Cultivating mindfulness: evaluation of a community-based mindfulness program for Arabic-speaking women in Australia

Abstract

Arabic-speaking communities in Australia underutilise mental health services. Previous research with Arabic-speakers recruited individually demonstrated that an Arabic Mindfulness Compact Disc (CD) was an acceptable and useful resource for this group. Subsequently, the CD was introduced as part of a 5-week group mindfulness program for Arabic-speaking Muslim women. The intervention was delivered in a community setting by a bilingual (Arabic/English) psychologist with support from a bilingual multicultural health worker. The mixed-methods evaluation incorporated a pre–post study with a wait-list control group. An Arabic translation of the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS21) was administered at baseline and program completion. Pre–post differences were tested using the sign test for paired samples (one-sided). Qualitative methods were used to evaluate the program’s acceptability. After five weeks, the intervention group showed statistically significant improvement on all DASS21 subscales (n = 12, p < .001 for depression and stress and p < .01 for anxiety). For the wait-list control group, only anxiety showed significant improvement (n = 8, p < .05). Qualitative analysis revealed how the women grew in their understanding of mindfulness concepts and mastered the different techniques, how they dealt with painful memories, how mindfulness practice assisted them in their daily lives, and how they related mindfulness to Islam. The in-language mindfulness intervention was shown to be culturally and spiritually relevant, and clinically effective. The group program incorporating the Arabic Mindfulness CD has potential for scaling up. Further research is required to investigate effectiveness for Arabic-speaking men with similar backgrounds.