Teachers throughout the United States show low levels of self-efficacy which not only affects their own well-being in the profession but also their students' opportunity to learn. The gap in the literature addressed by this study is the relationship between self-efficacy and mindfulness. Grounded in Shapiro's model of mindfulness and Bandura's theory of self-efficacy, the purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between prekindergarten to grade 12 teachers' 5 facets of mindfulness scores and their perceived level of self-efficacy score at Regional School District (RSD, a pseudonym). The study is a nonexperiemental correlational design for which 130 prekindergarten to grade 12 teachers from a total of 633 teachers (40% response rate) completed an online-administered survey called the Five Facets of Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) and the Teachers' Sense of Self-Efficacy Scale (TSES). The Pearson correlation coefficients showed significant relationships between self-efficacy scores and the overall mindfulness score (p = .000) as well as in the 4 facets describing (p = .007), acting with awareness (p = .002), nonjudging of inner experience (p = .000), and nonreactivity to inner experience (p = .000). Observing (p = .295) was the only facet where a significant relationship with self-efficacy was not found. When teachers use some of the 5 facets of mindfulness consistently, a potential positive social change benefit may be increased self-efficacy, which might lead to increased teacher satisfaction, lower attrition rates, and may affect positive social change in students meeting their learning goals.

Research from various fields has demonstrated the benefits of human-animal interaction for physical and mental health. Recently, animal-assisted therapy (AAT) has become increasingly popular in a variety of healthcare settings--including inpatient mental health care facilities. However, there is limited research investigating the efficacy of AAT in outpatient sites. In addition, the impact of animals as an adjunct to psychotherapy treatment remains mostly uninvestigated. Therefore, it is necessary to empirically explore what therapy animals may contribute to specific treatment interventions with specific populations. The present study was a randomized control trial examining the psychological and physiological effects of adding AAT to a modified mindfulness-based stress reduction program (MBSR) for clients experiencing psychological distress, including anxious and depressive symptoms. It was hypothesized that AAT would be particularly complementary to mindfulness-based interventions because the therapy dog would provide a focus for attention to the current experience and exemplify acceptance and "being," enabling the understanding and practice of the main aspects of mindfulness. Subjects (N = 21) were randomly assigned to the MBSR or MBSR + AAT group and then completed an intervention consisting of six 50-minute individual therapy sessions. Each session included didactic and experiential components modified for delivery with or without a certified therapy dog. State and trait mindfulness, state and trait anxiety, psychological distress, blood pressure, and heart rate were assessed at each session. Results indicate that all participants experienced fewer anxiety and depressive symptoms, decreased psychological distress, and increased mindfulness skills from pre- to posttreatment. Additionally, state anxiety, blood pressure, and heart rate decreased within sessions. No significant difference was found between the control and experimental groups, indicating that interaction with a therapy dog had no impact on symptom reduction, skill acquisition, or client satisfaction in the current study. Future studies need to increase methodological rigor by including multiple therapist/dog teams and increasing sample size. Moreover, researchers must examine more thoroughly the role the dog might have in altering the social environment, such as reducing stigma surrounding mental health services and enhancing the therapeutic alliance.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Mindfulness practice is associated with reduced anxiety, enhanced tolerance of negative affect, lower stress reactivity, improved task concentration, increased cognitive flexibility, and enhanced neurological functioning. However, mindfulness-based treatments are highly varied in duration, type and extent or training provided, and treatment focus. Studies of mindfulness interventions also often fail to operationally define mindfulness, which poses a challenging for understanding the mechanism(s) of change involved in its anxiolytic effects. In the current study, attentional control was examined as a possible mechanism of change, as it is largely deficient in individuals with anxiety yet necessary for extinction learning in treatment. In theory, mindfulness interventions can facilitate increased attentional control during exposure tasks, thereby enhancing new learning and eventually improving treatment outcomes. Using a randomized controlled design, the current study aimed to investigate the effects of mindfulness on attentional control for anxious individuals, with a specific examination of two types of mindfulness exercises: mindful physiological awareness and mindful acceptance. 