Thesis advisor: Joyce Pulcini / This randomized intervention study examined the efficacy and feasibility of a stress reduction program using mindful movement to decrease levels of perceived stress, facilitate coping, enhance self-esteem, and self-regulation in school-age girls. School-age children experience stressors with serious sequelae and need to respond with multiple coping strategies. Girls use maladaptive coping strategies and report lower self-esteem. Evidence-based interventions for stress management in children are scant, contributing to missed opportunities for preventing illness and promoting health. Mindfulness-based stress reduction is a training program of awareness-based practices, including yoga, which was adapted to the development of school-age girls. The questions included: (1) To what extent do school-age girls who participate in an eight week mindful movement intervention report significantly different levels of perceived stress, effectiveness and number of coping strategies, levels of self-esteem, and self-regulation than girls in a wait-list control group? (2) To what extent is the dose of mindful movement inversely correlated with perceived stress and positively correlated with effectiveness and number of coping strategies, self-esteem, and self-regulation? A sample of fourth and fifth grade girls was recruited from two public schools randomized as intervention and wait-list control. The intervention group met one hour a week for eight weeks and completed ten minutes of daily homework. Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance with an intention to treat analysis (n=155) was used. No differences between groups were found. Both groups reported increased self-esteem and self-regulation over time. Compared to the control group, the intervention group was more likely to increase their frequency of coping (p< .05). The amount of home yoga practice predicted an increase in stress scores. Supplemental analyses found the intervention group was more likely to report increasing stress appraisals (p<.01). Coping frequency and stress appraisal scores were not correlated at Time 1 in the intervention group, but were positively correlated at Time 2. The intervention group may have become more aware of feelings associated with stress and generated coping, or may have experienced increasing stress as part of mindfulness training. School-based mindfulness interventions are feasible and may be coordinated by school nurses, but require more investigation. Limitations, implications, and suggestions for future research are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Connell School of Nursing. / Discipline: Nursing.

The time of adolescence is marked by enhanced emotional experiences and difficulties with regulating one’s emotions. One way to improve the adolescent’s ability to regulate their emotions is to let them practice mindfulness meditation. The motivational drive behind this thesis is the question of what forms of mindfulness meditation are needed to give the highest increase in their emotion regulation-abilities. One problem is that while there exist neural studies on mindfulness meditation for adults, the research field of adolescent meditation lacks them. Because neural studies are needed to adequately answer this question, and the lack of brain imaging tools for this thesis, the focus here was to conduct some groundwork for this discussion. The first aim was to investigate the neural effects of mindfulness meditation on emotion regulation in adults and the second aim was to investigate to what extent we can generalize these neural effects to adolescents. To be able to theoretical discuss the second aim, neural and psychological studies on mindfulness meditation and emotion regulation were used as a base. The studies were grouped into five sub-categories based on age group and research field and then discussed with the help of developmental studies. Adult meditators had stronger functionality in regulatory brain regions than non-meditators during meditation and during the perception of negative stimuli. The discussion about the generalization of the adult neural patterns to adolescents showed that the findings were too diverse to come to any useful conclusions. Empirical and conceptual improvements, along with neural meditation studies on adolescents, are needed to improve the research field in both age groups.

