scholarly journals Mindfulness as Practice: A Network Analysis of FMI data

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Smith ◽  
Heather Kempton ◽  
Matt Williams ◽  
Clifford van Ommen

ObjectiveBy committing to latent variable models, mindfulness research has aimed to transform observable practices into an identifiable real ‘mindfulness’ experience which is claimed to exist beyond what is directly observed. Recently, an alternative methodology has been developed which allows mindfulness to be modelled as a complex system or network at the level of self-report. This study hypothesised that a more densely connected network of observable practices is indicative of a greater level of development of mindfulness. MethodsMindfulness networks were estimated for practitioners and non-practitioners using the Friedberg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI). A total of 371 regular mindfulness practitioners, 224 non-practitioners and 59 irregular practitioners were recruited online from the Amazon Mechanical Turk database. ResultsComparisons of practitioners’ and non-practitioners’ networks indicated that network density did not significantly differ, whereas evidence was found in support of a significant difference in network structure. An exploratory analysis revealed that the FMI item representing the mindfulness practice of Acceptance was substantially more central in the Practitioners FMI network, relative to its position in the Non-practitioners FMI network. FMI items representing the mindfulness practices of Self-kindness and Returning to the Present were substantially more peripheral to the practitioners FMI network relative to their position in the non-practitioners FMI network. Conclusions.The study provides proof-of-principle support for investigating mindfulness as a complex network at the level of self-report. However, the lack of difference in network density indicates that future research is needed to examine network dynamics in the context of regular mindfulness practice.

Author(s):  
Kenneth Nemire

This article describes the results of a survey intended as a preliminary assessment of consumer perceptions of the hazardousness of portable ladders and the warning labels provided on portable ladders. One hundred ten participants responded to an online survey tool called Amazon Mechanical Turk. The survey collected information about participants’ use of ladders, their ratings of familiarity with ladders, perceived hazardousness of portable ladders, and perception of warning labels on portable ladders. Results indicated a small but significant relationship between familiarity with ladders and their perceived hazardousness, and that participants thought that people should be warned about the hazards associated with ladder use. Implications for future research about consumer perception of portable ladder hazards and warnings are described.


Author(s):  
Kenneth Nemire

Accidental inhalation of vapors from paint stripper products containing methylene chloride has resulted in injuries and deaths. Warnings on paint stripper products may play a role in reducing the number and severity of injuries resulting from using them. Warning labels consistent with Federal Hazardous Substances Act (FHSA) and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Z535.4 formatting were evaluated by 159 university students and by 173 Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) workers. Results indicated that both groups rated the ANSI-formatted warnings as more effective (more likely to be noticed, read, understood, and followed) than the FHSA-formatted warnings, providing support for both use of crowdsourcing as a reliable and valid source for study participants to evaluate warnings, as well as for updating FHSA labeling requirements to include evidence-based guidelines on warning effectiveness. Implications for future research are discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (Spl-1- GCSGD_2020) ◽  
pp. S62-S70
Author(s):  
Vinodhkumar Ramalingam ◽  
◽  
Cheong Soon Keng ◽  
Poh Foong Lee ◽  
◽  
...  

Mindfulness practice has become an increasingly popular intervention in optimizing athletic performance in sports. Numerous studies have reported on applying mindfulness for improving the performance of various sports such as tennis, table tennis, shooting, cricket, archery, golf, running, hockey, swimming, and cycling. This narrative review addresses different existing mindfulness programs that enhance sports performance, the outcome measures of mindfulness therapy, and identifies the anxiety and depression that affect the performance of sports individuals. To cope with the issues, the efficacy of mindfulness in performance enhancement and future research directions on mindfulness needs attention.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Dev Roychowdhury

Participation in regular physical activity yields numerous psychological and physical health benefits. Despite this, a large proportion of the global population is increasingly becoming inactive and sedentary, which has been linked to various causes of morbidity and mortality. One practice that has been found to encourage healthy participation in physical activity and associated health behaviours is mindfulness. Mindfulness practices have been consistently linked to higher levels of physical activity participation. However, the relationship between mindfulness practices and physical activity remains ambiguous. This present paper comments on the role of mindfulness practice in physical activity and health behaviours. Implications for future research and practice have also been addressed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S225-S225
Author(s):  
Jamie Fischer ◽  
Joshua Mervis ◽  
Erin Begnel ◽  
Piper Meyer-Kalos

