Effect of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) in Increasing Pain Tolerance and Improving the Mental Health of Injured Athletes

Abstract Background: Dutch teachers in secondary vocational schools suffer from stress and burnout complaints that can cause considerable problems at work. This paper presents a study design that can be used to evaluate the short- and long-term effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), being a person-focused intervention, both within and without the context of an additional organisational health intervention. Methods: The proposed study comprises a cluster randomised controlled trial that will be conducted in at least three secondary vocational schools, for which teachers will[HBvd(1] be recruited from three types of courses: Care, Technology, and Economy. The allocation of the intervention programme to the participating schools will be randomised. The teachers from each school will be assigned to either Intervention Group 1 (IG 1), Intervention Group 2 (IG 2), or the Waiting List Group (WG). IG 1 will receive MBSR training and IG 2 will receive MBSR training combined with an additional organisational health intervention. WG, that is the control group, will receive MBSR training one year later. The primary outcome variable of the proposed study is mindfulness, which will be measured with the Dutch version of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ-NL). In the conceptual model, the effects of teachers’ mindfulness resulting from the intervention programmes (MBSR training and MBSR training combined with an additional organisational health intervention) will be related to salient (secondary outcome) variables: mental health outcomes (e.g., burnout, work engagement), work performance, work-related perceptions (job demands and job resources), and personal competencies (e.g., occupational self-efficacy). Data will be collected before (T0) and immediately after the MBSR training (T1), and three (T2) and nine months (T3) after the training. The power analysis revealed a required sample size of 66 teachers (22 for each group). Discussion: The proposed study aims to provide insight into: (1) the short- and long-term effects of MBSR on teachers’ mental health, (2) the possible enhancing effects of the additional organisational health intervention, and (3) the teachers’ experiences with the interventions (working mechanisms, steps in the mindfulness change process). Strengths of this study design are the use of both positive and negative outcomes, the wide range of outcomes, both outcome and process measures, longitudinal data, mixed methods, and an integral approach. Although the proposed study protocol may not address all weaknesses of current studies (e.g., self-selection bias, self-reporting of data, the Hawthorne effect), it is innovative in many ways and can be expected to make important contributions to both the scientific and practical debate on how to beat work-related stress and occupational burnout, and on how to enhance work engagement and work performance.

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Evaluation of the effects of 12 weeks mindfulness-based stress reduction on glycemic control and mental health indices in women with diabetes mellitus type 2

Advanced Biomedical Research ◽

10.4103/abr.abr_133_20 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 61

Author(s):

Anahita Babak ◽

OmidNikkhah Ravari ◽

SeyedehZeinab Mousavi

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Diabetes Mellitus ◽

Glycemic Control ◽

Stress Reduction ◽

Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 ◽

Diabetes Mellitus Type ◽

Health Indices ◽

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction

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Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Increases Mental Wellbeing and Emotion Regulation During the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Synchronous Online Intervention Study

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.720965 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Maya Sanilevici ◽

Omer Reuveni ◽

Shahar Lev-Ari ◽

Yulia Golland ◽

Nava Levit-Binnun

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Emotion Regulation ◽

Stress Reduction ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Individual Growth ◽

Health Improvement ◽

Control Group ◽

Post Intervention ◽

Global Pandemic ◽

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction

The COVID-19 pandemic imposed extreme living conditions of social distancing, which triggered negative mental health problems and created challenges in seeking mental health support. Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have been found to enhance wellbeing and mental health by reducing stress and anxiety and improving emotion regulation. Preliminary evidence suggests that online, synchronous MBIs may produce beneficial effects similar to face-to-face programs. However, the effectiveness of such online-MBIs to support mental health in highly stressful times, such as a global pandemic, requires further study. To this end, we investigated the effect of an online 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program on aspects of mental health during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants (N=92) who expressed interest in discounted online-MBSR programs were recruited for the study. The division into experimental and control groups was based on actual enrollment to the courses. Those who enrolled in a program were assigned to the experimental condition and those who decided not to enroll served as controls. Participants were assessed pre-intervention, post-intervention, and 1-month post-intervention for levels of mindfulness, perceived stress, anxiety, emotion regulation, and intolerance of uncertainty. Differences between the groups were tested using the general linear mixed effects model (GLMM) and Individual Growth Curve Models (IGCM) in intent to treat analysis. The findings indicated that, relative to the control group, MBSR improved mindfulness abilities (p <0.001), decreased anxiety (p <0.001), and stress (p <0.001) and increased emotion regulation (p <0.001). These effects were found to persist 1 month after the end of the program, despite the increased governmental public-health restrictions due to COVID-19 at that time. The ability to tolerate uncertainty, a central characteristic of the pandemic, was not found to be affected by the program. A mediation analysis revealed that the effect of the intervention on mental health improvement was partially mediated by the improvement in emotion regulation. Overall, the findings provide positive evidence for the feasibility of an online-MBSR program to support the mental health of individuals from the general population through the mediation of emotion regulation in challenging times, such as a global pandemic.

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