Public health experts have developed education campaigns based on nutritional messaging to alleviate illnesses related to unhealthy food consumption. This thesis examines cultural factors affecting the accessibility of such messaging, such as economic status, ethnicity, role in the family, access to transportation and markets, and familiarity with the topics of messaging. I explore how these variables affect learning and applying new nutrition knowledge in an individual's daily life. The methods used were semi-structured interviews (n=10) and participant observations conducted in an Integrative Medicine clinic at an urban hospital.

Mindfulness may be one way in which common factors could be enhanced in trainee therapists. Previous research has found some support for mindfulness increasing empathy, compassion and emotion regulation, but research is affected by a lack of active control groups and interventions with multiple components. An experimental design was used with a brief (15 min) mindfulness practice compared to a brief (15 min) ‘mind-wandering’ control group, in order to overcome some of these confounds. Participants were 48 trainee therapists who were randomly assigned to two groups of equal sizes. Measures were taken at baseline and post-induction. The predicted findings for empathy and compassion for others were not found. The mindfulness group did show lower negative affect at post-test than the control group, but only in participants who were high in negative affect at baseline, a result which should be viewed tentatively due to the small number of participants in each subgroup of the analysis. Issues limiting confidence in the results are discussed, particularly that the two groups did not report different levels of state mindfulness after the brief exercises. Implications for future research, particularly in considering appropriate active controls for mindfulness, are discussed.

A study on the relationship of mindfulness to empathy was conducted with undergraduate students at a large southwestern university. Previous studies suggest that mindfulness may be related to empathy, but are inconclusive due to measurement and methodological limitations. A mindfulness construct that includes axioms related to intention, attention, and attitude is suggested for researching empathy, along with statistical models that include mediation. A multifactored measure of mindfulness was hypothesized to predict perspective taking and empathic concern empathy components, which in turn would mediate the relationship of mindfulness facets to individual and interpersonal outcomes. Study results suggest a relationship of mindfulness to perspective taking, but not to empathic concern. Results from the mediation procedures were not supportive of the theorized role of empathy in relation to mindfulness on individual and interpersonal outcomes. Implications and limitations to the study design and theory are discussed. / text

Pro-inflammatory cytokines have been implicated in the pathophysiology and maintenance of depression. This study investigated the effects of a short mindfulness intervention on pro-inflammatory correlates of depression (IL-6 and TNF-α) and selfreported psychological health. Sixty-four college females were assigned to a four-week mindfulness training group or a contact-control group. Cytokines and psychological health were assessed at baseline, post-treatment, and 3-month follow-up (mindfulness group only). IL-6 and TNF-α significantly decreased from baseline to post-treatment in the mindfulness group only; these changes were sustained at 3-month follow-up. No between-group differences in psychological health emerged. Although reductions in proinflammatory cytokines in the mindfulness condition were not attributable to psychological changes, they may serve to protect against the development of future depressive episodes.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of Mindful Listening Instruction on Music Listening Sensitivity and Music Listening Enjoyment. The type of mindfulness investigated in this study was of the social-psychological type, which shares both commonalities with and distinctions from meditative mindfulness. Enhanced context awareness, openness to new information, situation in the present, awareness of novel distinctions, and awareness of multiple possible perspectives (cognitive flexibility) are components of social-psychological mindfulness. A pretest-posttest control group design was used for this study. Two different age groups of students were studied: fourth-grade students (N = 42) and undergraduate non-music major college students (N = 48). The fourth-grade participants in this study were selected from an elementary school in a large city in the Northeastern United States. The college students were selected from a large university in the Southeastern United States. Participants were randomized into either the experimental or control group. Gordon’s Intermediate Measures of Music Audiation and Advanced Measures of Music Audiation were used as a pretest for fourth-grade students and college students, respectively. The results showed no statistically significant differences between the experimental and control groups. Student demographical information was also collected and reported. The treatment consisted of 10 lessons for fourth-grade students. Five of the 10 lessons were used with the college students. For each age level, participants in both groups, Mindful Listening and Control, received instruction using listening-map-based and non-listening-map-based lessons from the Share the Music textbook series. Students in the Mindful Listening groups also received listening instructions designed to promote mindful listening. Music Listening Sensitivity was measured using the phrasing test from the Sensitivity portion of Gordon’s Music Aptitude Profile (MAP-P), as well as the researcher-created Anderson Test of Music Listening Sensitivity (ATMLS). Music Listening Enjoyment was measured using students’ ratings of their Listening Enjoyment after each lesson on a seven-point Likert-type scale. Results indicated that Mindful Listening Instruction yielded higher scores, which were statistically significant (at α = .05), for Music Listening Sensitivity (as measured by both the ATMLS and the MAP-P) and Music Listening Enjoyment for fourth-grade and college-student participants.

