Mindfulness Training Program Research Articles

Mindfulness-Based Practices as a Resource for Health and Well-Being

Abstract Background: Mindfulness-based interventions are becoming increasingly popular in clinical and nonclinical settings. Civilian and Military policy makers responsible for corporate health management and human-resource development are increasingly interested in mindfulness training as a useful tool for reducing stress and enhancing cognitive performance, leadership, and well-being. Objective: This article aims to inform readers concisely about the scope, efficacy, and adequate application of mindfulness training. Moreover, particular interest is paid to rehabilitative and preventive applications of mindfulness in a Military environment. Method: This overview describes mindfulness training programs that are useful for addressing stress-related conditions for North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) troops during times of peace and conflict. Conclusions: Mindfulness has been tested successfully as an applicable measure in the military. This modality remains to be implemented in clinical and the noncli...

Community-Based Mindfulness Program for Disease Prevention and Health Promotion: Targeting Stress Reduction.

Poorly managed stress leads to detrimental physical and psychological consequences that have implications for individual and community health. Evidence indicates that U.S. adults predominantly use unhealthy strategies for stress management. This study examines the impact of a community-based mindfulness training program on stress reduction. This study used a one-group pretest-posttest design. The study took place at the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center in urban Los Angeles. A sample of N = 127 community residents (84% Caucasian, 74% female) were included in the study. Participants received mindfulness training through the Mindful Awareness Practices (MAPs) for Daily Living I. Mindfulness, self-compassion, and perceived stress were measured at baseline and postintervention. Paired-sample t-tests were used to test for changes in outcome measures from baseline to postintervention. Hierarchical regression analysis was fit to examine whether change in self-reported mindfulness and self-compassion predicted postintervention perceived stress scores. There were statistically significant improvements in self-reported mindfulness (t = -10.67, p < .001, d = .90), self-compassion (t = -8.50, p < .001, d = .62), and perceived stress (t = 9.28, p < .001, d = -.78) at postintervention. Change in self-compassion predicted postintervention perceived stress (β = -.44, t = -5.06, p < .001), but change in mindfulness did not predict postintervention perceived stress (β = -.04, t = -.41, p = .68). These results indicate that a community-based mindfulness training program can lead to reduced levels of psychological stress. Mindfulness training programs such as MAPs may offer a promising approach for general public health promotion through improving stress management in the urban community.

A randomized controlled trial of smartphone-based mindfulness training for smoking cessation: a study protocol.

BackgroundTobacco use is responsible for the death of about 1 in 10 individuals worldwide. Mindfulness training has shown preliminary efficacy as a behavioral treatment for smoking cessation. Recent advances in mobile health suggest advantages to smartphone-based smoking cessation treatment including smartphone-based mindfulness training. This study evaluates the efficacy of a smartphone app-based mindfulness training program for improving smoking cessation rates at 6-months follow-up.Methods/DesignA two-group parallel-randomized clinical trial with allocation concealment will be conducted. Group assignment will be concealed from study researchers through to follow-up. The study will be conducted by smartphone and online. Daily smokers who are interested in quitting smoking and own a smartphone (n = 140) will be recruited through study advertisements posted online. After completion of a baseline survey, participants will be allocated randomly to the control or intervention group. Participants in both groups will receive a 22-day smartphone-based treatment program for smoking. Participants in the intervention group will receive mobile mindfulness training plus experience sampling. Participants in the control group will receive experience sampling-only. The primary outcome measure will be one-week point prevalence abstinence from smoking (at 6-months follow-up) assessed using carbon monoxide breath monitoring, which will be validated through smartphone-based video chat.DiscussionThis is the first intervention study to evaluate smartphone-based delivery of mindfulness training for smoking cessation. Such an intervention may provide treatment in-hand, in real-world contexts, to help individuals quit smoking.Trial registrationClinicaltrials.gov NCT02134509. Registered 7 May 2014.

Minds "at attention": mindfulness training curbs attentional lapses in military cohorts.