Abstract Background People who are experiencing a First Episode of Psychosis (FEP) often have limited recovery from non-integrated treatment approaches in usual settings. Treatment of FEP typically entails high rates of non-adherence, disengaging from treatment, and increased rates of relapse (Mueser et al., 2015; Kane et al., 2016). NAVIGATE is an evidence-based approach implemented in the Recovery After an Initial Schizophrenia Episode treatment project. Methods The present study is a review of archival data with NAVIGATE model teams in Minnesota. Clinical information from 118 people with FEP was reviewed from the first 6-months of treatment, with a subset analyzed for the first 12-months. Individuals were assessed with clinician ratings of current needs, illness management, and global functioning. Self-report assessments addressed symptoms and illness management from the client’s perspective. Data was analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance with post-hoc honest significant difference testing. Additional data analysis utilized McNemar’s test, a repeated measures test using counts and a chi-square distribution. Results Total current needs did not change significantly across time. All other domains assessed showed significant differences between intake and 6-months. All other domains except total needs showed significant differences between intake and 12-months. No domains showed significant differences between 6-months and 12-months. Substance use was not reduced over time. Antipsychotic medication use was not reduced over time. Hospitalizations were substantially reduced from intake to 6-months. Discussion Almost all symptoms improved from intake to 6-months. No additional treatment gains were observed from 6-months to 12-months. Improvements from intake were stable from 6-months to 12-months. Most symptoms improved from intake to 6-months but not beyond. The NAVIGATE model was a successful intervention as implemented in Minnesota. Overall, symptom reduction gains were durable at 12-months, hospitalizations were reduced from intake to 6-months, but the intervention did not improve substance use. Substance use, continued improvement of symptoms beyond the 6-month mark, and further improvements in symptoms or reduced hospitalizations are areas for future research and treatment development.


10.2196/15913 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. e15913 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Monkman ◽  
Andre W Kushniruk ◽  
Elizabeth M Borycki ◽  
Debra J Sheets ◽  
Jeffrey Barnett

Background Electronic health resources are becoming prevalent. However, consumer medication information (CMI) is still predominantly text based. Incorporating multimedia into CMI (eg, images, narration) may improve consumers’ memory of the information as well as their perceptions and preferences of these materials. Objective This study examined whether adding images and narration to CMI impacted patients’ (1) memory, (2) perceptions of comprehensibility, utility, or design quality, and (3) overall preferences. Methods We presented 36 participants with CMI in 3 formats: (1) text, (2) text + images, and (3) narration + images, and subsequently asked them to recall information. After seeing all 3 CMI formats, participants rated the formats in terms of comprehensibility, utility, and design quality, and ranked them from most to least favorite. Results Interestingly, no significant differences in memory were observed (F2,70=0.1, P=0.901). Thus, this study did not find evidence to support multimedia or modality principles in the context of CMI. Despite the absence of effects on memory, the CMI format significantly impacted perceptions of the materials. Specifically, participants rated the text + images format highest in terms of comprehensibility (χ22=26.5, P<.001) and design quality (χ22=35.69, P<.001). Although the omnibus test suggested a difference in utility ratings as well (χ22=8.21, P=.016), no significant differences were found after correcting for multiple comparisons. Consistent with perception findings, the preference ranks yielded a significant difference (χ22=26.00, P<.001), whereby participants preferred the text + images format overall. Indeed, 75% (27/36) of participants chose the text + images format as their most favorite. Thus, although there were no objective memory differences between the formats, we observed subjective differences in comprehensibility, design quality, and overall preferences. Conclusions This study revealed that although multimedia did not appear to influence memory of CMI, it did impact participants’ opinions about the materials. The lack of observed differences in memory may have been due to ceiling effects, memory rather than understanding as an index of learning, the fragmented nature of the information in CMI itself, or the size or characteristics of the sample (ie, young, educated subjects with adequate health literacy skills). The differences in the subjective (ie, perceptions and preferences) and objective (ie, memory) results highlight the value of using both types of measures. Moreover, findings from this study could be used to inform future research on how CMI could be designed to better suit the preferences of consumers and potentially increase the likelihood that CMI is used. Additional research is warranted to explore whether multimedia impacts memory of CMI under different conditions (eg, older participants, subjects with lower levels of health literacy, more difficult stimuli, or extended time for decay).


