperature, which has implications for improving health and regulating cognitive performance.
As behavioral and cognitive psychotherapy traditions increasingly incorporate mindfulness concepts and practices, it is important to notice changes occurring in the cross-cultural translation of the ideas and practices from their Buddhist origins. The current study explored this issue utilizing a qualitative research method to collect data from seven “information-rich” participants. These participants were psychotherapists with long-term mindfulness practices; all integrating mindfulness into their psychotherapy work. They had, on average, 31 years of mindfulness meditation practice as a component of a larger spiritual practice. Participants were interviewed about their mindfulness practices, their therapeutic work, and their perspectives on how mindfulness in their spirituality-based meditation practices differs from and informs their psychotherapy work. A review of findings is presented as well as in-depth exploration of a selected meta-theme; participants all, at times, demonstrated a non-dualistic worldview and discussed the ideas of relative and ultimate reality. These views affected their use of language and contributed to the presence of dialectical and paradoxical responses. These concepts are important to consider as the development of therapist training in mindfulness-based treatment delivery evolves.
The majority of parents in the United States recognize that social and emotional skills are a high priority for their children's success (Princeton Survey Research Associates International, 2015), but most cannot readily articulate how they are utilizing or promoting these skills in their own families (Zero to Three, 2016). Even professionals in the field of social and emotional learning (SEL) may struggle in making the translation between their professional knowledge and their personal parenting practices. In the present study, we aimed to understand the connection between the scholarly field of SEL and the lived experiences of parents who engage with SEL in a practical setting. Specifically, we studied SEL professionals who were also parents to determine how they see the overlap between school-based SEL and the role of SEL in families. Survey items assessed their priorities for their children's development and their parenting. Responses were analyzed for the degree to which they aligned with a prominent SEL framework created by the Collaborative for Academic and Social and Emotional Learning. This framework has not yet been applied extensively to parenting, but results from this study suggest that even when terminology differs, underlying social and emotional priorities for children and parenting show substantial overlap. The purpose of this investigation--built upon the research base of SEL in schools--is to raise questions, offer a model for further inquiry, and draw connections between our knowledge of school-based social and emotional learning and parenting.
The purpose of this study was to examine pathways in a model which proposed associations among parent mindfulness, parent depressive symptoms, two types of parenting, and child problem behavior. Participants' data were from the baseline assessment of a NIMH-sponsored family-group cognitive-behavioral intervention program for the prevention of child and adolescent depression (Compas et al., 2009). Participants consisted of 145 mothers and 17 fathers (mean age = 41.89 yrs, SD = 7.73) with a history of depression and 211 children (106 males) (mean age = 11.49 yrs, SD = 2.00). Analyses showed that (a) positive parenting appears to play a significant role in helping explain how parent depressive symptoms relate to child externalizing problems and (b) mindfulness is related to child internalizing and externalizing problems; however, the intervening constructs examined did not appear to help explain the mindfulness-child problem behavior associations. Suggestions for future research on parent mindfulness and child problem outcome are described.
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The purpose of this study was to examine pathways in a model which proposed associations among parent mindfulness, parent depressive symptoms, two types of parenting, and child problem behavior. Participants' data were from the baseline assessment of a NIMH-sponsored family-group cognitive-behavioral intervention program for the prevention of child and adolescent depression (Compas et al., 2009). Participants consisted of 145 mothers and 17 fathers (mean age = 41.89 yrs, SD = 7.73) with a history of depression and 211 children (106 males) (mean age = 11.49 yrs, SD = 2.00). Analyses showed that (a) positive parenting appears to play a significant role in helping explain how parent depressive symptoms relate to child externalizing problems and (b) mindfulness is related to child internalizing and externalizing problems; however, the intervening constructs examined did not appear to help explain the mindfulness-child problem behavior associations. Suggestions for future research on parent mindfulness and child problem outcome are described.
