scholarly journals Impact of Mindfulness Training on Spanish Police Officers’ Mental and Emotional Health: a Non-Randomized Pilot Study

Mindfulness ◽  
2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaime Navarrete ◽  
Miguel Ángel García-Salvador ◽  
Ausiàs Cebolla ◽  
Rosa Baños

Abstract Objectives The purpose of this exploratory non-randomized controlled study was to determine the acceptance and effectiveness of an 8-week mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) co-designed by a police officer. Methods A pretest-posttest control group design was followed. Participants (MBI group = 20; control group = 18) answered baseline and post-training self-reported measures. In addition, the weekly emotional state of the MBI group was collected. Paired-samples t-test and analysis of covariance were performed for pre-post within-group and between-group differences, respectively, as well as linear mixed effects analysis of repeated measures for week-by-week data. Results High acceptance and attendance rates, as well as significant pre-post within-group differences in the MBI group in mindfulness (η2 = 0.43), self-compassion (η2 = 0.43), depression (η2 = 0.54), anxiety (η2 = 0.46), stress (η2 = 0.51), difficulties in emotion regulation, sleep quality (η2 = 0.57), and burnout (η2 = 0.31–0.47), were identified. Moreover, police officers who underwent the MBI experienced a week by week decrease of anger, disgust, anxiety, sadness, and desire. Finally, after adjusting for pre-test scores, significant between-group differences were found in the way of attending to internal and external experiences (observing mindfulness facet; ηp2 = 0.21), depression symptoms (ηp2 = 0.23), general distress (ηp2 = 0.24), and the degree of physical and psychological exhaustion (personal burnout; ηp2 = 0.20). Conclusions The preliminary effectiveness of this MBI on psychopathology and quality of life outcomes in Spanish police officers was discussed. Previous evidence regarding the promising use of MBIs in this population was supported.

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 222-232
Author(s):  
Motahare Golbarg Khonachah ◽  
◽  
Mahnaz Khosrojavid ◽  
Seyed Musa Kafi Masouleh ◽  
Ebrahim Mirzajani ◽  
...  

Background: Depression includes negative interpretations of events, dislike of the self, and negative appraisal of the future. Objectives: The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of educational programs of cognitive-behavior modification and feeding behavior on serotonin levels and depression symptoms in university students. Materials & Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted with a pretest-posttest and a control group design. The study population included all male and female bachelor degree students in the Faculty of Literature and Humanities of the University of Guilan, Guilan Province, Iran at the time of the research. Among 2854 students, using Morgan’s table, the sample size was determined as 340. In the following, 24 students with depression symptoms and other inclusion criteria were selected as the sample and randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. During the twelve sessions of training, the number of participants decreased from 24 to 16. The study tools included the Beck depression inventory (1996), the food frequency questionnaire (2017), 21 food enjoyment questionnaire, and the blood test. The obtained data were analyzed by 1-way analysis of covariance in SPSS v. 24. Results: The analysis showed that the use of cognitive-behavior modification training reduced students’ depression (P<0.01). However, the use of feeding behavior training did not increase serotonin levels in students (P>0.05). Conclusion: Among people with depression symptoms, cognitive-behavior modification by focusing on their negative self-talk can be useful in creating sensible thoughts and positive inner dialogue. But in these people, feeding behavior training for two months did not change serotonin levels.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-236
Author(s):  
Behrad Zadafshar ◽  
◽  
Tayebeh Sharifi ◽  
Reza Ahmadi ◽  
Maryam Chorami ◽  
...  

Background: Traumatic childhood experiences, especially sexual harassment, are among the main factors causing anxiety disorders. The present study aimed to determine the effects of Emotion-focused Therapy (EFT) and Existential Group Therapy (EGT) on depression, anxiety, and stress in the victims of child sexual harassment. Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test-post-test and a control group design. The research population consisted of all men and women with a history of child sexual harassment referring to the counseling and psychological service centers of Isfahan City, Iran. In total, 45 subjects were selected by convenience sampling method and randomly assigned into two experimental groups and a control group (n=15/group). The experimental groups received EFT or EGT (eight 90-minute sessions), Accordingly, the obtained results were compared with the control group immediately after the intervention and 3 months later. The required data were collected by the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-42) and analyzed by repeated-measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) in SPSS. Results: The current research results revealed that EGT effectively reduced depression symptoms (P<0.01); however, EFT did not significantly affect depression symptoms. Both interventions reduced anxiety symptoms in the study subjects (P<0.01). Furthermore, EFT was more effective than EGT in reducing stress symptoms (P<0.01). There was a significant difference between the pre-test, post-test, and follow-up stages as well as the time*group interaction in the mean scores of depression, anxiety, and stress (P<0.01). Conclusion: Based on the present study findings, psychotherapists and psychiatric nurses are recommended to apply these interventions for controlling depression, stress, and anxiety among the victims of child sexual harassment.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-114
Author(s):  
I Made Wirta

The main objective of the present study is to investigate the effect of implementing innovative learning approaches upon English students’ achievement. The study was quasi experimental study using the post-test only control group design involving 35 students altogether selected using census sampling technique. The instrument which is used to gather data in the study was test. There were two tests used to gather intended data. They were linguistic test and student achievement test. The obtained data were analyzed statistically using descriptive and inferential analysis. The analysis of covariance was conducted to test the hypotheses.


