Mindful Compassion Research Articles

A three-arm randomized controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy and feasibility of mindful compassion for perfectionism in reducing perfectionistic cognitions.

A three-arm randomized controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy and feasibility of mindful compassion for perfectionism in reducing perfectionistic cognitions.

Exploring the potential of mindful compassion pedagogies for effective global citizenship education and education for sustainable development

Exploring the potential of mindful compassion pedagogies for effective global citizenship education and education for sustainable development

Brief Online Intervention Model Promotes Sustained Helping Behavior Across 6 Months Following a Population-Wide Traumatic Event

Following natural disasters, early helping behavior often dissipates despite remaining disaster-related suffering and affective vulnerability in the community. Interventions that have successfully increased helping behaviors have included components of motivational interviewing (MI) and mindful compassion; however, this research is limited by laboratory-based settings and lengthy training sessions. Brief, portable, and efficient intervention is needed to increase accessibility to large groups simultaneously. The current study piloted a brief, online, self-administered MI and mindful compassion intervention administered 4-10weeks post-Hurricane Harvey examining if it would sustain helping behaviors over the ensuing year. The study also examined potential moderators of the relationship between compassion for others and internalizing symptoms, and whether helping behaviors predicted post-traumatic stress symptoms. The intervention group sustained the use of helping behaviors more than an active control group after 9-12months. Also, compassion satisfaction and burnout moderated the relationship between compassion for others and post-traumatic stress and depressive symptoms at follow-up. Results suggest a potentially useful model of how an efficiently distributed intervention might sustain helping behaviors after a natural disaster and provide insight into possible longitudinal risk and protective factors for post-traumatic stress and depressive symptoms among helping volunteers.

Examining stress regulation impacts from integrating mindfulness and self-compassion interventions into doctoral-level leadership courses

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to explore mindfulness and self-compassion teachings and practices embedded in a leadership course and their outcome on stress regulation of doctoral-level students.Design/methodology/approachEight valid and reliable pre-and post-assessment inventories were administered prior to the first week of class and following the completion of the doctoral-level class. The test scores were measured for improvement and for differences between various demographic groups.FindingsThe results suggest significant improvement on almost every mindfulness subscale with approximately 5–22% of the variance in subscale scores attributed to participation. Doctoral students over 40 indicated more score improvement than students under 40, and doctoral students of color indicated more significant score increases than White students.Research limitations/implicationsThe research involves doctoral-level students which limits generalizability to other levels of education. Based on the findings, scaling analysis should be conducted on other types of students for generalization purposes.Practical implicationsInstitutions looking to incorporate wellness practices into curriculum can embed these types of practices into their course design.Social implicationsFaculty can become more intentional in how they engage students in mindful compassion skills within their academic programs.Originality/valueThe paper adds a quantitative study into the literature surrounding efficacy of wellness practices in structured curriculum. Institutions looking to provide more resources to students to improve their wellness may find the model useful on their campuses, particularly for students over 40 and students of color.

Effectiveness of a Mindful Compassion Care Program in reducing burnout and psychological distress amongst frontline hospital nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic: a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

BackgroundRecent studies have shown that nurses have been more affected by the COVID-19 pandemic than any other group of hospital workers in terms of anxiety, depression, and burnout. Several clinical studies had previously demonstrated the effectiveness of mindfulness and compassion interventions in reducing burnout and emotional distress amongst healthcare professionals.Methods and analysisA parallel-group randomized controlled trial will assess the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of a mindfulness and compassion-focused programme on frontline nurses who had been working during the COVID-19 pandemic. Seventy-two participants will be recruited from Verona University Hospital Trust (Veneto Region, north-east Italy) and will be divided equally into an intervention group and a control group. Primary outcome will be assessed using the Emotional Exhaustion subscale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory General Survey (MBI-GS). Secondary outcomes will be measured by the Cynicism and Professional Efficacy subscales of the MBI-GS, the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), the Impact of Stressful Events (IES-R), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), and the Forms of Self-Criticising/attacking and Self-Reassuring Scale (FSCRS).DiscussionThe study aims to fill a gap in the literature and present a scientifically validated intervention for those healthcare professionals most exposed to the stressful conditions of working during the COVID-19 pandemic.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov; Identifier: NCT05308537

Practice Matters: Pro-environmental Motivations and Diet-Related Impact Vary With Meditation Experience.

