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BMC Psychology Jan 2023To investigate the relationship between early-life stress (ELS) and the trait mindfulness level in workers.
BACKGROUND
To investigate the relationship between early-life stress (ELS) and the trait mindfulness level in workers.
METHOD
This study is quantitative cross-sectional and correlational research with a sample of 929 workers from a Brazilian public university. ELS and mindfulness assessment was performed using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) and the Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire-BR (FFMQ-BR), respectively. The data were submitted to correlation tests adopting a significance level of .05 and a multivariate linear regression analysis.
RESULTS
50.0% of the participants obtained a score indicative of ELS exposure in at least one subtype among the five proposed by the CTQ, with emotional neglect predominating (63.0%). The group not exposed to emotional abuse had higher scores in the "describe-positive formulation" and "non-reactivity to inner experience" facets. Those that scored for physical abuse had higher values in "acting with awareness-autopilot". However, the group exposed to sexual abuse obtained the highest score in the "acting with awareness-autopilot" and "acting with awareness-distraction" facets. The correlation between FFMQ-BR and CTQ overall scores showed a weak correlation with statistical significance. The multiple linear revealed that the facets of mindfulness were significantly associated by at least one type of early stress; however, no significant association was found between CTQ and FFMQ-BR overall results.
CONCLUSION
The results showed that emotional regulation might have effectively occurred in this specific population, even with the presence of some childhood trauma.
Topics: Humans; Adverse Childhood Experiences; Mindfulness; Cross-Sectional Studies; Surveys and Questionnaires
PubMed: 36670498
DOI: 10.1186/s40359-022-01029-7 -
Psychology & Health Sep 2022We tested two competing models linking daily stress, mindfulness, and psychological distress in adolescence: 1) whether daily mindfulness moderates the impact of daily...
OBJECTIVE
We tested two competing models linking daily stress, mindfulness, and psychological distress in adolescence: 1) whether daily mindfulness moderates the impact of daily stressors on psychological distress or 2) whether mindfulness mediates the relationship between greater daily stressors and psychological distress.
METHODS
Every evening for a week, 138 adolescents completed ecological momentary assessments (EMAs). Daily diaries assessed negative events, work-school conflict, mindfulness, and perceived stress. Multilevel mediation and moderation were tested.
RESULTS
Results indicated that there were meaningful variations in adolescent mindfulness from day-to-day, and supported mediation rather than moderation; the within-person association between stressors and psychological distress was mediated by mindfulness at the daily level.
CONCLUSION
It may be too challenging for adolescents to remain in a mindful state during stress to effectively use mindfulness as a buffer. Instead, daily stressors may indirectly impact psychological distress through decreasing mindfulness.
Topics: Adolescent; Biological Variation, Individual; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Mindfulness; Psychological Distress; Stress, Psychological
PubMed: 34139904
DOI: 10.1080/08870446.2021.1929982 -
Journal of Psychosomatic Research Nov 2020Military veterans report high rates of psychiatric and physical health symptoms that may be amenable to mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs). Inconsistent prior... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
BACKGROUND
Military veterans report high rates of psychiatric and physical health symptoms that may be amenable to mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs). Inconsistent prior findings and questions of fit between MBIs and military culture highlight the need for a systematic evaluation of this literature.
OBJECTIVE
To quantify the efficacy and acceptability of MBIs for military veterans.
DATA SOURCES
We searched five databases (MEDLINE/PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science, PsycINFO) from inception to October 16th, 2019.
STUDY SELECTION
Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) testing MBIs in military veterans.
RESULTS
Twenty studies (k = 16 unique comparisons, N = 898) were included. At post-treatment, MBIs were superior to non-specific controls (e.g., waitlist, attentional placebos) on measures of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, general psychological symptoms (i.e., aggregated across symptom domains), quality of life / functioning, and mindfulness (Hedges' gs = 0.32 to 0.80), but not physical health. At follow-up (mean length = 3.19 months), MBIs continued to outperform non-specific controls on general psychological symptoms, but not PTSD. MBIs were superior to specific active controls (i.e., other therapies) at post-treatment on measures of PTSD and general psychological symptoms (gs = 0.19 to 0.25). Participants randomized to MBIs showed higher rates of attrition than those randomized to control interventions (odds ratio = 1.98). Several models were not robust to tests of publication bias. Study quality and risk of bias assessment indicated several areas of concern.
