<p>This is an examinaton of welfare officers and patients experiences of a course in mindfulnessbased stressreduction in primary care. The authors used a qualitative method and a phenomenological hermeneutics scientific philosophical position. The analys of the data appeared by using three theoretical perspectives; cognitive, coping and Antonovskys Sence of Coherence. The purpose was to get a deeper understanding of what mindfulness is, how a course in mindfulnessbased stressreduction can be arranged and how it is comprehended by the welfare officers and previous participators of the course. To get an opinion of the issue the authors wanted to know the welfare officers intention of the course, to which patients they provide the course, what the participators thought about their situation before and after the attendence and if they had assimilated the knowledge and if so how it was applicable. The results indicated that the welfare officers and the patients intentions of the course where incoherent. The welfare officers intention was to teach the patients a way of manner to incorporate and to handle stress and other disabilities. The patients intention was to get strategies to manage their stress and chronic pain. Their most customary strategies was breathing and consideration of their thoughts.</p>

Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

The phenomena of self-awareness and self-observation are thought by many to be uniquely human qualities, and questions about how they develop have engaged philosophers and spiritual thinkers throughout history. More recently these issues have come to interest psychologists, psychotherapists, and researchers of diverse clinical psychology orientations as well. This dissertation explored conceptual issues and empirical measurement methods related to self-awareness and self-observation capacities. The four studies approached this from different angles: Study I used mainly qualitative methods to study post-treatment processes related to continuing clinical improvement after termination of long-term psychotherapeutic treatments. The main finding was that self-analysis seemed to be related to continued improvement after ending of therapy, but contrary to our hypothesis there was no difference between psychotherapy and the more intensive psychoanalysis in this regard. Study II tested the measurement of mindfulness by self report in a sample of experienced Buddhist meditators. The findings confirmed relationships between mindfulness and psychological well-being, but raised doubt about the instruments’ sensitivity to change. Study III compared different methods for measuring theoretically related concepts of self-observation: mindfulness, mentalization, and affect consciousness. This study showed surprisingly little common variance between affect consciousness and mentalization/mindfulness. Finally, the results of Study IV showed that in patients diagnosed with clinical depression, mentalization about depressive symptoms predicted aspects of the initial psychotherapy process better than mentalization about attachment. Taken together, these studies show the complexity of the phenomenon of self-observation and the corresponding complexity of research on it. The relationships between variables related to self-observation, their measurements, and their relationships to the psychotherapy process seem more complex than would be expected from current theories. A model for types of self-observation in the process of change in psychotherapy is tentatively proposed. / Förmågan till självmedvetande och självobservation brukar sägas vara unik för människan, och frågor om hur den uppstår och utvecklas har engagerat filosofer och andliga tänkare genom historien. Under de senaste årtiondena har detta även kommit att intressera psykologer, psykoterapeuter och forskare inom olika kliniska psykologiinriktningar. I denna avhandling utforskades konceptuella frågor och empiriska mätmetoder relaterade till självobservationsförmåga. De fyra studierna tog sig an detta från olika utgångspunkter: I Studie I användes främst kvalitativ metod för att undersöka processer relaterade till fortsatt klinisk förbättring efter avslutning av längre psykoterapeutisk behandling. Beskrivningar av självanalys var relaterade till fortsatt förbättring efter avslutad terapi, men i kontrast till vår hypotes syntes ingen skillnad mellan psykoterapi och den mer intensiva psykoanalysen ur denna aspekt. I Studie II prövades mätning av medveten närvaro (mindfulness) genom självrapport på ett urval erfarna Buddhistiska meditatörer. Resultaten bekräftade samband mellan medveten närvaro och psykologiskt välmående, men visade på osäkerhet kring instrumentens känslighet för förändring. I Studie III jämfördes olika metoder för mätning av teoretiskt relaterade självobservationsbegrepp: medveten närvaro, mentalisering och affektmedvetenhet. Resultaten visade på förvånansvärt liten gemensam varians mellan affektmedvetenhet och mentalisering/medveten närvaro. Slutligen visade resultaten i Studie IV att hos patienter diagnostiserade med klinisk depression predicerade mentalisering om depressiva symptom aspekter av den initiala psykoterapiprocessen bättre än det vanliga måttet på mentalisering utifrån anknytningsintervju. Sammantaget visar dessa studier på komplexiteten i fenomenet självobservationsförmåga och dess utforskande. Relationerna mellan variabler relaterade till självobservation, mätning av dem och samband med psykoterapiprocessen tycks mer komplexa än förväntat utifrån nuvarande teorier. En tentativ modell för samband mellan typer av självobservation i den psykoterapeutiska förändringsprocessen presenteras.