Introduction: There is a need for development and validation of post-stroke fall-prevention programs. This qualitative study provides an inside look into participant-perceived outcomes of a new and innovative self-management intervention: Merging Yoga and Occupational Therapy. Method: A qualitative approach was employed. Thirteen participants, who were more than 6 months post stroke and self-reported falling or a fear of falling, engaged in focus groups and individual interviews following participation in the intervention twice weekly for 8 weeks. Data from focus groups and individual interviews were analyzed using an iterative, inductive approach. Findings: Five outcomes emerged from the line-by-line analysis: (1) improved abilities and capacities, (2) gained new knowledge, (3) enhanced engagement in activities, (4) improved relaxation, and (5) increased confidence and inspiration. Conclusion: Participants experienced positive outcomes from engagement in a community-based multimodal fall-prevention selfmanagement program for people post stroke.
Research has demonstrated that perceived stress and depression are risk factors for suicidal ideation in young adults, particularly women attending college. Female undergraduate students (N = 928) were administered measures assessing their levels of stress, depressive symptoms, suicidal thoughts, and mindfulness. A moderated-mediation analysis was conducted to examine the complex associations among these variables. Results indicated that mindfulness moderated the mediated effect of depressive symptoms on perceived stress and suicidal ideation. Specifically, the indirect effect was stronger in college women with lower levels of mindfulness as compared to those students who reported higher mindfulness. Thus, teaching mindfulness techniques on college campuses may be an important strategy for preventing suicide, especially among young adult women experiencing stress and depressive symptoms.
Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are rare hematological malignancies with a significant symptom burden often left unresolved despite recent advances in pharmacological therapy. Yoga is a nonpharmacological strategy that has been shown to improve symptoms in other cancers and may be effective for improving symptoms in MPN patients. Online yoga helps address many of the commonly reported barriers of cancer patients to in-person interventions and may make yoga more accessible to MPNs. An exploration of MPN patient perceptions of participation in online yoga is needed to tailor interventions to patient needs and inform future studies. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of MPN patients participating in a 12-week online yoga intervention. This article represents the combined qualitative interview data from two studies. Participants were asked to complete 60 min/wk of online, home-based yoga and were asked to participate in a 15- to 20-minute phone interview postintervention. The qualitative data was coded in NVivo 11 for content analysis. The total sample included 39 MPN patients. Online yoga was well accepted and liked among these patients. They reported physical (eg, improved sleep, reduced fatigue) and mental (eg, reduced stress) health benefits and liked the convenience of being able to do yoga at home. Online yoga provides a feasible and attractive format through which to deliver a nonpharmacological intervention among MPN patients. Randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm the effects of online yoga on MPN patient symptoms. The qualitative findings presented here help inform the development of these future trials.
Objectives: The objective of this pilot study was to compare the effects of two mind-body interventions: mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and cognitive-behavioral stress reduction (CBSR). Subjects: Fifty ( 50) subjects were recruited from the community and took part in MBSR (n = 36) and CBSR (n = 14) courses. Participants self-selected into MBSR or CBSR courses taught at different times. There were no initial differences between the MBSR and CBSR subjects on demographics, including age, gender, education, and income. Intervention: MBSR was an 8-week course using meditation, gentle yoga, and body scanning exercises to increase mindfulness. CBSR was an 8-week course using cognitive and behavioral techniques to change thinking and reduce distress. Design: Perceived stress, depression, psychological well-being, neuroticism, binge eating, energy, pain, and mindfulness were assessed before and after each course. Pre-post scores for each intervention were compared by using paired t tests. Pre-post scores across interventions were compared by using a general linear model with repeated measures. Settings/Locations: Weekly meetings for both courses were held in a large room on a university medical center campus. Results: MBSR subjects improved on all eight outcomes, with all of the differences being significant. CBSR subjects improved on six of eight outcomes, with significant improvements on well-being, perceived stress, and depression. Multivariate analyses showed that the MBSR subjects had better outcomes across all variables, when compared with the CBSR subjects. Univariate analyses showed that MBSR subjects had better outcomes with regard to mindfulness, energy, pain, and a trend for binge eating. Conclusions: While MBSR and CBSR may both be effective in reducing perceived stress and depression, MBSR may be more effective in increasing mindfulness and energy and reducing pain. Future studies should continue to examine the differential effects of cognitive behavioral and mindfulness-based interventions and attempt to explain the reasons for the differences.