142 participants were recruited from undergraduate psychology classes at Southern Illinois University, of which 63 had moderate-high trait anxiety and 79 had low trait anxiety (per STAI-Trait score). All participants completed baseline self-report questionnaires, after which they completed a mixed saccade task followed by listening to a 15-minute audio-recorded intervention based on group assignment. Finally, they completed a post-test mixed saccade task and post-test self-report questionnaires. It was hypothesized that both mindfulness groups would demonstrate significantly improved inhibition and shifting processing efficiencies compared to a mind wandering control, and that the mindful acceptance group would demonstrate significantly greater gains than the mindful physiological awareness group. Minimal differences in performance effectiveness were expected among all groups. Contrary to hypotheses, results indicated no significant effects of group on inhibition and shifting processing efficiencies or performance effectiveness in the anxious subsample. However, in the non-anxious subsample, the mindful acceptance group had shorter reaction times than the other two groups and the mindful physiological awareness group had higher accuracy rates than the control group. Findings suggest anxious individuals may need more extensive mindfulness practice to improve attentional control, as they tend to display greater attention deficits than non-anxious individuals. However, the study was limited in sample size and further research and study replication is needed prior to making conclusions about whether attentional control is a true mechanism of change. Study limitations, strengths, and future directions for study are also discussed.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the acceptability, feasibility, potential efficacy, and putative mechanisms of a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) to facilitate stress and smoking urge management that was tailored to low-income female smokers with children. Underserved maternal smokers have elevated levels of stress and depressive symptoms, and greater difficulty managing urges to smoke (key determinants of sustained smoking behavior) compared to the general population of smokers. An MBI that targets such determinants may be useful in facilitating smoking behavior change in this high-risk population. Purposive sampling targeted mindfulness naïve, low socioeconomic status, maternal smokers recruited from dental clinics and healthcare agencies serving low-income Philadelphia neighborhoods. The initial phase of this study used formative assessments to examine the acceptability and feasibility of mindfulness practices and guide the design of a tailored MBI. Next, the study used a randomized, two-group, repeated measures design to assess between-group effects on key factors associated with sustained smoking, comparing participants receiving MBI procedures and a control group receiving a parallel parenting skills intervention. The efficacy of MBI procedures was tested using a single 5-minute audio with MBI instructions vs a child safety recording (control) to examine group differences in negative affect and smoking urge following three massed smoking cue exposure trials at baseline. Subsequently, participants initiated four weeks of either MBI or parenting skills training delivered by daily text messages with prompts and links to group-specific audio. Participants’ smoking urge, perceived stress and daily cigarette consumption were assessed daily over the 4-week intervention via texted survey link and at end of treatment via telephone to examine efficacy in reducing stress and smoking urge and explore effects on daily cigarette smoking. The study also assessed attrition rate, adherence to daily text-based survey completion, and intervention satisfaction as indices of acceptability and feasibility. We hypothesized that the MBI would be feasible, acceptable, and, compared to the control group, demonstrate greater reductions in smoking urge and negative affect (single session assessments at baseline) as well as perceived stress and strength of smoking urge over time (4-week assessments). Between group comparisons on primary and exploratory outcomes were assessed with linear mixed models (LMM). The study also explored the facets of mindfulness and process measures. The participant sample (N = 40) was 88% African American, with an average age of 36 years old and 55% with a high school degree/GED or less. Mean baseline daily smoking consumption was around 10 cigarettes per day. Formative analyses suggested acceptability of mindfulness practice. The main theme that developed from the in-depth interviews was the need for tailored content such as shorter mediations, informal language, and text messages with pictures. Results of the single session MBI following cue exposure procedures showed no between group differences in urge or negative affect. Results of the 4-week MBI suggested that the intervention was feasible, with 4% attrition and an 87% response rate (~6 out of 7 days over 4 weeks). LMMs showed a significant time by condition effect for smoking urge, F (1, 545) = 5.38, PE = −0.038, SE = 0.016, p = 0.021, indicating that smoking urge declined significantly more over time in the MBI group compared to the control group, but no effect over time by condition for perceived stress. Thus, there was partial support for the primary hypotheses. Exploratory analyses showed a significant difference in mean cigs/day [F (1,35) = 6.993, p = 0.012] between groups (MBI mean = 5.51 cigs/day; Control mean = 8.12 cigs/day). Analysis of process measures showed the messages were well received and viewed as helpful, inspirational and motivational, providing further support of acceptability of MBI procedures. Together, results suggest acceptability and feasibility of MBI procedures in this under-studied, high risk population of smokers. Results suggest potential efficacy of 4-weeks of daily guided MBI practice at reducing smoking urges and cigarettes smoked per day among current maternal smokers, even though a single session of guided MBI among mindfulness naïve smokers may not have utility in suppressing cue-elicited smoking urge and negative affect. This study adds to the growing evidence supporting mindfulness practices to aid in smoking cessation. While the generalizability of this study is limited to a highly distressed population of maternal smokers not enrolled in smoking cessation treatment, future research could determine whether initiating this tailored MBI prior to a quit attempt could facilitate preparation of smoking cessation in a population of smokers known to have greater challenges quitting smoking. / Public Health

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.