This is an examinaton of welfare officers and patients experiences of a course in mindfulnessbased stressreduction in primary care. The authors used a qualitative method and a phenomenological hermeneutics scientific philosophical position. The analys of the data appeared by using three theoretical perspectives; cognitive, coping and Antonovskys Sence of Coherence. The purpose was to get a deeper understanding of what mindfulness is, how a course in mindfulnessbased stressreduction can be arranged and how it is comprehended by the welfare officers and previous participators of the course. To get an opinion of the issue the authors wanted to know the welfare officers intention of the course, to which patients they provide the course, what the participators thought about their situation before and after the attendence and if they had assimilated the knowledge and if so how it was applicable. The results indicated that the welfare officers and the patients intentions of the course where incoherent. The welfare officers intention was to teach the patients a way of manner to incorporate and to handle stress and other disabilities. The patients intention was to get strategies to manage their stress and chronic pain. Their most customary strategies was breathing and consideration of their thoughts.

Mindfulness-based wellness education (MBWE) is an 8-week program teaching formal mindfulness practices as a foundation for cultivating an awareness of one’s health or ill-health in the physical, social, emotional, ecological, vocational, mental and spiritual domains of human existence. It is designed as a health promotion intervention for individuals who are at risk of developing stress related problems, such as is the case of human services professionals. This dissertation focuses on teachers-in-training. Two groups of teacher trainees completed MBWE as part of an elective course focusing on stress and burnout. In comparison to control participants, who completed other optional courses, MBWE participants experienced improvements in mindfulness, health, and teaching self-efficacy. In one group, the intervention was also effective in reducing psychological distress and augmenting satisfaction with life. Interviews with participants after graduation revealed that although they struggled with independent mindfulness practice, they benefited from their participation in the class, which led to specific health behavior changes such as increased physical activity. Some participants reported that they relied on their mindfulness practices in times of crisis; others shared the knowledge they learned with their students and observed that this was an effective and beneficial response to the needs of their classrooms. Ideas for future inquiries include the need to explore factors influencing participants’ responses to the MBWE program and how to support on-going practice.

Mindfulness-based wellness education (MBWE) is an 8-week program teaching formal mindfulness practices as a foundation for cultivating an awareness of one’s health or ill-health in the physical, social, emotional, ecological, vocational, mental and spiritual domains of human existence. It is designed as a health promotion intervention for individuals who are at risk of developing stress related problems, such as is the case of human services professionals. This dissertation focuses on teachers-in-training. Two groups of teacher trainees completed MBWE as part of an elective course focusing on stress and burnout. In comparison to control participants, who completed other optional courses, MBWE participants experienced improvements in mindfulness, health, and teaching self-efficacy. In one group, the intervention was also effective in reducing psychological distress and augmenting satisfaction with life. Interviews with participants after graduation revealed that although they struggled with independent mindfulness practice, they benefited from their participation in the class, which led to specific health behavior changes such as increased physical activity. Some participants reported that they relied on their mindfulness practices in times of crisis; others shared the knowledge they learned with their students and observed that this was an effective and beneficial response to the needs of their classrooms. Ideas for future inquiries include the need to explore factors influencing participants’ responses to the MBWE program and how to support on-going practice.

The present study examined the relation between self-report mindfulness and performance on tasks measuring abilities for three aspects of attention: sustained, selective, and attention switching. Because attention regulation has been described as a core component of mindfulness, and past research suggests that experience with mindfulness meditation is associated with improved attentional skills, the present study predicted that higher self-report mindfulness would be positively related to performance on tasks of attention. Fifty undergraduate students completed self-report mindfulness questionnaires and completed a battery of attention tasks. There was mixed support for the relation between mindfulness scores and sustained attention, such that higher mindfulness scores as measured by the MAAS and CAMS-R were negatively related to target omissions on the CPT-II, but were not related to RT variability on the CPT-II or PASAT performance. Findings are discussed in the context of the measurement of self-report mindfulness, and directions for future research are considered.