Author(s):  
Taylor Maynard ◽  
Erica Appleman ◽  
Alice Cronin-Golomb ◽  
Sandy Neargarder

Aim: Smartphone technology is increasingly used by the public to assess sleep. Specific features of some sleep-tracking applications are comparable to actigraphy in objectively monitoring sleep. The clinical utility of smartphone apps should be investigated further to increase access to convenient means of monitoring sleep. Methods: Smartphone and subjective sleep measures were administered to 29 community-dwelling healthy adults [aged 20-67, Mean (M) = 26.8; 18 women, 11 men], and actigraphy to 19 of them. Total sleep time (TST) and sleep efficiency were measured with actigraphy and the Sleep Time app (Azumio Inc.). Sleep diaries captured subjective TST and sleep efficiency, and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index provided self-report data. An exit questionnaire was administered to examine app feasibility and likelihood of future use. Results: The app significantly overestimated TST when compared to actigraphy. There was no significant difference in sleep efficiency between methodologies. There was also no significant difference between TST recorded through the app and through sleep diaries. Participants’ self-reported ease of use of the smartphone app positively correlated with likelihood of future use. Conclusions: Based on the current findings, future research is needed to investigate the utility and feasibility of multiple smartphone applications in monitoring sleep in healthy and clinical populations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 29-42
Author(s):  
Lea Tufford

This study sought to determine whether mindfulness increased or decreased for Year 4 Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) students. Twenty-four participants received a brief mindfulness practice each week at the start of class and completed the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire in the first and last class. Results showed a decrease from pre-test to post-test on the non-reactivity to inner experience facet of the scale. In addition, in a post-test, those participants who came to the BSW programme from secondary school had an overall higher score than those participants who came to the programme from community college. Moreover, participants who had no prior practice in mindfulness and those who did not practice mindfulness during their practicum saw an increase in scores. These findings are discussed and recommendations for future research are offered.   Keywords: Mindfulness, BSW students, practices, social work, course.


Author(s):  
Melissa D. Pike ◽  
Deborah M. Powell ◽  
Joshua S. Bourdage ◽  
Eden-Raye Lukacik

Abstract. Honesty-Humility is a valuable predictor in personnel selection; however, problems with self-report measures create a need for new tools to judge this trait. Therefore, this research examines the interview as an alternative for assessing Honesty-Humility and how to improve judgments of Honesty-Humility in the interview. Using trait activation theory, we examined the impact of interview question type on Honesty-Humility judgment accuracy. We hypothesized that general personality-tailored questions and probes would increase the accuracy of Honesty-Humility judgments. Nine hundred thirty-three Amazon Mechanical Turk workers watched and rated five interviews. Results found that general questions with probes and specific questions without probes led to the best Honesty-Humility judgments. These findings support the realistic accuracy model and provide implications for Honesty-Humility-based interviews.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-127
Author(s):  
Simone Mariconda ◽  
Alessandra Zamparini ◽  
Francesco Lurati

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to conceptually develop and empirically test a model according to which a crisis leads to a greater reputational damage when it is highly relevant to the firm’s organizational identity or highly relevant to stakeholders’ identity. Design/methodology/approach A total of 299 participants based in the USA were recruited online using the Amazon Mechanical Turk platform. The study uses a 2 (relevance of crisis to organizational identity: low vs high) × 2 (relevance of crisis to stakeholders’ identity: low vs high) between-subjects experimental design. Findings The results confirm the hypotheses that an organizational crisis leads to greater reputational damage when it is highly relevant to the firm’s organizational identity or when it is highly relevant to stakeholders’ identity. No significant interaction between the two variables was found. Research limitations/implications Future research could focus on further elaborating on how the two identity-related variables tested in this paper interact with other variables that have already been studied for moderating the effects of crises on reputation damage. Practical implications The paper reaffirms the deep interconnection between identity, stakeholders and reputation. Concretely, the results of the study suggest an informative way of mapping the degree to which risks or issues could potentially damage organizational reputation. Originality/value The paper contributes to the literature by providing a more situational understanding of how the same exact crisis can damage the reputation of organizations differently. By doing so, the paper opens several new avenues for future research.


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