Objectives: The objective of this pilot study was to compare the effects of two mind-body interventions: mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and cognitive-behavioral stress reduction (CBSR). Subjects: Fifty ( 50) subjects were recruited from the community and took part in MBSR (n = 36) and CBSR (n = 14) courses. Participants self-selected into MBSR or CBSR courses taught at different times. There were no initial differences between the MBSR and CBSR subjects on demographics, including age, gender, education, and income. Intervention: MBSR was an 8-week course using meditation, gentle yoga, and body scanning exercises to increase mindfulness. CBSR was an 8-week course using cognitive and behavioral techniques to change thinking and reduce distress. Design: Perceived stress, depression, psychological well-being, neuroticism, binge eating, energy, pain, and mindfulness were assessed before and after each course. Pre-post scores for each intervention were compared by using paired t tests. Pre-post scores across interventions were compared by using a general linear model with repeated measures. Settings/Locations: Weekly meetings for both courses were held in a large room on a university medical center campus. Results: MBSR subjects improved on all eight outcomes, with all of the differences being significant. CBSR subjects improved on six of eight outcomes, with significant improvements on well-being, perceived stress, and depression. Multivariate analyses showed that the MBSR subjects had better outcomes across all variables, when compared with the CBSR subjects. Univariate analyses showed that MBSR subjects had better outcomes with regard to mindfulness, energy, pain, and a trend for binge eating. Conclusions: While MBSR and CBSR may both be effective in reducing perceived stress and depression, MBSR may be more effective in increasing mindfulness and energy and reducing pain. Future studies should continue to examine the differential effects of cognitive behavioral and mindfulness-based interventions and attempt to explain the reasons for the differences.
CONTEXT: Although researchers have not yet examined the applicability of mindfulness for weight-gain prevention, mindfulness training has the potential to increase an individual's awareness of factors that enable an individual to avoid weight gain caused by overconsumption.OBJECTIVE: The study intended to examine the effects of 1 h of mindfulness training on state mindfulness and food consumption.
METHODS: The research team performed a pilot study.
SETTING: The study occurred at an urban, northeastern, Catholic university.
PARTICIPANTS: Participants were 26 undergraduate, English-speaking students who were at least 18 y old (77% female, 73% Caucasian). Students with food allergies, an inability to fast, or a current or past diagnosis of an eating disorder were ineligible.
INTERVENTION: Participants fasted for 4 h. Between the third and fourth hours, they attended a 1-h session of mindfulness training that integrated three experiential mindfulness exercises with group discussion. Following training, they applied the skills they learned during a silent lunch.
PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The Toronto Mindfulness Scale (TMS), the Awareness subscale of the Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale (PHLMS-AW), and a modified version of the Acting with Awareness subscale of the Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ-AW) were used preand posttraining to assess changes in state mindfulness, present-moment awareness, and mealtime awareness, respectively. A postmeal, subjective hunger/fullness Likert scale was used to assess food consumption (healthy vs unhealthy consumption).
RESULTS: The study found a statistically significant increase in state mindfulness (P=.002). Eighty-six percent of participants engaged in healthy food consumption. No statistically significant changes occurred in either present-moment awareness (P=.617) or mealtime awareness (P=.483).
CONCLUSION: Preliminary results suggest promising benefits for use of mindfulness training on weight-gain prevention in healthy individuals. More research is needed to understand the impact that mindfulness may have on long-term, weight-gain prevention.
Responses to individuals who suffer are a foundation of cooperative communities. On the basis of the approach/inhibition theory of power (Keltner, Gruenfeld, & Anderson, 2003), we hypothesized that elevated social power is associated with diminished reciprocal emotional responses to another person's suffering (feeling distress at another person's distress) and with diminished complementary emotion (e.g., compassion). In face-to-face conversations, participants disclosed experiences that had caused them suffering. As predicted, participants with a higher sense of power experienced less distress and less compassion and exhibited greater autonomic emotion regulation when confronted with another participant's suffering. Additional analyses revealed that these findings could not be attributed to power-related differences in baseline emotion or decoding accuracy, but were likely shaped by power-related differences in the motivation to affiliate. Implications for theorizing about power and the social functions of emotions are discussed.
