Investigating Moderators of Compassion Meditation Training in a Community Sample

Abstract

There is increasing interest in third-wave interventions that incorporate contemplative practices. Mindfulness and compassion meditation training programs have shown great promise. In the spirit of precision health, a refined understanding of participant features that identify who will and will not benefit from specific types of contemplative training is an important endeavor. Here, we examined three domains of baseline moderators (demographic, affect, and well-being variables) of the effect of compassion cultivation training (CCT) on improvements in three forms of fear of compassion (for self, for others, and being the recipient of compassion from others) and also on self-compassion. Results indicate that, at baseline, greater frequency of suppression of emotion expression and perceived stress, as well as lesser cognitive reappraisal self-efficacy and mindfulness skills, significantly moderated the effect of CCT (vs. a wait list control group) on reducing fear of compassion for self. We did not identify significant moderators of CCT effects on fear of compassion for others and being the recipient of compassion from others, or self-compassion. Pinpointing individual participant features that predict CCT-related increases in compassion will help optimize treatment matching and sequencing of treatment programs.