We investigated the impact of mindfulness training (MT) on attentional performance lapses associated with task-unrelated thought (i.e., mind wandering). Periods of persistent and intensive demands may compromise attention and increase off-task thinking. Here, we investigated if MT may mitigate these deleterious effects and promote cognitive resilience in military cohorts enduring a high-demand interval of predeployment training. To better understand which aspects of MT programs are most beneficial, three military cohorts were examined. Two of the three groups were provided MT. One group received an 8-hour, 8-week variant of Mindfulness-based Mind Fitness Training (MMFT) emphasizing engagement in training exercises (training-focused MT, n = 40), a second group received a didactic-focused variant emphasizing content regarding stress and resilience (didactic-focused MT, n = 40), and the third group served as a no-training control (NTC, n = 24). Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) performance was indexed in all military groups and a no-training civilian group (CIV, n = 45) before (T1) and after (T2) the MT course period. Attentional performance (measured by A’, a sensitivity index) was lower in NTC vs. CIV at T2, suggesting that performance suffers after enduring a high-demand predeployment interval relative to a similar time period of civilian life. Yet, there were significantly fewer performance lapses in the military cohorts receiving MT relative to NTC, with training-focused MT outperforming didactic-focused MT at T2. From T1 to T2, A’ degraded in NTC and didactic-focused MT but remained stable in training-focused MT and CIV. In sum, while protracted periods of high-demand military training may increase attentional performance lapses, practice-focused MT programs akin to training-focused MT may bolster attentional performance more than didactic-focused programs. As such, training-focused MT programs should be further examined in cohorts experiencing protracted high-demand intervals.

Staying Well: A Follow Up of a 5-Week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Programme for a Range of Psychological Issues.

112 women and 37 men, with an average age of 50 years were referred for MBSR training with a range of chronic psychological issues. All participants completed the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (Tennant et al. in Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 5:63, 2007) before and after the mindfulness training programme. A significant overall effect of pre/post training was found and this difference was not related to a specific disorder. The results suggest that a 'brief' dose of MBSR can have a positive impact on measures of well-being in a manner that is not related to patient characteristics. A follow-up of 28 participants confirms that participation in the 5-week Living Mindfully MBSR programme significantly enhances psychological well-being immediately after training, and this benefit is maintained up to 4 years after training. Continued practice in mindfulness meditation showed an insignificant relationship to well-being scores at follow up. Qualitative data suggest that the 5 week MBSR is an effective means of developing emotion regulation and psychological well-being.

Considering Mindfulness Training for Obesity-Related Eating Behaviors in Children and Adolescents: A Conceptual Review

Obesity in children and adolescents is a major public health problem in the United States. Obesity-related eating behaviors are an important contributing factor to this issue. Youth in the United Stated tend to have unhealthful dietary intake and poor eating habits, such as consumption of large portion sizes, fruit, vegetable, and dietary fiber intake below dietary recommendations, and sugar intake above dietary recommendations. Emotional eating, external eating, and binge eating, behaviors that are linked with excess weight gain, have also been found to occur in youth. Eating behaviors established during the early years of life tend to persist into adulthood, so forming healthful eating habits and relationships with food early in life are important for the current and future health of children and adolescents. However, numerous factors including parenting practices, the food environment at home and outside of the home, and food advertising impart competing influences on eating behaviors in youth. It is essential to arm children and adolescents with skills that help them make healthful dietary choices and develop healthful eating styles in the face of influences that may impede healthful behaviors. Mindfulness training may be a promising approach. A recent systematic literature review by our research group found that mindfulness training programs can improve obesity-related eating behaviors in adults. Research has also shown that mindfulness training can be successfully implemented in child and adolescent populations with promise for improving stress-related and neurocognitive outcomes. The aim of this brief conceptual review is to provide an overview of obesity-related eating behaviors in children and adolescents and suggest how mindfulness training might hold promise as an intervention approach and a way of being to support healthful eating behaviors in the early years of human development.

A Multisite Pre/Post Study of Mindfulness Training for Therapists: The Impact on Session Presence and Effectiveness.

To date, little research has tested whether the use of mindfulness by clinicians results in actual changes in psychotherapy sessions. The purpose of this multisite study was to test whether a brief 5-week mindfulness training program could lead to improved session presence and effectiveness for trainee clinicians (n = 31). At the end of 85 pretraining and 132 posttraining sessions, clients completed the client version of the Therapist Presence Inventory (TPI-C; Geller, Greenberg, & Watson, 2010) and the Session Rating Scale (SRS; Johnson, Miller, & Duncan, 2000). Although the levels of client-rated presence did not differ between pretraining and posttraining sessions, sessions that occurred after the training were rated by clients as more effective compared to the pretraining sessions, t(170.91) = 2.63, p = .01, d = .30. This study provides preliminary session outcome evidence supporting mindfulness training for clinicians.