Thesis advisor: Karen Arnold / This study was an experimental trial of a classroom-based intervention to influence mindfulness among MBA students at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). MBA students at MIT Sloan and elsewhere are conditioned to look forward and reflect on the past only to the degree that it helps plan for the future. They are rarely taught to be aware of what is occurring in the current moment. Training students to be more mindful, that is better able to be aware of and to pay attention to present moment experience would contribute to the mission of MBA programs to create leaders by giving students meaningful insight into their own thoughts, feelings, and actions. Within the literatures of medicine, neuroscience, psychology, and education, investigators have found that mindfulness has been positively correlated with improved well-being, reduced stress, better decision-making and perspective-taking, as well as improved personal relationships (Brown and Ryan, 2003; Block-Lerner, Adair, Plumb, Rhatigan, & Orsillo, 2007; Dekeyser, Raes, Leijssen, Leysen, & Dewulf, 2008; De Dea Roglio & Light, 2009; Kabat-Zinn, 1994). While the potential benefits of mindfulness have been established in multiple fields, there is scant research on mindfulness and MBA students. This research study explored whether brief mindfulness meditation exercises, embedded in an existing course, would influence MBA students' levels of mindfulness as measured by the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) (Brown & Ryan, 2003). In the fall 2014 semester, a sample of 158 first-year MBA students from MIT Sloan participated in an experiment with modified randomization of a pre/post design. Data analysis revealed that participant scores on the MAAS decreased significantly from pretest to posttest, though less so in the treatment group. These findings suggest that the intervention was not robust enough to exert a positive influence on participants' levels of mindfulness in the graduate business school context. This research contributes to the literature by providing important information about the requisite exposure to and scalability of the intervention in research on mindfulness meditation in higher education. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Psykisk ohälsa bland unga ökar i snabb takt. Därför är det av stor vikt att undersöka vad som kan främja god hälsa så att denna negativa utveckling kan minska. Yoga och mindfulness är metoder som människor kan använda sig av för att framförallt öka sitt välbefinnande samt att med hjälp av olika verktyg minska stressnivån. Syftet med studien är därför att undersöka hur yoga och mindfulness utövas i skolan samt hur lärarnas upplevelser är kring hur eleverna har påverkats av yoga och mindfulness i årskurs 1-6 i grundskolan. Semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes och resultatet analyserades med en manifest innehållsanalys. Resultatet visar att yoga och mindfulness upplevs generera över lag i positiva effekter för eleverna med framförallt minskad stress och ökade prestationer. Dock finns det även de som har svårt att se effekter och som anser att det till och med skulle kunna ha stressande effekt. Det upplevs ha lite ojämlika effekter på eleverna baserat på ålder och mottaglighet hos dem. Resultatet kan användas som en påbörjan till vidare forskning inom ämnet för att eventuellt implementera yoga och mindfulness på fler skolor i Sverige så att fler elever kan få hjälp som kan minska stressen i skolan och öka deras välmående. Diskussionen tar upp studiens brister och positiva aspekter gällande genomförandet samt kopplingar mellan resultatet i studien och tidigare forskning och teoretiska perspektiv.

The first purpose of this experimental study was to investigate if there is an improvement in tennis players' performance when they use mindfulness meditation training (MMT), an intervention designed for this study. The second purpose of the study was to evaluate whether participation in MMT would increase tennis players' mindfulness and help them reduce anxiety, and whether these factors would mediate performance. The third purpose of the study was to examine whether participation in MMT training decreased the frequency of negative thoughts and improved athletes' ability to 'let-go' of negative thoughts. In terms of the structure of the research, 100 tennis players were randomly divided into either the intervention group or the control group. The intervention group was asked to listen to a mindfulness meditation training (MMT) CD, while the control group listened to a tennis skills and strategy CD. Both CD's were ten minutes in duration and the tennis players were asked to listen to their given CD daily over an eight week period. The intervention group finished with 42 participants and the control group finished with 38 participants, therefore, ending up with the total of 80 participants total. The intervention group, which practiced MMT, significantly outperformed the control group as measured by tennis results. Compared to the control group, the intervention group won significantly more games (449 compared to 242) and matches (211compared to 99) and lost significantly fewer games (188 compared to 428) and matches (120 compared to 205). The intervention group also increased in the level of mindfulness as measured by The Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale (MAAS) whereas the control group showed no significant increase. The increase in mindfulness by the intervention group not only helped participants accept performance related anxiety, but also had a positive effect on performance; higher scores on the MAAS scale were positively related to the number of games and matches won. Likewise, the significantly lower scores on the Social Fear subscale shown by the intervention group could help explain why those participants lost fewer games and matches. Even though neither the intervention group nor the control group was able to "let-go" of negative thoughts if they did occur, the findings indicated that the intervention group experienced fewer negative thoughts than the control group. MMT helped tennis players' performance, and although further research is warranted to assess the impact of MMT with respect to age, gender, sport and practice duration, it should be considered a potentially valuable intervention for coaches and athletes who are trying to improve tennis performance.

