Mindfulness最新文献

For many centuries, scholars and philosophers from wisdom traditions in different cultures have reported and discussed non-self states of consciousness. These states can be both short-term (state, transitory) and long-term (trait, lasting) conditions. However, in psychology, the importance of a healthy self is usually emphasized, and some theorists have dismissed the idea of “selfless” modes of functioning. This disagreement hinders further empirical progress in the study of self and the way it might be affected by meditation. This paper addresses this issue by providing an interdisciplinary conceptual discussion, grounded in the pattern theory of self (PTS). According to PTS, what we call “self” is a complex pattern of dynamically related constituent processes, which include embodied, experiential (prereflective), affective, psychological/cognitive, reflective, narrative, intersubjective, ecological, and normative processes. We propose that Buddhist and secular meditative practices induce a reorganization of the self-pattern, allowing individuals to experience a “selfless” state, both temporarily and persistently. We then put forward a heuristic model, the pattern theory of selflessness (PTSL), possibly experienced through meditation practices. The proposed PTSL model consists of six transformations that contribute to self-pattern reorganization in a nonlinear and iterative manner: consolidating and integrating the self-pattern; cultivating concentration and present-moment awareness; cultivating mindful awareness; self-deconstruction (non-self) states; self-flexibility; and self-liberation as a trait. This conceptual analysis and integrative view contributes to the growing field of consciousness and contemplative research by advancing the contemporary understanding of non-self experience and its relation to Buddhist and secular meditation. The proposed model serves as a basis for interdisciplinary efforts to guide empirical research in this area.

Objectives

The Mindfulness in Teaching Scale was developed to assess intrapersonal and interpersonal mindfulness in elementary school teachers, both being key attributes for successful teaching. While the scale has been widely validated, it has not yet been validated with Iranian teachers. The present study sought to translate and validate the Mindfulness in Teaching Scale for Iranian Teachers (MTS-IT).

Methods

A total of 890 Iranian teachers, selected through random sampling, participated in this cross-sectional study. The construct validity of the MTS-IT was evaluated using exploratory analysis and confirmatory factor analyses. The reliability was examined, including internal consistency and stability for MTS-IT, convergent and discriminant validity, measurement invariance across gender, teaching years, and education level taught, and measurement stability. Finally, Exploratory Graph Analysis (EGA) was used to estimate the dimensional structure of the MTS-IT.

Results

Construct validity and network analysis confirmed the 2-factor structure of MTS-IT among Iranian teachers. This model remained invariant across gender, teaching years, and education levels taught. The reliability and convergent and discriminant validity values were good in both dimensions. MTS-IT subscales showed positive correlations with scores on mindfulness inclination, positive emotions, and self-compassion scales while demonstrating negative correlations with job burnout, negative emotions, and feelings of loneliness (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

The validated MTS-IT provides a valuable instrument for teacher training programs and interventions aimed at enhancing mindfulness among Iranian teachers. Teacher training programs can use the MTS-IT to identify teachers who may benefit from additional mindfulness support, allowing for the design of targeted interventions to improve intrapersonal and interpersonal mindfulness.

Preregistration

This study is not preregistered.

Objectives

This open trial aimed to determine the feasibility and acceptability of a modified version of Mindful Self-Compassion for Teens for transgender adolescents and assess changes in suicide ideation and other measures of emotional well-being. As an exploratory measure, we investigated potential moderators of suicide ideation outcomes, such as self-compassion.

Method

Two cohorts of transgender and gender-diverse adolescents recruited from the US and Canada (n = 35; age range 13–17, M = 14.9, SD = 1.19) participated in an eight-session online self-compassion program. Quantitative measures of wellbeing (i.e., suicide ideation, depression, resilience) were collected at baseline, post-intervention, and 2-month follow-up, and qualitative data (through open-ended questions on an electronic form) were collected at post-intervention and 2-month follow-up.

Results

Suicide ideation decreased with large effect sizes from baseline to follow-up, and most other measures of wellbeing improved with small to moderate effect sizes. Feasibility was confirmed, and acceptability differed markedly between cohorts, with the cohort with greater acceptability improving in mental health attributes to a greater degree. Self-compassion and thwarted belongingness, a factor related to suicide ideation, moderated suicide ideation such that those with greater self-compassion or less thwarted belongingness experienced less suicide ideation.