Reducing Interpersonal Conflict Through Mindfulness Training: Emotion Regulation As Mediator

Although interpersonal conflict is ubiquitous in the workplace, studies show that individuals often avoid conflict, which can have detrimental effects for the individual, team, and organization. Limited research has explored how conflict avoidance can be reduced. In the present paper the authors theorized that conflict avoidance could be lessened by increasing individuals’ ability to accept their emotions. Mindfulness training was utilized as an intervention to increase emotion acceptance. The results show that after the training (a) participants in the mindfulness training program reported lower conflict avoidance relative to pre-training levels and in comparison to participants in a control group, and (b) emotion acceptance mediated these effects. We then discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

Enhancing relaxation states and positive emotions in physicians through a mindfulness training program: A one-year study

Previous research on mindfulness has focused mainly on stress-related negative symptoms and short-term effects. In contrast, the present article focuses on the impact of a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program on improving well-being (i.e. relaxation states and related positive emotions) in a longitudinal study for a period of one year. A randomized controlled trial in a sample of 42 physicians was used. The intervention group participated in an 8-week MBSR program, with an additional 10-month maintenance period and completed measures of mindfulness and relaxation at pre-intervention, post-intervention and after 10 months. Heart rate measures were also obtained. Significant improvements in favor of the experimental group compared with the control group on the levels of mindfulness and relaxation (including positive emotional states, such as at ease/peace, renewal, energy, optimism, happiness, acceptance, and even transcendence) were obtained after eight weeks. Remarkably, change magnitudes (effect size) significantly increased at the end of the maintenance period after a year, especially for mindfulness and positive energy. Additionally, heart rate significantly decreased for the intervention group and maintained a year after the beginning of the treatment. Results are relevant in terms of practical consequences for improving health and well-being in this population and also in terms of cost-efficiency.

Managers’ Experiences of Meditation Awareness Training

Due to its potential to improve work-related stress and job performance, there is growing interest into the applications of mindfulness in the workplace setting. To date, mindfulness research within occupational psychology has mostly involved First Generation Mindfulness-Based Interventions (FG-MBIs). However, a growing number of researchers, clinicians, and Buddhist teachers/scholars have suggested that FG-MBIs may only partially embody the full potency of mindfulness when compared with its utilisation in traditional Buddhist practice settings. Consequently, recent years have witnessed the early stage evaluation of a number of Second Generation Mindfulness-Based Interventions (SG-MBIs). Although still secular, SG-MBIs are overtly spiritual in aspect and teach mindfulness within a practice infrastructure that integrates what would traditionally be deemed as prerequisites for effective spiritual and meditative development. The purpose of this study was to conduct the first qualitative investigation to analyse the experiences of employed participants receiving training in a SG-MBI. Ten participants were randomly selected from the intervention arm of a randomised controlled trial assessing the effects of meditation awareness training (MAT) on work-related wellbeing and job performance. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyse participant experiences of MAT, and six themes emerged from the data-set: (1) changing attitudes towards work, (2) improved job performance, (3) letting go of self, (4) phenomena feed-back effect, (5) wellbeing at work and (6) taking responsibility for one’s spiritual growth. Findings have important implications for the development of authentic mindfulness training programs and suggest that, compared with FG-MBIs, the SG-MBI approach may be tapping into different metacognitive resources.

The effect of mindfulness training prior to total joint arthroplasty on post-operative pain and physical function: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

BackgroundOsteoarthritis is a leading cause of disability in developed nations. In Australia it afflicts 16.5% of the adult population. Total joint arthroplasty is considered the treatment of choice for end stage osteoarthritis. The number of total joint arthroplasties undertaken in Australia has doubled over the last decade (more than 80,000 procedures in 2011). The incidence of pre-operative psychological distress in this group of patients is reported between 30% and 60% and pre-operative psychological distress is associated with poorer pain and functional outcomes after surgery. This study will use a mindfulness-based psychological intervention to enhance outcomes in people undergoing total joint arthroplasty and, in addition, will test hypotheses about coping with chronic illness in an aged population. This study is the first of its kind and will provide a greater understanding of the role of a mental health enhancement program on the physical recovery of total joint arthroplasty patients.Methods/DesignOne hundred and fifty people with end-stage arthritis on the waiting list for total hip or knee arthroplasty will be recruited and randomly allocated to one of two groups using computer-generated block randomisation. A randomised controlled trial adhering to CONSORT guidelines will evaluate the efficacy of a mindfulness training program (weekly group-based classes in mindfulness practice, 2 ½ hours, for 8 weeks plus a 7-hour Saturday session in Week 6) prior to total joint arthroplasty, compared to a “standard care” group who will undergo routine total joint arthroplasty. Primary outcomes will be evaluated by a blinded examiner at baseline, 3 and 12 months post-surgery, using a validated self-reported pain and physical function scale. Secondary outcomes will include i) a range of validated measures of psychological wellbeing and ii) health economic analysis. All analyses will be conducted on an intention to treat basis using linear regression models. Health economic modelling will be applied to estimate the potential cost-effectiveness of mindfulness training and total joint arthroplasty.Trial registrationAustralian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTRN12611001184965). Date of registration; 15th November 2011.