Aims: The thesis aimed to contribute to the current understanding of how to improve comprehensive health outcomes for children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Methods: A systematic review was undertaken to identify existing interventions designed to improve health-related quality of life in a paediatric diabetes population. The quality of identified studies was assessed and the effectiveness of the interventions was evaluated. Parent-adolescent dyads were also recruited via paediatric diabetes teams to participate in an empirical study. Participants were asked to complete questionnaires measuring psychological flexibility, mindfulness, perception of parental care and control, adherence to treatment and quality of life. Relationships were explored using correlation and regression analysis. Results: Twenty seven articles were identified in the systematic review. More than half were rated as “acceptable” or “high quality”. Quality of life was a primary treatment target in only three studies. Eight studies reported significant beneficial effects on health-related quality of life. In the empirical study, regression analysis found that both parent and adolescent diabetes-specific psychological flexibility predicted treatment adherence while adolescent mindfulness and insulin administration predicted quality of life. Conclusion: There is some evidence for the effectiveness of intensive structured education and coping skills training in improving health-related quality. However consideration should be given to developing theoretically informed interventions to target quality of life alongside other treatment related outcomes. The empirical study suggested psychological flexibility and mindfulness are useful constructs for understanding health outcomes in adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Acceptance and commitment, and mindfulness-based therapies may prove beneficial for improving outcomes in this population.

Shame is a complex emotion and often discussed with reluctance; these feelings are usually incapacitating and unbearable. In this thesis, four studies explored aspects of shame vulnerability and shame management. First, a cross-sectional study (n = 240) was carried out to assess factors contributing to the experience of shame. This study demonstrated that negative self-judgment and submissive coping strategies accounted for a significant variance in shame above and beyond the effects of recall of adverse childhood experiences, and that negative self-judgment fully mediated the relationship between recall of childhood experiences and shame. The second study (n = 140 and n = 415) examined the underlying factor structure of a new measure: the Acceptance of Shame and Embarrassment Scale (ASES). Factor analysis in both samples revealed that the ASES had good internal consistency and construct validity. Thirdly, a cross sectional study (n = 159) considered self-compassion and mindfulness as methods of shame management and demonstrated that mindful and self-compassionate were significantly and negatively correlated with the experience of shame. In addition, this study showed that self-compassion fully mediated the mindfulness-shame relationship. The final experimental study (n = 120) assessed the effect of shame on mind wandering. Participants were assigned to shame, pride, or control conditions, and mind wandering during a subsequent reading task was measured using retrospective and behavioural methods. Inducing feelings of shame did not have a significant effect on mind wandering. Overall, these studies suggested that (a) adverse childhood experiences were significantly associated with negative self-judgment and shame, (b) adopting submissive coping strategies is likely to increase the chance of shame vulnerability, (c) the Acceptance of Shame and Embarrassment Scale had promising psychometric properties for assessing acceptance of shame and embarrassment experiences, (d) self-compassion mediated the relationship between mindfulness and shame, and (e) inducing feelings of shame did not have a significant effect on mind wandering.

