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BackgroundThe concept of `mindfulness´ was operationalized primarily for patients with chronic stressors, while it is rarely used in reference to soldiers. We intended to validate a modified instrument on the basis of the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI) to measure soldiers’ situational awareness (“mindfulness”) in stressful situations/missions. The instrument we will explore in this paper is termed the Conscious Presence and Self Control (CPSC) scale.
Methods
The CPSC and further instruments, i.e., Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), stressful military experiences (PCL-M), life satisfaction (BMLSS), Positive Life Construction (ePLC), and self-perceived health affections (VAS), were administered to 281 German soldiers. The soldiers were mainly exposed to explosive ordnance, military police, medical service, and patients with posttraumatic stress disorders.
Results
The 10-item CPSC scale exhibited a one-factorial structure and showed a good internal consistence (Cronbach´s alpha = .86); there were neither ceiling nor bottom effects. The CPSC scores correlated moderately with Positive Life Construction and life satisfaction, and negatively with perceived stress and health affections. Regression analyses indicated that posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms (negative), and the development of effective strategies to deal with disturbing pictures and experiences (positive) were the best predictor of soldiers´ CPSC scores. Soldiers with health affections exhibiting impact upon their daily life had significantly lower CPSC scores than those without impairment (F=8.1; p < .0001).
Conclusions
As core conceptualizations of `mindfulness´ are not necessarily discussed in a military context, the FMI was adopted for military personnel populations, while its two factorial structure with the sub-constructs `acceptance´ and `presence´ was retained. The resulting 10-item CPSC scale had good internal consistence, sound associations with measures of health affections and life satisfaction, and thus can be used as a short and rapid measure in pre-post mission and interventional studies.
The aim of this study was to explore the feasibility of implementing a new 8-week mindfulness-based programme, ‘Mindfulness-Based Coping with University Life’ (MBCUL), specifically tailored to the needs and demand of students and to explore its impact in a pilot evaluation. Participants were drawn from the University of Northampton (MBCUL N = 10; control N = 6). A non-randomized wait-list-controlled design was employed. Measures examined anxiety and depression, perceived stress, mindfulness and personally relevant change before and immediately after the programme. The diurnal profile of salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase level was collected for two consecutive days. No significant intergroup differences were observed on any of the measures at either time point. However, significant change was observed for the MBCUL group in terms of perceived stress (d = 1.06; z = −2.25, p = 0.03), anxiety (d = 1.04; z = −2.14, p = 0.03), depression (d = 0.52; z = −0.69, p = 0.5) and personally relevant change (d = 2.63; z = −2.68, p = 0.01), along with an increase in mindfulness (d = 1.06; z = −1.89, p = 0.06). In contrast, no significant change was found in the daily profiles of cortisol and alpha-amylase. The data from this pilot tentatively suggest that MBCUL appears to be a promising programme that warrants further evaluation using a randomized study with a larger sample size. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The benefits of mindfulness for a variety of clinical and nonclinical populations are well established and there is growing interest in the potential of mindfulness in higher education. This article reports on the results from a randomized wait-list controlled study of Mindfulness-Based Coping With University Life (MBCUL), an adaption of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for university students. MBCUL is an 8-week program, which aims to help students bring mindful awareness to their academic work, stress management, approach to communication and relationships, and health. Participants were recruited from the general student body at the University of Northampton (United Kingdom) and were randomized into mindfulness or control groups. The mean age for students in the combined MBCUL group was M = 25.07, SD = 8.25 (18-50), and M = 28, SD = 7.26 (20-41) in the control group. A significant decrease in anxiety, F(1, 21) = 7.82, p = .01; depression, F(1, 22) = 4.15, p = .05; and perceived stress, F(1, 22) = 9.65, p = .01, was found in the MBCUL group compared with controls. Similarly, a significant increase in mindfulness was found in the MBCUL, F(1, 20) = 16.32, p = .001, compared with controls. Attrition was high, and the small numbers limit the generalizability of the data. However, the results suggest that MBCUL is an acceptable, useful mindfulness program for university students, which warrants further investigation with larger samples.
ObjectiveMindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is a structured group program that employs mindfulness meditation to alleviate suffering associated with physical, psychosomatic and psychiatric disorders. The program, nonreligious and nonesoteric, is based upon a systematic procedure to develop enhanced awareness of moment-to-moment experience of perceptible mental processes. The approach assumes that greater awareness will provide more veridical perception, reduce negative affect and improve vitality and coping. In the last two decades, a number of research reports appeared that seem to support many of these claims. We performed a comprehensive review and meta-analysis of published and unpublished studies of health-related studies related to MBSR.
Methods
Sixty-four empirical studies were found, but only 20 reports met criteria of acceptable quality or relevance to be included in the meta-analysis. Reports were excluded due to (1) insufficient information about interventions, (2) poor quantitative health evaluation, (3) inadequate statistical analysis, (4) mindfulness not being the central component of intervention, or (5) the setting of intervention or sample composition deviating too widely from the health-related MBSR program. Acceptable studies covered a wide spectrum of clinical populations (e.g., pain, cancer, heart disease, depression, and anxiety), as well as stressed nonclinical groups. Both controlled and observational investigations were included. Standardized measures of physical and mental well-being constituted the dependent variables of the analysis.
Results
Overall, both controlled and uncontrolled studies showed similar effect sizes of approximately 0.5 (P<.0001) with homogeneity of distribution.
Conclusion
Although derived from a relatively small number of studies, these results suggest that MBSR may help a broad range of individuals to cope with their clinical and nonclinical problems.
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a potential candidate for learning to cope with stress in a high-stress professional environment. In a pilot study the authors evaluated the potential of MBSR for stress management. Workers participated in an MBSR training for stress-related problems (treatment, n = 12) or waited for such a course (control, n = 11). The authors conducted interviews and measured coping and well-being. Qualitative interviews indicated that subjects had attained more awareness of work-related problems contributing to stress and had grown more critical toward their work environment. In the treatment group, positive strategies of coping with stress increased and negative strategies of coping decreased (significant difference at post treatment: p = .039 compared to control). Eighty-two percent of the participants reported having reached their personal goal.
Teacher wellbeing and performance is affected by their ability to cope with the demands of the profession. This pilot nonrandomized, waitlist-controlled study investigated the impact of a mindfulness intervention (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) on teachers' wellbeing, self-regulation ability and classroom performance applying a mixed-method design. The sample was comprised of 32 German school teachers (93% female) which were distributed to a control and intervention group. Compared to the control condition, the intervention showed medium to high effect sizes on most outcome variables at post-test and results were sustained at follow-up. Mediation analyses showed that changes in mindfulness at post-test mediated changes in outcome variables at follow-up. Unexpectedly, the intervention seemed to negatively affect teacher engagement. Qualitative interviews highlighted the way mindfulness may influence teacher engagement and improve performance. Limitations of this study and future directions of research are discussed.
Teacher wellbeing and performance is affected by their ability to cope with the demands of the profession. This pilot nonrandomized, waitlist-controlled study investigated the impact of a mindfulness intervention (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) on teachers' wellbeing, self-regulation ability and classroom performance applying a mixed-method design. The sample was comprised of 32 German school teachers (93% female) which were distributed to a control and intervention group. Compared to the control condition, the intervention showed medium to high effect sizes on most outcome variables at post-test and results were sustained at follow-up. Mediation analyses showed that changes in mindfulness at post-test mediated changes in outcome variables at follow-up. Unexpectedly, the intervention seemed to negatively affect teacher engagement. Qualitative interviews highlighted the way mindfulness may influence teacher engagement and improve performance. Limitations of this study and future directions of research are discussed.