Mindfulness has emerged as a potential motivator for sustainable lifestyles, yet few studies provide insight into the relationship between mindfulness practice levels and individual engagement in pro-environmental behaviors. We also lack information about the significance of meditators’ behavioral differences in terms of their measurable environmental impact and the motivational processes underlying these differences in pro-environmental performance. We classified 300 individuals in three groups with varying meditation experience and compared their pro-environmental motivations and levels of animal protein consumption. Exceeding prior attempts to compare high-impact behaviors of mindfulness practitioners and non-practitioners, we created the most detailed classification of practice engagement by assessing frequency, experience and type of meditation practice. This nuanced view on mindfulness practice reveals that advanced meditators, who reported high levels of connectedness with nature (CWN), subjective happiness and dispositional mindfulness showed significantly more concern for the environment. They also demonstrated the lowest levels of greenhouse gas emissions, land occupation and water use related to their animal-protein consumption. This study is the first to follow a self-determination theory perspective to deepen our understanding of the motivational differences between meditator groups. We revealed that advanced meditators reported significantly more integrated motivation toward the environment than non-meditators. We also provided preliminary evidence for a new theoretical framework suggesting that experiential strategies such as mindfulness practices could strengthen the relational pathway of pro-environmental behaviors. Using sequential mediation analysis, we confirmed that the negative effect of mindful compassion practice on greenhouse gas emissions from animal-protein consumption is partially mediated by CWN and integrated motivation toward the environment. While our study does not support assumptions of causality, it shows that much can be learned by studying the motivations of advanced meditators for maintaining high levels of pro-environmental behavior.

Benefits of mindful compassion for staff, patients and carers.

This study intended to examine the long-term effect on the emotional wellbeing and behaviour change of staff, patients and carers who attended a one-day Macmillan course on mindful compassion. People who attended mindful compassion study days in 2016 and 2017 were invited to participate in an online questionnaire in 2019. Nearly 50% (99) of the 200 people who received the invitation completed the survey. Immediately after the course, 38.78% practised mindful compassion as and when required, 28.57% practised when possible, 15.31% practised daily, 13.27% practised 3-4 times a week and 3.5% were not practising. More than half (56%) used mindful compassion to help with home and work life, relationships and family. Two or three years after the course, when asked again, 15.31% of those who answered still practised daily, 11.22% practised 3-4 times a week, 23.47% practised as and when possible and 42.86% did so as needed; 7.14% had not continued practising. Training in mindful compassion benefits patients and carers. In both the short and long terms, mindful compassion was found to reduce anxiety, aid sleep, improve pain management and help people feel more empowered, calm and relaxed. It also helped people cope with stressful situations, gave them time for themselves and enabled them to become much more focused.

In A Mindful Moral Voice: Mindful Compassion, The Ethic of Care and Education

This paper argues that Carol Gilligan’s Ethic of Care has strong affinities with the Buddhist concept of karuna (compassion) which, Jay Garfield has argued, is the necessary foundation of rights theory. Its central argument is that both moral compassion and thus rights theory are grounded in the natural compassionate care a mother exercises in order to promote the flourishing of her child without which children, and consequently adult society, would not survive in any form. Wittgenstein’s concept of language-games is brought to bear on Buddhist philosophy to foreground the rootedness of human experience in connection and empathy. This further supports the naturalness of compassionate care, the Ethic of Care and karuna. Finally, mindfulness meditation is proposed as a practice appropriate for the educational context for the development of karuna as a moral resource for personal, civil and professional life.

Terapia cognitiva per pazienti con Disforia di Genere che non vogliono intraprendere percorsi medici

The authors propose a cognitive approach to help people with gender dysphoria who do not intend to undertake medical therapies. This approach helps these patients to experience their bodies as a secure base from which to experiment new ways of expressing their gender identity and achieving a meaningful life. To this end, the Authors refer mainly to the contributions of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, mindfulness and mindful compassion.

Co-Creating the Container for Optimal Learning and Development: Lessons from Trauma-Informed Mindful Compassion Practices

Co-Creating the Container for Optimal Learning and Development: Lessons from Trauma-Informed Mindful Compassion Practices

Paul Gilbert and Choden: Mindful Compassion: How the Science of Compassion Can Help You Understand Your Emotions, Live in the Present, and Connect Deeply with Others. New Harbinger Publications, 2014, 384 pp

Paul Gilbert and Choden: Mindful Compassion: How the Science of Compassion Can Help You Understand Your Emotions, Live in the Present, and Connect Deeply with Others. New Harbinger Publications, 2014, 384 pp