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The aim of this study was to investigate whether school climate and social-emotional learning impact teacher commitment. The sample included 664 public schoolteachers from British Columbia and Ontario in Canada. Participants completed an online questionnaire about teacher commitment, school climate, and social-emotional learning. Binary logistic regression analyses showed that positive school climates significantly predicted three forms of teacher commitment: greater general professional commitment, future professional commitment, and organizational commitment. Of the school climate variables, student relations and collaboration among staff predicted commitment. In addition, stronger beliefs and integration of social-emotional learning predicted two types of teacher commitment: greater general professional commitment and organizational commitment. Of the social-emotional learning variables, the support and promotion of a social-emotional learning culture across the school and comfort with and regular implementation of social-emotional learning in the classroom predicted greater teacher commitment. Implications for practice and research are discussed. (Contains 6 tables and 1 footnote.)
Decades of research have shown a normative decline in academic performance to be associated with the transition from elementary school to middle school. Based on the idea that these difficulties stem from a lack of relevant coping skills, the current study focused on the preventive effects of a three-year social and emotional learning (SEL) program in mitigating transitional achievement loss. Quality of implementation, a crucial, but often overlooked, factor in program evaluation, is the framework through which students' intervention experiences were defined. In each intervention year, implementation was assessed through teacher-reported curriculum fidelity and teacher's perception of program quality. These factors were tested as predictors of changes in GPA and standardized test scores across the transition. Intervention dosage received over the fifth grade year emerged as a significant predictor of GPA change. Dosage was unrelated to standardized test change, though differences between genders and ethnic groups in transitional standardized test performance were found. Teachers' ratings of program effectiveness were also unrelated to outcome, but were associated with intervention dosage.
The present study, which takes place in a high-poverty section of a large urban area of the northeastern United States, is based upon the prosocial classroom theoretical model that emphasizes the significance of teachers' social and emotional competence (SEC) and well-being in the development and maintenance of supportive teacher-student relationships, effective classroom management, and social and emotional learning (SEL) program effectiveness. These factors, as well as teachers' classroom management and instructional skills contribute to creating a classroom climate that is conducive to learning and that promotes positive developmental behavioral and academic outcomes among students. Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE) is a mindfulness-based professional development program designed to reduce stress, promote SEC and improve teachers' performance and classroom learning environments. From 8 elementary schools the authors recruited and consented 55 teachers (90.2% female, mean age = 39.41). They had relatively low attrition (7.2%) which was largely balanced across treatment and control conditions, resulting in a diverse sample of 51 teachers (53% white). All were regular lead teachers working in a self-contained classroom setting. The results reported here are from an IES-funded 4-year efficacy and replication study of CARE. The data are from the teacher self-report collected from the first year cohort of the cluster randomized controlled trial. After the teachers completed self-reports they were randomly assigned within schools to receive the CARE intervention or to a wait-list control group. After the treatment group received the CARE program, the same self-report battery was administered to both groups. A figure is appended.
The Devereux Student Strengths Assessment Mini (DESSA-Mini; Naglieri, LeBuffe, & Shapiro, 2011/2014) was designed to overcome practical obstacles to universal prevention screening. This article seeks to determine whether an entirely strength-based, 8-item screening instrument achieves technical accuracy in routine practice. Data come from a district-wide implementation of a new social emotional learning (SEL) initiative designed to promote students' social-emotional competence. All students, kindergarten through Grade 8, were screened using the DESSA-Mini. A random 5 students per classroom received additional assessment. Concurrent and predictive criterion studies were conducted using the full DESSA as well as administrative records of serious disciplinary infraction. The DESSA-Mini showed excellent internal reliability, exceeding .90. Negligible to small differences were found between scores on the DESSA-Mini screen and the DESSA full assessment. Classification consistency between the DESSA-Mini and the DESSA was high (87%-94%) in routine practice, with sensitivity and specificity estimates exceeding Glascoe's (2005) standards. Finally, predictive validity of the DESSA-Mini was reliable; students screened as having a Need for SEL Instruction at the beginning of the year were 4.5 times more likely to have a record of serious disciplinary infraction at the end of the school year compared with those who were not identified (p < .001). These findings compare quite favorably with other instruments used in schools to screen entire student populations, in cases where such analyses have been conducted, and is consistent with a practice preference of identifying, but not overidentifying, students for accelerated preventative interventions for mental, emotional, and behavioral problems. (PsycINFO Database Record
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