The aim of this thesis was to examine the concept of self-compassion in relation to psychopathology with mediating effects of experiential avoidance and metacognition in a Turkish university student sample. Self-Compassion which is a recently formulated promising concept in western psychology consists of three components: self-kindness, common humanity and mindfulness. In addition to self-compassion, recent psychological concepts of cognitive (metacognition) and behavioral (experiential avoidance) perspectives were investigated through models. In this thesis, the negative relationship between self-compassion and psychopathology (depression and anxiety) with mediating effects of experiential avoidance and metacognition was tested. Prior to main analyses, psychometric properties of the scales measuring self-compassion and experiential avoidance were tested. Then, three different models were tested with structural equation modeling (SEM). In these analyses, the proposed full mediation models were compared to empirically alternative models. Self-compassion was found to be significantly and negatively related to both depression, and anxiety. In the first model experiential avoidance fully mediated the relationship between self-compassion and psychopathology. Moreover, metacognitive factors and metacognition as a whole concept mediated the relation between self-compassion and psychopathology. However, they were not as powerful as experiential avoidance. Results of this thesis supported the literature about empowering effect of self-compassion against psychopathology. Furthermore, relationships were mediated by concepts of both modern cognitive and behavior therapies. However, self-compassion, as a fundamental element of psychotherapy, was the focus of this thesis. Findings of the study were discussed in the context of the relevant literature.

A recent U.S.-based survey (Boyle et al,. 2011) estimated stuttering prevalence in American children ages 3-17 years at 1.6% or 1 in 63 children. In comparison to the reported 1 in 68 school age children living with Autism Spectrum Disorder (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010), stuttering affects nearly as many. These estimates suggest that Speech-Language Pathologist (SLPs) should increasingly develop their skill sets for identifying and providing interventions for children who stutter. The evidence base for school-age fluency intervention, while promising, leaves much room for further development (Nippold, 2011). The majority of current interventions revolve around the traditional methods of fluency shaping and stuttering management. While these approaches are widely used, there is limited evidence to support their efficacy with the school-aged population (Bothe, et al., 2006). In addition, there is disagreement about whether treatment of stuttering in children should focus exclusively on "building fluent speech" or, whether interventions should also include cognitive/emotional components (Yaruss, Coleman, & Quesal, 2012) as are often associated with interventions for stuttering in adults. As a solution to the need for a cognitive/emotional component, Michael Boyle (2011) suggested including mindfulness in school-aged stuttering intervention by pointing out the similarities between the advantages of mindfulness treatment and personality traits necessary for long-term fluency maintenance. Although there has not yet been any published research in direct support of this idea, the notion that these three elements influence the effects of fluency intervention provides a foundation for the proposed research questions.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among college students, making it a prime target for prevention initiatives on college campuses. Efforts to manage the problem of suicidality on campus frequently involve shepherding students at elevated risk into treatment services through the college counseling center. Several scholars have called for suicide prevention efforts to take a public health approach, seeking to intervene more broadly by improving the mental health of the general population that is currently at little to no risk of developing an imminent suicidal crisis. One manner of expanding these prevention efforts is to investigate those factors that preserve the emotional and mental resilience of college students facing similar life stressors and distress levels. As such, scholars of suicidality have called for closer examination of those protective factors that prevent some students--experiencing comparable levels of stress as compared to their suicidal peers--from ever entering into or progressing along the suicidality continuum. Mindfulness is a construct that has shown promise in the intervention literature for its ameliorative affect on a range of disorders and problematic coping behaviors. The possible protective benefit of dispositional levels of mindfulness at varying points along the suicidal continuum is not well understood, and the present study seeks to remedy this gap in the literature in a large sample of college students. Using archival data from a national survey of college student coping collected in 2011 by The National Research Consortium of Counseling Centers in Higher Education, this study explored the effect of trait mindfulness levels on entry into and progression along the continuum of suicidality. Multilevel modeling was used to explore associations between historical and demographic predictors of suicidality, dispositional mindfulness levels, self-reported distress levels during a recent stressful period, strength of intent during a recent suicidal crisis, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors along a continuum of suicidality. Results indicated that mindfulness conveys protection at the threshold of developing suicidal thoughts during a recent stressor, but is not associated with the shift from suicidal thoughts to the development of suicidal behaviors. Implications are discussed with respect to the role mindfulness can play in the development of comprehensive, population-based suicide prevention programming and mental health promotion initiatives on college campuses. / text