CONCLUSIONS
MBIs may improve psychological symptoms and quality of life / functioning in veterans. Questionable acceptability and few high-quality studies support the need for rigorous RCTs, potentially adapted to veterans.
Topics: Adult; Humans; Internet-Based Intervention; Middle Aged; Mindfulness; Quality of Life; Veterans
PubMed: 32906008
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2020.110232 -
International Journal of Environmental... Sep 2022Usually, both external environmental factors and internal psychological factors affect the self-efficacy of athletes returning to sports after an injury. Based upon COR...
Usually, both external environmental factors and internal psychological factors affect the self-efficacy of athletes returning to sports after an injury. Based upon COR theory, this study investigated mindfulness interventions' effects on competitive state anxiety and burnout in injured athletes who are returning to sports. The study was conducted in South China from March to April 2022. The snowball and convenience sampling methods were used to select high-level sports teams' injured athletes returning to sports, and a questionnaire survey was administered, from which 433 valid samples were obtained. Amos v. 26 was used to analyze the data. The results showed that mindfulness has a significant negative effect on competitive state anxiety and burnout, such that after strengthening the mindfulness intervention, athletes' competitive state anxiety and burnout decreased and regulatory emotional self-efficacy increased. Further, this study indicated that athletes are prone to negative emotions after injury, and among athletes who returned to sports after injury, those with mindfulness interventions reported lower levels of competitive state anxiety and burnout. Hence, the study demonstrated that mindfulness can improve regulatory emotional self-efficacy in injured athletes who are returning to sports by reducing competitive state anxiety and burnout.
Topics: Anxiety; Athletes; Burnout, Professional; Burnout, Psychological; Emotions; Humans; Mindfulness; Self Efficacy
PubMed: 36141969
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph191811702 -
Scientific Reports Dec 2022People cooperate every day in ways that range from largescale contributions that mitigate climate change to simple actions such as leaving another individual with choice...
People cooperate every day in ways that range from largescale contributions that mitigate climate change to simple actions such as leaving another individual with choice - known as social mindfulness. It is not yet clear whether and how these complex and more simple forms of cooperation relate. Prior work has found that countries with individuals who made more socially mindful choices were linked to a higher country environmental performance - a proxy for complex cooperation. Here we replicated this initial finding in 41 samples around the world, demonstrating the robustness of the association between social mindfulness and environmental performance, and substantially built on it to show this relationship extended to a wide range of complex cooperative indices, tied closely to many current societal issues. We found that greater social mindfulness expressed by an individual was related to living in countries with more social capital, more community participation and reduced prejudice towards immigrants. Our findings speak to the symbiotic relationship between simple and more complex forms of cooperation in societies.
Topics: Humans; Mindfulness; Emigrants and Immigrants
PubMed: 36543793
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-25538-y -
International Journal of Environmental... Oct 2022Emotion regulation is an important aspect of psychological functioning that influences subjective experience and moderates emotional responses throughout the lifetime....
Emotion regulation is an important aspect of psychological functioning that influences subjective experience and moderates emotional responses throughout the lifetime. Adaptive responses to stressful life events depend on the positive interaction between explicit and implicit emotion regulation strategies, such as mindfulness and defense mechanisms. This study demonstrates how these emotion regulation strategies predict psychological health during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. A convenience sample of 6385 subjects, recruited via snowball sampling on various social media platforms, responded to an online survey assessing psychological reaction to social restrictions imposed to limit the spread of COVID-19 in Italy. Psychological distress, post-traumatic stress symptoms, mindfulness, and defense mechanisms were assessed using SCL-90, IES-R, MAAS, and DMRS-30-SR, respectively. Higher mindfulness was significantly associated with higher overall defensive maturity and a greater use of high-adaptive defenses ( < 0.0001). Both mindfulness and defense mechanisms acted as good predictors of psychological health (R = 0.541) and posttraumatic symptoms (R = 0.332), confirming the role of emotion regulation in protecting against maladaptive responses to stressful situations.
