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Mindfulness encompasses four core skills: observing, describing, acting with awareness, and accepting without judgment; which aim to increase one's awareness, tolerance, and acceptance of internal experiences (Baer et al., 2004). Despite promising clinical results that mindfulness reduces alcohol craving and relapse, complementary etiological research is underdeveloped. Theory suggests that those who are motivated to drink to change internal states (reduce negative/increase positive affect) are at risk for elevated alcohol use. The ability to accept one's affective state should preclude internally-motivated drinking, and thus, elevated alcohol use. The purpose of this study was to parse out which mindfulness skills are central to alcohol use. We hypothesized that accepting without judgment would be a unique negative predictor of internally-motivated drinking (drinking for coping and enhancement motives) and alcohol use. Students (N=76) completed self-report measures of past month alcohol use and four motives for drinking: to cope, for enhancement, to conform, and for social reasons. Partially supporting our hypotheses, accepting without judgment was negatively associated with drinking for coping motives, but was unassociated with drinking for enhancement motives. Interestingly, acceptance without judgment was negatively associated with drinking for conformity motives (to reduce social rejection). Unexpectedly, acting with awareness, but not accepting without judgment, was a negative predictor of alcohol use. Our findings suggest that interventions aimed at reducing coping- and conformity-motivated drinking and alcohol use by young adults may benefit from incorporating mindfulness skills training (i.e., accepting without judgment; acting with awareness).
Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) programs aim to improve students' social-emotional competencies in order to enhance their achievement. Although SEL programs typically implement classroom curricula, some programs also include a component for parents. Yet, little is known about the types of parents likely to participate in services, and whether parent participation moderates program effects on student outcomes in low-income urban schools. This article aims to fill these gaps in the literature using data from the randomized trial of the SEL program INSIGHTS into Children's Temperament (N = 435 parent/child dyads), which was conducted in 22 low-income urban elementary schools during children's kindergarten and first-grade year. Descriptive findings revealed that children at lower risk for poor achievement had parents who were more likely to participate in program services. In addition, findings from inverse probability of treatment-weighting models demonstrated larger effects of INSIGHTS on academic, attentional, and behavioral outcomes for children whose parents participated at lower rates. Implications for prevention science and SEL program implementation and scale-up are discussed.
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is cost-effective compared to a wait-list control for persistent pain in women treated for primary breast cancer-Results from a randomized controlled trial
Diabetes poses a major life stress that requires considerable physical, emotional, and psychological accommodation and coping. Mind-body therapies have drawn significant interest for their potential to assist in managing stress and adaptation to chronic illness. This review highlights the literature and research on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction to improve the health and well-being of individuals with diabetes.
INTRODUCTION:Stress and burnout are highly prevalent among medical doctors, and are associated with negative consequences for doctors, patients, and organizations. The purpose of the current study was to examine the effectiveness of a mindfulness training intervention in reducing stress and burnout among medical practitioners, by means of a Randomised Controlled Trial design.
METHODS:
Participants were 44 intern doctors completing an emergency department rotation in a major Australian hospital. Participants were randomly assigned to either an active control (one hour extra break per week) or the 10-week mindfulness training intervention. Measures of stress and burnout were taken pre-, mid- and post intervention.
RESULTS:
Participants undergoing the 10-week mindfulness training program reported greater improvements in stress and burnout relative to participants in the control condition. Significant reduction in stress and burnout was observed for participants in the mindfulness condition. No such reductions were observed for participants in the control condition.
CONCLUSIONS:
Mindfulness interventions may provide medical practitioners with skills to effectively manage stress and burnout, thereby reducing their experience of these symptoms. It is likely that doctors would benefit from the inclusion of such a training program as a part of their general medical education.
The current study investigated the relation between children’s (3- to 8-year-olds) cheating behaviors and their sociocognitive development, including theory-of-mind (ToM) understanding and social skills. A total of 295 children completed a temptation resistance paradigm where they were asked not to peek at a toy in the experimenter’s absence (measure of cheating). Children completed first- and second-order ToM measures, and parents completed the Social Skills Improvement System (SSiS) Rating Scales questionnaire as an assessment of their children’s social skills. Results indicated that ToM and total SSiS scores were unique predictors of children’s cheating, such that with increased ToM and SSiS scores children were significantly less likely to cheat. In particular, children’s responsibility scores (subscale of SSiS Rating Scales) emerged as a unique predictor of cheating. Children’s performance on both scales were examined together and demonstrated that only children who had high levels of both ToM and responsibility were significantly less likely to cheat compared with children who were low on both measures. These findings demonstrate that children’s sociocognitive development affects their cheating behaviors, likely through an understanding of the importance of maintaining positive social relationships.