Conclusions

Self-compassion programs can be beneficial to help transgender adolescents manage the stressors and negative emotional outcomes arising from the anti-trans sociopolitical discourse that has been pervasive in the US. We provide recommendations for future implementations, including that someone who is transgender be part of the instructional staff. Future studies would benefit from larger sample sizes and randomized control trials to confirm the present findings.

Preregistration

This study is not preregistered.

In this commentary upon the article “Mindfulness in Global Health: Critical Analysis and Agenda”, we articulate how scaling mindfulness technologies as multilevel public health interventions requires the framework of embodied cognition for a scientific articulation of the nuanced dynamics of mindfulness as a therapeutic technology. Embodied cognition contends that the body and bodily activity in the world are constitutive facets of mind. Mindfulness understood in terms of its embodied, enacted, extended, and embedded dimensions describes a broad set of contemplative practices that utilize the circular structure of embodiment to intervene in the complex feedback structure of the mind–body system, influencing cycles of organismic self-regulation and enactments of self-world perception. We contend that to advance the discussion, initiated by Oman, about mindfulness in public health, attention must be given to reconceiving mind–body linkages, the nature of awareness, and the vital role of non-conceptual direct experience in mindfulness interventions. This provides grounds for reconceiving mindfulness as a skillful mode of embodied social cognition and for recognizing diverse cross-cultural contemplative technologies as useful for adapting mindfulness-based interventions to specific populations needs. We also arrive at a novel model of the decentering skills fostered through mindfulness via non-conceptual attention to the processes underlying cognition. It also models mindfulness-based exposure therapy, understood not behaviorally, but through insights generated via intentionally orienting towards internal representation in order to uncover habituated patterns by which we enact both self and world perception. In this way, we may better articulate the nature of mindfulness and thus its effective application to population-scale problems.

Objectives

Mindfulness research has flourished over the past several decades with prominent effects on health and wellbeing. More recently, mindfulness has been expanded to interpersonal contexts, notably within couples. Relationship mindfulness, or mindfulness within the context of romantic relationships, has also demonstrated significant effects on relationship quality beyond individuals’ dispositional mindfulness. Given the novelty of relationship mindfulness, there has been little psychometric evaluation of couple-oriented mindfulness scales. The goal of the current study was to test measurement invariance of the Relationship Mindfulness Measure (RMM) as well as the Positive–Negative Relationship Quality (PNRQ) across White and Black women. The associations between relationship mindfulness and positive and negative relationship quality were subsequently examined using latent variable modeling.

Method

A sample of 393 women was recruited from two universities (Mean age White = 27.54, Mean age Black = 30.99). A multiple group confirmatory factor analysis was utilized to test measurement invariance, and latent variable structural equation modeling was used to test associations between relationship mindfulness and positive and negative relationship quality.

Results

Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated configural, metric, and scalar invariance across race for both the RMM and PNRQ. Race did not affect the significant associations found between mindfulness and relationship quality.

Conclusions

The results indicate two key findings: (1) Relationship mindfulness was consistent across White and Black women, and (2) the effects of relationship mindfulness on relationship quality did not differ between Black and White women.

Preregistration

This study is not preregistered.

Objectives

Individuals may turn to alcohol in part because they lack effective strategies to manage negative affect (NA), such as self-compassion. Motives to cope with NA are key mechanisms of problem drinking outcomes that are associated with self-compassion. Drinking to cope (DTC) has been found to mediate the associations between negative affect (NA) and alcohol outcomes at the between-person level, but findings have been variable at the within-person level. Self-compassion components (particularly self-kindness and self-judgment) could serve as moderators to alter the impact of NA on drinking outcomes and may explain the prior varied findings. Accordingly, this study examined daily DTC as a mediator of NA-alcohol consequences and tested whether daily self-kindness/self-judgment moderated these associations.

Method

Regularly drinking adults (n = 128) completed up to 14 daily diaries each. Using multilevel structural equation modeling, we examined how daily variables interacted to predict alcohol consequences, while controlling for alcohol use and other drinking motives, at both within-person and between-person levels.

Results

DTC was found to mediate the relationship between NA and DTC at the within-person level, documenting this pathway for the first time in a community sample while controlling for other motives/use. Self-kindness correlated negatively with NA and DTC at the within-person level. Self-judgment correlated positively with NA, DTC, and alcohol consequences on within-person and between-person levels. The interactions with self-kindness/self-judgment were not significant.

Conclusions

Daily drinking to cope remains an important predictor of problematic substance use at the within-person level. Self-kindness/self-judgment was correlated with NA, DTC, and alcohol consequences, showing promise for relevance to drinking processes. Further work should be conducted to explore how individuals apply these skills with more precise temporal order.