Topics: COVID-19; Defense Mechanisms; Emotional Regulation; Humans; Mindfulness; Pandemics; Psychological Distress
PubMed: 36231993
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph191912690 -
International Journal of Environmental... Jun 2022The mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) programme is gaining increasing attention in sport and physical activity domains. This programme comprises three meditation...
The mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) programme is gaining increasing attention in sport and physical activity domains. This programme comprises three meditation practices: mindful yoga, body scan, and sitting meditation. In this study, we aimed to examine the effects of a dynamic (mindful yoga) strategy and a static (a combination of body scan/sitting meditation) strategy on participants’ psychobiosocial states (PBS), perceived stress (PS) and mindfulness levels in athletes and recreationally active (RA) people. Thirty-four participants (athletes = 18; RA participants = 16) were assigned to a dynamic intervention strategy, and another 34 (athletes = 19; RA participants = 15) were assigned to the static intervention strategy. Before the intervention, after the intervention and three weeks later, the Italian versions of the PBS scale, the PS scale and the Mindful Attention Awareness scale were administered. RM-(M)ANOVAs revealed that intervention strategies improved functional PBS, reduced PS and enhanced mindfulness levels in both athletes and RA participants after the intervention (p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.605). However, improved functional PBS after the intervention (p < 0.001; d = 0.62) and stable PS levels at follow-up (p = 1) were observed mainly in athletes. The findings reinforce the view of the importance of the body as a means to improve emotional and health processes, and support the use of mindfulness strategies in sport to enhance individuals’ well-being.
Topics: Athletes; Humans; Meditation; Mindfulness; Stress, Psychological; Yoga
PubMed: 35742394
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19127152 -
Ideggyogyaszati Szemle Jan 2023
Stroke is nowadays one of the most prevalent diseases worldwide causing devastating impairments and negative consequences for survivors. It is a main cause of adult... (Review)
Review
Stroke is nowadays one of the most prevalent diseases worldwide causing devastating impairments and negative consequences for survivors. It is a main cause of adult onset disability and it can have a negative impact on psychological health, cognitive function and quality of life. Post-stroke rehabilitation may reduce long-term disability, and in recent years several innovations have emerged to improve recovery. Decades of research suggest that mindfulness-based interventions support a greater capacity to live with chronic medical conditions and contribute to lowering stress levels. Previous works report positive results amoung stroke survivors, improvements in mood, mental fatigue and in some degree in cognitive and physical functioning, plus represent a promising option in secondary prevention. Since the early 2000s, numerous clinical studies have investigated the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions in post-stroke rehabilitation. In this paper the main results of the relevant international research is reviewed and also, the main modalities of the mindfulness-based interventions are presented. Our primary goal is to evaluate the results in order to draw attention to the importance of rehabilitation of patients with stroke and hopefully the theoretical and practical knowledge of the review will contribute to development effective and secure protocols in future research. Mindfulness-based techniques can become clinically valuable complementary therapeutic interventions in post-stroke rehabilitation. More research in this area is warranted: to evaluate these specific practices and their suitability; using randomized, controlled, follow up designs, rigorous methods, and different treatment settings; expanding outcomes to include physiological, health care use, and health-related outcomes; exploring mediating factors; and discerning dose effects and optimal frequency and length of practice.