<p>Undersökningar visar att barn i grundskolan mår allt sämre. Många svenska skolbarn lider av oro, ångest och nedstämdhet. Denna studies syfte var att undersöka om gruppbehandling i skolmiljön kan ge resultat i form av minskad förekomst av oro, ångest och nedstämdhet hos barn. För behandlingen valdes Tillämpad Avslappning och Medveten Närvaro som båda har använts i gruppbehandling för olika svårigheter. Manualer för barnbehandling skapades för de båda metoderna. Behandlingen omfattade 12 sessioner à 30 minuter under 6 veckor. Undersökningsdeltagare var 39 barn i åk 3 i en Stockholmsskola. Barnen randomiserades till behandling med Tillämpad Avslappning (N = 10), behandling med Medveten Närvaro (N = 9) och väntelista (N = 20). Mätningar med PSWQ-C, MASC och CDI-S visade att barnen i behandlingsgrupperna hade minskat signifikant på samtliga skalor vid eftermätning. En utvärdering visade att barnen var nöjda med träningen. Sammantaget stöder undersökningen förebyggande behandlingsarbete i grundskolan.</p>

This study investigated the discharge practice of a Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) by examining records (electronic and file) of clients discharged between April 2005 and March 2006. Out of a total of 211 discharged clients a random sample of 20 clients was selected to examine the extent to which records and reasons for discharge adhere to current CMHT policies and guidelines. In addition, a sample of clients who had been engaged by the CMHT for 6 months or less was compared to a sample of clients who have been engaged for 1 year or longer to establish whether these differed in sociodemographic characteristics, diagnoses and extent of service provision. The majority of clients discharged during the specified period consisted of clients engaged for 6 months or less. The sampling process revealed that a proportion of these included clients seen for one-off assessments or duty calls, indicating that there is room for improvement to clarify referral criteria (e.g. to GPs) and the role of the CMHT. Similarly, the examination of recording practice also revealed room for improvement in the closing of care packages electronically and inclusion of required information in discharge letters. Almost 50% of clients in the sample were discharged following a decline of any further intervention the reasons for which it will be important to investigate in the form of an audit or survey of service user’s views. Clients engaged for 6 months or less and 1 year or longer seemed to differ mostly in terms of employment rates, diagnosis and previous inpatient admission and mental health act sections. The findings are discussed in relation to the limitations of this study, implications for the service and further research.

This thesis consists of two sections, the first of which is a systematic review of selfreport measures of mindfulness. The review aims were to evaluate the psychometric properties of each of the identified measures and examine their utility for research and clinical practice. Definitions of mindfulness were central to the differences found between measures, and as such this review also provides an overview of how mindfulness has been conceptualised in the literature. This review has been presented in the format required by the journal, Clinical Psychology Review. The second section is a meta-analysis which examines the efficacy of mindfulnessbased stress reduction (MBSR). Mindfulness-based interventions are increasingly being applied in a range of settings and the evidence base is growing. Specifically, this review aimed to determine the effectiveness of MBSR on quality of life for people suffering from chronic physical health conditions. The methods and results of the meta-analysis are described in detail, followed by a discussion of the findings. A more concise overview is then provided as a journal article, in the format required by the British Journal of Clinical Psychology. The guidelines for submission to both journals are included in Appendix 1 and 2 respectively.

This thesis explores the ways in which an actor training scheme can be constructed to allow the participants to directly apply the principles of training to their work in the moment of performing. Subsequently, my aim is to employ this actor training approach alongside or as an alternative to the current acting courses in undergraduate drama programmes in Thai universities. Three practical projects were carried out as part of the research. In the first project, I attempted to identify essential areas of enquiry in a psychophysical actor training approach, and the tasks that needed to be tackled by an actor in rehearsal and performance that allow what may be considered the quality of an actor’s presence to emerge. In the second practical project, I examined the function of meditation in motion as an actor training tool that enables the participants to tackle their performance tasks. In the third practical project, I explored the ways in which meditation in motion can be employed in a university actor training course in Thailand to enhance the students’ mindfulness in performance. This thesis argues that Buddhist concepts of meditation and mindfulness are beneficial to the course facilitator in terms of the structuring of an actor training course, and to the students when approaching performance tasks. The main result of this research is a psychophysical approach to actor training, focusing on the practice of meditation in motion and the Buddhist concept of mindfulness of the present, designed specifically for Thai undergraduate drama programmes. Moreover, this thesis demonstrates a move away from the East-West binary towards a more localised and customised approach to actor training in Thailand and the utilisation of resources within the Thai or the broader Asian culture. It also opens up other possibilities of applying Thai or Asian philosophies to performance training, without relying on the Western perspectives on theatre and performance.

This is a qualitative literature analysis aimed at investigating elements of spirituality within the mindfulness practice of MBSR. This is done by looking at different definitions of spirituality, religiosity and mindfulness. I also look at the origins of mindfulness in the MBSR program and compare it to its contemporary religious counterpart to look for which similarities do or don’t exist. I consider the historical and current uses of these concepts to create a necessary background and theory. The study shows that mindfulness and related concepts are often not described in a satisfactory way within literature which creates problems in research. The founder of the MBSR method, Jon Kabat-Zinn, wanted to re-conceptualize Buddhist concepts in a secular context. But the actual inclusion of these elements depends largely on which definitions are used, and on the specific practice situation and instructor and partly on the participants’ own sense of spirituality. I discuss the use of mindfulness in secular and New age type businesses and bring up earlier criticism of mindfulness both from scientists and Buddhists. I also discuss spirituality in a secular context and how the MBSR program can be used by New age spiritual seekers and to fill people’s need for meaning and sense of coherence (SOC) in an individualistic society which is increasingly abandoning traditional religions.