Preregistration

This study is not preregistered.

Objectives

This study aimed to investigate the effects of two meditation-based programs, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT), in a brief and intensive format on various psychological variables in a group of healthy volunteer adults attending a retreat with a crossover design.

Method

Participants received both interventions in a random order over 7 days (MBSR-CCT, n = 25; CCT-MBSR, n = 24). Assessments were conducted at three different times: Day 1 (pre-program), Day 4 (after completing the first program and before starting the second program), and Day 7 (post-second program), with a follow-up assessment 3 months later.

Results

A significant time main effect was found for emotion regulation (p < 0.001; b = 0.49), self-compassion (p < 0.001; b = − 0.78), mindfulness (p < 0.001; b = − 1.06), low-arousal positive affect (p < 0.001; b = − 1.39), and high-arousal negative affect (p < 0.001; b = 1.82), with improvements in the expected directions observed in both groups. However, the combination of MBSR followed by CCT showed an advantage in some psychological outcomes following the retreat. The follow-up analysis revealed that some of the psychological benefits observed were retained after 3 months (e.g., emotional distress and regulation, self-compassion, and mindfulness), especially in the groups starting their training with MBSR followed by CCT.

Conclusions

These findings highlight the benefits of meditation-based interventions in a brief and intensive format for psychological functioning in healthy adults, providing novel results on the sequential and combined effects of MBSR and CCT, with implications for practice and interventions.

Pre-registration

The study was pre-registered at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT05516355).

Objectives

The unprecedented global pandemic and enforced isolation have increased emotional, cognitive, and social dysregulation in children, exacerbated by an educational environment dominated by a recovery agenda focusing on academic outcomes and regular testing, which continues. The use of a creative, agentic mindfulness activity was employed to support school reintegration, self-regulation, positive relationships, and a reduction in exclusions.

Method

A case study of a Year 4 group of children over a 6-month period in a trauma-informed primary school explored a mindfulness and guided visualisation intervention in the form of a book entitled “My Magical Garden”. Semi-structured interviews with the Head of Pastoral and Wellbeing and the classroom teacher, along with a participative Zoom session with the children, and their poems and stories, were conducted and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis via a constructivist epistemology and experiential orientation to data interpretation.

Results

The intervention led to reductions in children’s stress and anxiety levels and decreases in emotional and cognitive dysregulation. The intervention also resulted in an increase in positive relationships and school reintegration, and increased attention on cognitive tasks. The class also experienced zero exclusions over this period.

Conclusions

Mindfulness meditation and guided visualisation techniques that are creative, and intrinsically motivated, support cognitive and emotional regulation and support social and school success. In view of the ongoing impact of the pandemic and lack of support for social and emotional wellbeing, particularly for children facing adversity, mindfulness meditation programmes in schools should be available to all children.

Preregistration

This study is not preregistered.

Objectives

The rate of depression among college students has increased significantly, reducing vitality and ability to flourish. Mindfulness interventions delivered via technological platforms offer great promise for reducing depression symptoms and supporting positive wellbeing outcomes for college students. The present study aimed to understand the broader positive wellbeing outcomes that accompany a reduction in psychological distress following use of a technology-delivered mindfulness intervention.

Methods

Using a randomized controlled treatment design, this study evaluated the benefits of a mindfulness-based mobile application (app), Headspace, on various aspects of wellbeing in depressed college students. Students (n = 145) were randomly assigned to 2 months of app-based intervention or to a waitlist control. Participants completed self-report surveys assessing mental health and wellbeing at pre-intervention, midpoint (1 month), post-intervention (2 months), and follow-up (3 months).

Results

Using intent-to-treat analysis, those randomized to use the app, compared to those on the waitlist, demonstrated a reduction in depression symptoms, and in other indicators of psychological distress (e.g., anxiety, stress, negative affect), over time. Self-reported positive wellbeing outcomes included an increase in positive affect and happiness, enhanced capacity to savor the moment, enhanced compassion, self-regulation, and trait mindfulness. These statistically significant benefits were medium to large in size and lasted into the 1-month follow-up period. Further, students’ patterns of app use point to the critical gap that evidence-based technology-delivered interventions can fill.

Conclusions

Building on previous research, the present study illustrated that a technology-delivered mindfulness intervention comprehensively improved aspects of psychological distress and positive wellbeing in a sustained manner in college students.

Preregistration

This study was registered at OSF, https://osf.io/3trzk.