Systematic Review - Recent studies have identified potential change within interpersonal relationships following mindfulness-based interventions such as MBSR and MBCT; however, few studies have explored this in a clinical sample, from the participants’ perspective. This study aimed to explore this phenomenon by synthesising qualitative studies to answer the following question: How do people with a mental health diagnosis experience interpersonal change following MBSR and MBCT. A systematic search strategy identified 117 studies, of which 12 met the final inclusion criteria. A thematic synthesis was conducted based on the protocol developed by Thomas and Harden (2008). The thematic synthesis revealed an overall theme of connection, with subthemes of ‘the group as a community’; ‘reconnecting with the self’; ‘skill development’ and ‘reconnecting with others’. These themes were further synthesised to consider the interconnections between them. This revealed two points of interest: the power of the group community and intra- to inter-personal development. These themes were explored in relation to existing literature. The results are discussed in relation to the limitations of the study, and future research recommendations are considered. Empirical Paper - Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) have been shown to be effective in reducing the impact of cognitive reactivity (CR) and improving outcomes for people with recurrent depression. It has been proposed that this effect may be mediated by the cultivation of self-compassion; however, there is limited research into this mechanism. This study aimed to explore the lived experience of a sad mood induction and compassionate repair in people with currently remitted recurrent depression, with and without experience of MBCT. Sixteen participants were recruited (10 MBCT, six non-MBCT). Participants underwent a two-phase mood manipulation, sad mood induction and loving-kindness meditation (directed to a loved one and the self) and completed self-report measures before and after each task. Following this, participants engaged in a semi-structured interview exploring their experiences. The results showed both mood manipulations were successful, and mood repair was apparent within all but one of the participants. The interviews were analysed using thematic analysis, identifying six key themes: vulnerability versus tolerance of depression; immersion versus transience of cognitive and emotional reactivity; avoidance versus tolerance of compassion; self-criticism versus self-acceptance; locus of control and mechanisms of repair. No differences were observed between the two groups in their qualitative or quantitative responses to the mood manipulations; however, those in the MBCT group with a greater level of current MBCT practice, appeared more able to transcend negative thinking and utilise the Loving Kindness Meditation (LKM) more effectively for both themselves and others. The results are discussed in relation to study limitations and their implication to clinical practice.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Mindfulness and the mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) programme is becoming increasingly popular in the Western world. These days, there are many institutes and organisations that support and promote mindfulness, while there is also a growing body of research and academic literature on the topic. Yet, despite the implicit connection to social change, the focus of secular mindfulness in the Western world has primarily remained on the benefits that mindfulness hold for the individual. This notion prompts the question whether there is a relationship between mindfulness and social change. The key theoretical constructs that constitute the theoretical framework of my study include Habermas’s critical theory and his emancipatory-cognitive interest in knowledge creation, and Mezirow’s transformative learning theory, which expanded the Habermasian theory in terms of adult education and learning. Guided by my theoretical framework, the primary research question was formulated as follows: ‘What are the relationships between mindfulness, emancipatory learning and social change?’ In order to address this research question, I selected a case study research approach and collected data using both quantitative and qualitative instruments. For my empirical investigation I selected, as my case study, an MBSR programme offered in Cape Town, South Africa. The data were collected from 55 adult learners who participated in the programme. To my knowledge, this is the first academic research study that investigates the MBSR programme in the field of adult education and learning in a South African context.

This thesis will explore whether those interested in Buddhist practices such as mindfulness but who approach such practices from a broadly secular perspective can be offered reasons to take rebirth seriously as an afterlife possibility. It will begin by exploring some of the history of mindfulness and its adoption from Buddhism to show how foundational cosmological elements such as rebirth have been side-lined as part of a wider movement to bring Buddhism in line with modernist, particularly scientific, discourses. The thesis will investigate the philosophical principles behind the Buddhist multi-life perspective in order to see whether arguments could be rallied in defence of it. This will involve focussing specifically on the argument in defence of rebirth offered by Dharmakīrti and show how its premises draw from philosophical principles adopted by the earliest Buddhist philosophical systems. Dharmakīrti’s argument will be examined within the context of contemporary philosophy of consciousness where philosophers such as Evan Thompson and Galen Strawson have challenged the view that consciousness could arise from entirely unconscious factors. This challenge aligns with a key premise of Dharmakīrti’s argument for rebirth as well as Buddhist Abhidharma principles. Arguments against the emergence of consciousness from unconscious factors strengthen the case for claiming that consciousness cannot simply appear at the beginning of life and disappear at death. Whilst supporting Strawson’s arguments, the thesis will ultimately reject his claim that an individual consciousness could be constructed from, and ultimately collapse into, multiple consciousnesses. From here it will be argued that conscious experiences arise as part of an unbroken stream that can neither arise from nor collapse into rudimentary factors that are devoid of the distinctive characteristics of consciousness. The argument will conclude by suggesting that the stream of consciousness involves an inseparable capacity for retention and recall. This capacity provides the possibility for the sort of psychological continuity between lives that, within traditional Buddhist cosmology, allows an ordinary being to cultivate the extraordinary personal qualities of a Buddha.