A Community-Based Evaluation of Brief Guided Mindfulness in the Management of Stress and Difficult Emotions
Publication: Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health
21 January 2020
Abstract
The current study evaluated the effectiveness of a novel three-hour Guided Mindfulness Program on participants’ management of depression, anxiety and stress. The intervention included an educational component emphasizing the psychological value of mindfulness practice combined with a practical training component in mindfulness techniques. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale was administered at three points in time before and after participation in the program. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore perceived quality of life, happiness, and stress 4 to 8 weeks following the program. All participants reported improvements in overall well-being and reported significant decreases in negative affect when comparing pre-program scores (baseline) to follow-up scores. Notably, qualitative interview results indicated that participants attributed most positive post-program results to informal mindfulness practice.
Résumé
La présente étude visait à évaluer l’efficacité d’un programme original de pleine conscience de 3 heures, sous forme de guide, destiné à la gestion par les participants des niveaux de dépression, d’anxiété et de tension. L’intervention comprenait un volet éducatif mettant l’accent sur la valeur psychologique de la pratique de la pleine conscience en association avec un entraînement aux techniques de la pleine conscience. L’échelle d’évaluation d’anxiété et de dépression a été utilisée à trois reprises avant et après la participation au programme. De plus, des entrevues semi-structurées ont été menées, entre 4 et 8 semaines à la suite du programme, pour explorer la qualité de vie ainsi que les niveaux perçus de bonheur et de tension. Tous les participants ont signalé des améliorations du bien-être général et ont rapporté des diminutions significatives d’émotions négatives en comparaison avec celles ressenties antérieurement au programme. Enfin, les entrevues qualitatives ont montré que les participants attribuaient à la pratique informelle de la pleine conscience des résultats positifs postprogramme supérieurs.
Formats available
You can view the full content in the following formats:
REFERENCES
Antony M., Bieling P., Cox B., Enns M., and Swinson R. 1998 Psychometric properties of the 42-item and 21-item versions of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales in clinical groups and a community sample Psychological Assessment 10 176 -181
Bergen-Cico D. and Cheon S. 2013 The mediating effects of mindfulness and self-compassion on trait anxiety Mindfulness 5 5 505 -519
Bodhi, V. B. (2016). The challenge of mindful engagement. In R. E. Purser, D. Forbes, & A. Burke (Eds.), Handbook of mindfulness: Culture, context, and social engagement (pp. 15–26). Switzerland: Springer.
Bodhipaksa. (2000). What is mindfulness? | Wildmind Buddhist Meditation. Retrieved from http://www.wildmind.org/ applied/daily-life/what-is-mindfulness
Call D., Miron L., and Orcutt H. 2014 Effectiveness of brief mindfulness techniques in reducing symptoms of anxiety and stress Mindfulness 5 6 658 -668
Carlson L. E., Speca M., Faris P., and Patel K. D. 2007 One year pre–post intervention follow-up of psychological, immune, endocrine and blood pressure outcomes of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) in breast and prostate cancer outpatients Brain, Behavior, and Immunity 21 8 1038 -1049
Carmody J. and Baer R. A. 2008 Relationships between mindfulness practice and levels of mindfulness, medical and psychological symptoms and well-being in a mindfulness-based stress reduction program Journal of Behavioral Medicine 31 1 23 -33
Cathcart S., Galatis N., Immink M., Proeve M., and Petkov J. 2014 Brief mindfulness-based therapy for chronic tension-type headache: A randomized controlled pilot study Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy 42 1 1 -15
Chen Y., Yang X., Wang L., and Zhang X. 2013 A randomized controlled trial of the effects of brief mindfulness meditation on anxiety symptoms and systolic blood pressure in Chinese nursing students Nurse Education Today 33 10 1166 -72
Ding X., Tang Y.-Y., Cao C., Deng Y., Wang Y., Xin X., and Posner M. I. 2014 Short-term meditation modulates brain activity of insight evoked with solution cue Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
Harnett P. H., Whittingham K., Puhakka E., Hodges J., Spry C., and Dob R. 2010 The short-term impact of a brief group-based mindfulness therapy program on depression and life satisfaction Mindfulness 1 3 183 -188
Hölzel B. K., Carmody J., Vangel M., Congleton C., Yerramsetti S. M., Gard T., and Lazar S. W. 2011 Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density Psychiatry Research 191 1 36 -43
Ives Deliperi V. L. 2013 The effects of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in patients with bipolar disorder: A controlled functional MRI investigation Journal of Affective Disorders 150 3 1152
Kabat-Zinn, J. (2013). What is Mindfulness?. PsychAlive. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmEo6RI4Wvs
Kristeller J., Wolever R. Q., and Sheets V. 2014 Mindfulness-Based Eating Awareness Training (MB-EAT) for binge eating: A randomized clinical trial Mindfulness 5 3 282 -297
Kurth F., Luders E., Wu B., and Black D. S. 2014 Brain gray matter changes associated with mindfulness meditation in older adults: An exploratory pilot study using Voxel-based Morphometry Neuro Openventio Journal 1 1 23 -26 doi:https://doi.org/10.17140/NOJ-1-106
Le T. N. 2017 Cultural considerations in a phenomenological study of mindfulness with Vietnamese youth and cyclo drivers International Perspectives in Psychology: Research, Practice, Consultation 6 4 246 -260
Lovibond, S. H., & Lovibond, P. F. (1993). Manual for the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS). Psychology Foundation.