.Topics: Adult; Humans; Stroke Rehabilitation; Mindfulness; Quality of Life; Stroke; Mental Health
PubMed: 36892300
DOI: 10.18071/isz.76.0011 -
Journal of Psychiatric Research Feb 2024Training outcomes of mindfulness interventions for anxiety have been extensively researched. Less is known about the acute effects of mindfulness induction and... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
BACKGROUND
Training outcomes of mindfulness interventions for anxiety have been extensively researched. Less is known about the acute effects of mindfulness induction and associated mechanisms. This systematic review aimed to identify 1) the effect of mindfulness induction on pre-post measures of state anxiety and attention among adults experiencing high levels of anxiety; and 2) the impact of predictors, mediators and moderators on post-induction changes in anxiety and attention. State distress and mindfulness were included as secondary outcomes.
METHODS
A systematic search was conducted in November 2021 in electronic databases using relevant search terms. Five studies (four randomised controlled trials and one non-randomised controlled trial) were included, comprising a total of 277 participants with elevated trait/generalised anxiety. Each study used a brief audio-based mindfulness induction exercise.
RESULTS
The meta-analysis indicated mindfulness induction had medium and large effects on state anxiety (k = 3, n = 100, g = -0.60, 95%CI [-1.04, -0.16]; p = .008) and state mindfulness (k = 2, n = 110, g = 0.91, 95%CI [0.52, 1.30], p < .001), respectively, when compared with non-therapeutic control conditions. Furthermore, two studies showed small and moderate effects of mindfulness on state anxiety when compared to therapeutic active controls, but were not pooled in a meta-analysis. While results could not be pooled for attention, there was limited evidence of behavioural improvements on tasks measuring aspects of attention following mindfulness induction. However, one study found an increase in Low Beta to High Beta ratio and a reduction in Beta activity in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex following mindfulness induction. Moreover, another study found aspects of state mindfulness mediated reductions in state anxiety.
LIMITATIONS
A small number of studies were included in the review, with high risk of bias and low certainty of evidence present.
CONCLUSION
The findings support the use of mindfulness induction to reduce state anxiety in anxious individuals but suggest gains in state mindfulness may be a more realistic expected outcome. Further controlled trials are needed to delineate the relative effects of objectively assessed anxiety outcomes from mindfulness induction in clinically defined samples.
Topics: Adult; Humans; Anxiety; Controlled Clinical Trials as Topic; Depression; Mindfulness; Stress, Psychological
PubMed: 38215647
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2023.12.009 -
GMS Journal For Medical Education 2021Pediatric teams of emergency departments work under extreme stress, which affects high-level cognitive functions, specifically attention and memory. Therefore, the...
Pediatric teams of emergency departments work under extreme stress, which affects high-level cognitive functions, specifically attention and memory. Therefore, the methods of stress management are being sought. Mindfulness as a process of intentionally paying attention to each moment with acceptance of each experience without judgment can potentially contribute to improving the performance of medical teams. Medical simulation is a technique that creates a situation to allow persons to experience a representation of a real event for the purpose of education. It has been shown that emergency medicine simulation may create a high physiological fidelity environment similarly to what is observed in a real emergency room. The aim of our study was to determine whether the technical and non-technical skills of medical students in the course of pediatric high fidelity simulations are related to their mindfulness and stress. A total of 166 standardized simulations were conducted among students of medicine in three simulation centers of medical universities, assessing: stress sensation (subjectively and heart rate/blood pressure), technical (checklists) and non-technical skills (Ottawa scale) and mindfulness (five facet mindfulness questionnaire): ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT03761355. The perception of stress among students was lower and more motivating if they were more mindful. Mindfulness of students correlated positively with avoiding fixation error. In the consecutive simulations the leaders' non-technical skills improved, although no change was noted in their technical skills. The results of our research indicate that mindfulness influence the non-technical skills and the perception of stress of medical students during pediatric emergency simulations. Further research is needed to show whether mindfulness training leads to improvement in this field.
Topics: Child; Emergencies; Emergency Service, Hospital; Humans; Mindfulness; Pediatrics; Stress, Psychological; Students, Medical; Surveys and Questionnaires; Work Performance
PubMed: 34056067
DOI: 10.3205/zma001474