Author(s):  
Héctor Guerrero-Tapia ◽  
Rodrigo Martín-Baeza ◽  
Rubén Cuesta-Barriuso

Background. Abdominal and lumbo-pelvic stability alterations may be the origin of lower limb injuries, such as adductor pathology in soccer players. Imbalance can be caused by both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Methods: In this randomized controlled trial over 8 weeks, 25 female footballers were randomly allocated to an experimental group (isometric abdominal training and gluteus medius-specific training) or a control group (isometric abdominal training). Evaluations were performed at baseline, at the end of the intervention and after a 4-week follow-up period. The exercise protocol in common for both groups included three exercises: Plank, Lateral plank and Bird dog. Specific exercises for the gluteus medius were: Pelvic drop and Stabilization of the gluteus medius in knee valgus. Outcome measures were lumbar-pelvic stability and adductor strength. Results: After the intervention, there was an increase in lumbo-pelvic stability in both groups, being greater in the control group than in the experimental group (mean differences [MD]: 4.84 vs. MD: 9.58; p < 0.01) with differences in the analysis of repeated measures (p < 0.001), but not in group interaction (p = 0.26). Changes were found in adductor strength in the experimental group (MD: −2.48; p < 0.001 in the left adductor; MD: −1.48; p < 0.01 in right adductor) and control group (MD: −1.68; p < 0.001 in the left adductor; MD: −2.05; p < 0.001 in the right adductor) after the intervention, with differences in the analysis of repeated measures in left (p < 0.001) and right (p < 0.001) adductor strength. Conclusions: An abdominal and gluteal training protocol shows no advantage over a protocol of abdominal training alone for lumbo-pelvic stability and adductor strength, while improvements in both variables are maintained at four weeks follow-up.


Author(s):  
Sataz Rahmania ◽  
Vanitha Shetty ◽  
Balakrishnan Ragavendrasamy

AbstractBackground & ObjectivesThe douche, one of the hydrotherapeutic treatment modality is commonly used by Naturopathy physicians as a treatment of choice in the management of several ailments. This study was done to assess the effect of full body neutral douche in the management of pain and systemic symptoms in adult females with primary dysmenorrhoea.Methods68 subjects of age 18-22 years with primary dysmenorrhoea were recruited for the study and were randomly divided into two groups: the experimental group (n = 34) and the control group (n = 34). The experimental group received whole body neutral douche, whereas the control group followed the routine as usual. Assessments for the pain, systemic symptoms and menstrual cramps were done by using McGill Pain Questionnaire, Verbal multidimensional scoring system and analog scale for severity of pain and menstrual cramps respectively at baseline, day 30 and day 60 of intervention. Two- way repeated measures of ANOVA was performed to understand the between group changes, adjusted for the respective baseline values and age.ResultData was analyzed with SPSS (Version 21.0) package. Neutral douche resulted in significant improvement in pain [F(2,66) = 114.564, p < 0.0005, partial ?2 = 0.771], severity of pain [F(2,66) = 70.418, p < 0.0005, partial ?2 = 0.681], cramps [F(2,66) = 75.986, p < 0.0005, partial ?2 = 0.697] and systemic symptoms [F(2,66) = 14.64, p < 0.0005, partial ?2 = 0.307] as compared to the control group.ConclusionFindings suggest that neutral douche can be used as a non-pharmacological intervention in the management of pain and systemic symptoms in primary dysmenorrhea.