Lutz J., Herwig U., Opialla S., Hittmeyer A., Jäncke L., Rufer M., and Brühl A. B. 2014 Mindfulness and emotion regulation—an fMRI study Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 9 6 776 -785
Mason O. and Hargreaves I. 2001 A qualitative study of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression The British Journal of Medical Psychology 74 Pt 2 197 -212
Morone N. E., Lynch C. S., Greco C. M., Tindle H. A., and Weiner D. K. 2008 “I felt like a new person.” the effects of mindfulness meditation on older adults with chronic pain: Qualitative narrative analysis of diary entries The Journal of Pain: Official Journal of the American Pain Society 9 9 841 -848
Nyklíček I., Dijksman S. C., Lenders P. J., Fonteijn W. A., and Koolen J. J. 2014 A brief mindfulness based intervention for increase in emotional well-being and quality of life in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) patients: The MindfulHeart randomized controlled trial Journal of Behavioral Medicine 37 1 135 -144
Raes F., Griffith J. W., Van der Gucht K., and Williams J. M. G. 2014 School-based prevention and reduction of depression in adolescents: A cluster-randomized controlled trial of a mindfulness group program Mindfulness 5 5 477 -486
Shapiro S. L., Schwartz G. E., and Bonner G. 1998 Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction on medical and premedical students Journal of Behavioral Medicine 21 6 581 -599
Singleton O., Holzel B. K., Vangel M., Brach N., Carmody J., and Lazar S. W. 2014 Change in brainstem gray matter concentration following a mindfulness-based intervention is correlated with improvement in psychological well-being Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 8 33 1 -7
Stahl, B., & Goldstein, E. (2010). A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook. Oakland, California: New Harbinger Publications.
Strauss, A., & Corbin, Juliet M. (1990). Basics of qualitative research : Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Newbury Park, California: Sage Publications.
Ussher M., Spatz A., Copland C., Nicolaou A., Cargill A., Amini-Tabrizi N., and McCracken L. 2014 Immediate effects of a brief mindfulness-based body scan on patients with chronic pain Journal of Behavioral Medicine 37 1 127 -134
Wright C. J. and Schutte N. S. 2014 The relationship between greater mindfulness and less subjective experience of chronic pain: Mediating functions of pain management self-efficacy and emotional intelligence Australian Journal of Psychology 66 3 181 -186
Yamaguchi A. 2014 Influences of quality of life on health and well-being Social Indicators Research 1 -26
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health
Volume 38 • Number 3 • November 2019
Pages: 61 - 78
History
Version of record online: 21 January 2020
Key Words
Mots-clés
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Other Metrics
Citations
Cite As
Shaya MacDonald, Susan Korol, Todd Vassallo, and Cathy MacDougall. 2019. A Community-Based Evaluation of Brief Guided Mindfulness in the Management of Stress and Difficult Emotions. Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health.
38(3): 61-78. https://doi.org/10.7870/cjcmh-2019-010
Export Citations
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.
There are no citations for this item
View Options
View options
Get Access
Login options
Check if you access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.
Subscribe
Click on the button below to subscribe to Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health