1981 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 823-828 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Di Tomasso ◽  
Paul A. McDermott

Among the various impediments to controlled research in applied settings are the difficulties attendant upon the withholding or withdrawal of treatment that might prove beneficial to subjects and the inability of researchers to present simultaneously treatment conditions to all subjects. The multiple pretest-posttest control group design is introduced as an efficient and effective remedy to the problems with special focus upon controls for internal and external validity threats. Several variations of this basic strategy, including the alternating model, the staggered model, and the multiple pretest-posttest replications design, are illustrated and discussed. Finally, the arrangement of factors for statistical analysis is presented for both the case of analysis of covariance with posttest scores and analysis of variance using corrected gain scores.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
C. R. Hita ◽  
G. Venkatesh Kumar

Adolescence is considered as a crucial stage for emotional development. It is also seen as a time of hyper-emotionality, emotional conflict, and volatile mood states. Given that adolescents lack skills for emotional management, emotional distress during these years can hamper their immediate growth and adversely affect their transition to the next stage of life. Interventions that promote positive emotional development during adolescence are the need of the hour. Keeping this in focus, the present study investigated the Effect of Life Skills Training on Adolescent boys and girls with high Emotional Distress. The study used pre- and post-test experimental design with a control group to examine the stated objectives. 160 adolescent boys and girls (n=80), with a mean age of 16.44 years, were selected for the study using Positive and Negative Affect Schedule. Of these, 80 in the experimental group (boys=40, girls=40) were trained in life skills. Descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test and repeated measures of ANOVA were used to analyze obtained results. Major findings of the study indicate that Life Skills training has significant effect in reducing emotional distress and improving emotional health in adolescents. And the significance of it was found to be higher in girls compared to boys.


Author(s):  
Dewa Nyoman Wija Astawa

This study aimed at investigating the effect of the implementation of mind mapping learning method to the students’ social science achievement viewed from learning interest at the fourth-grade students of an elementary school in Denpasar city in the academic year 2016/2017. This study was quasi-experimental research which applied the posttest-only control group design involving 80 students of grade four at elementary school in Denpasar city who were selected by using the total sample sampling technique. The data of the students’ social science achievement and learning interest were collected and then analyzed using the Analysis of Covariance (Anacova). The result of this study showed that the students’ social science achievement who were treated with mind mapping learning method was higher compared to the students’ social science achievement of those treated with the conventional learning method. This difference was consistent even though the students’ learning interest has been controlled. Based on the result of this study, it is suggested that mind mapping learning method be applied in the teaching and learning process of social science at the elementary school.


2021 ◽  
pp. 186-191

Background and Objective: This study aimed to determine the effect of synchronization of brain waves in alpha, beta, and theta bands by the Binaural beats on visuospatial working memory. Materials and Methods: The present quasi-experimental study was conducted based on a pretest-posttest control group design. In this regard, 60 students were selected by the available sampling method and randomly divided into three experimental groups and one control group (n=15 each). All subjects were assessed in the pre-test and post-test stages by the Corsi blocks tapping test. Participants in the experimental groups received 15, 9, 5, and 6 Hz binaural beats for 12 min. The collected data were analyzed using a one-way analysis of covariance. Results: The findings showed that 15 Hz binaural beats (beta bands) significantly improved the subject's visuospatial working memory (P<0.05). Conclusions: Given that working memory is the basis of numerous cognitive functions, using 15 Hz binaural beats could improve the visuospatial working memory in these people


2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Kongsted ◽  
Tue Secher Jensen ◽  
Klaus Doktor ◽  
Lise Hestbæk

Abstract Background Disease monitoring is an important element of self-management of several chronic diseases. Pain monitoring has become very easily available, but the role in musculoskeletal pain conditions is not clear. Awareness of pain might be helpful for people to understand pain, but focusing on pain may on the contrary negatively affect pain experience and behaviours. The objective of this study was to investigate the potential impact of pain monitoring on low back pain (LBP), specifically to determine if pain intensity, activity limitation and pain control, differed between patients with weekly pain monitoring over 12 months and patients with follow-ups at 2 weeks, 3 months and 12 months. Methods This was a non-randomised controlled study embedded in a cohort study with data collection November 1st 2016 to December 21st 2018. Adults seeking care for LBP were enrolled at the first visit to a chiropractor and followed with surveys after 2 weeks, 3 months and 12 months. Those enrolled first, n = 1,623, furthermore received weekly SMS-questions about pain frequency and pain intensity, whereas those enrolled next was the control group, n = 1,269 followed only by surveys. Outcomes at 12-months were compared, adjusting for group differences on baseline parameters. Results LBP intensity (0–10) was slightly lower at 12-months follow-up in the SMS group than the control group (adjusted beta − 0.40 (95% CI: − 0.62; − 0.19)). No relevant between-group differences were observed for activity limitation (0–100) (1.51 (95% CI: − 0.83; 3.85)) or ability to control pain (0–10) (− 0.08 (95% CI − 0.31; 0.15)). Conclusions Frequent pain monitoring did not demonstrate any negative effects of weekly pain monitoring, and it was perhaps even helpful. The role of self-monitoring as part of self-managing LBP should be explored further including optimal frequencies, formats, and methods for feedback. Trial registration The study was not registered as a clinical trial.


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