Mindfulness-based Training Shows Promise in Assisting Staff to Reduce Their Use of Restrictive Interventions in Residential Services

The aim of this study was to examine the association between mindfulness training and restrictive interventions implemented by staff employed in two residential service homes who supported people with a disability who showed severe challenging behavior. Twelve disability support workers completed an 8-week group-based mindfulness training program in February to March 2010. Pro re nata (PRN, as required) and emergency seclusions and chemical restraints reported for the homes during the 2 months of the training program and the 3 months following the program (February to June 2010) were compared to those for the corresponding months in 2009. Compared to the number of PRN and emergency seclusions and PRN and emergency chemical restraints for the two homes for February to June 2009, those for February to June 2010 were significantly lower. Mindfulness training may have helped staff to respond to clients’ challenging behaviors in a more mindful and less reactive way.

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Koru: A Mindfulness Program for College Students and Other Emerging Adults

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of Koru, a mindfulness training program for college students and other emerging adults. Participants: Ninety students (66% female, 62% white, 71% graduate students) participated between Fall 2012 and Spring 2013. Methods: Randomized controlled trial. It was hypothesized that Koru, compared with a wait-list control group, would reduce perceived stress and sleep problems, and increase mindfulness, self-compassion, and gratitude. Results: As hypothesized, results showed significant Group (Koru, Wait-List) × Time (Pre, Post) interactions for improvements in perceived stress (F[1, 76.40] = 4.50, p =.037, d =.45), sleep problems (F [1, 79.49] = 4.71, p =.033, d =.52), mindfulness (F [1, 79.09] = 26.80, p <.001, d =.95), and self-compassion (F[1, 74.77] = 18.08, p <.001, d =.75). All significant effects were replicated in the wait-list group. Significant correlations were observed among changes in perceived stress, sleep problems, mindfulness, and self-compassion. Conclusions: Results support the effectiveness of the Koru program for emerging adults in the university setting.

Improving the Graphic Creativity Levels of Latin American High School Students Currently Living in Spain by Means of a Mindfulness Program

In this study we will analyze the impact of a mindfulness program upon the graphic creativity levels of a group of Latin American teenagers currently living in Spain. To do so, we analyzed an experimental group of Latin American teenagers who took part in the mindfulness training program, and a control group who did not take part in it. The levels of graphic creativity of both groups were evaluated by means of the Torrance Thinking Test of the Graphic Battery. The statistical study showed how the levels of fluency and originality have significantly increased if compared with the levels of the control group. The results of this research prove the usefulness of mindfulness techniques as useful and effective strategies for graphic creativity improvement, and may become an empiric support so as to incorporate and use them within the educational environment.

The effects of mindfulness training program on reducing stress and promoting well-being among nurses in critical care units

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a brief mindfulness-based training program in reducing stress and promoting well-being among critical care nurses. Design: A quasi-experimental, single-group, pre-post study design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. Setting: This study was conducted in a tertiary referral centre in Malaysia. Subjects: A non–probability voluntary sample of 41 critical care nurses participated in the program. Thirty seven (90%) completed the program, with at least 80% attendance. Intervention: The intervention is an adapted and brief version of Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (b-MBCT) using the local promotional name of ‘Mindful-Gym’. b-MBCT is a group-based program, carried out for five weeks at two hours per week with practice sessions in between. It was delivered as part of the hospital’s continuing nursing education program. Main outcome measures: Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS) were used to measure the stress related outcomes. As for the well-being outcomes, the Mindfulness Attention and Awareness Scale and SubjectiveHappiness Scale (SHS) were used. Results: After completing the program, the participants reported significant improvement in the level of perceived stress (PSS: p &lt; .001; r = 0.50), stress (DASS-S: p = .002; d = 0.56), anxiety (DASS-A: p &lt; .001; r =0.38), depression (DASS-D: p &lt; .001; r = 0.37), mindfulness (MAAS: p &lt; .001; d = 1.002), and happiness (SHS: p = .028; d = 0.57), with a moderate to large effect size. Conclusion: Results support the effectiveness of b-MBCT in reducing stress and promoting well-being among critical care nurses.

Taming the adolescent mind: a randomised controlled trial examining clinical efficacy of an adolescent mindfulness-based group programme.

Mindfulness interventions with adolescents are in the early stages of development. This study sought to establish efficacy of a mindfulness-based group intervention for adolescents with mixed mental health disorders. One hundred and eight adolescents (ages 13-18) were recruited from community mental health clinics and randomised into two groups (control vs. treatment). All participants received treatment-as-usual (TAU) from clinic-based therapists independent of the study. Adolescents in the treatment condition received TAU plus a 5-week mindfulness-training programme (TAU+Mi); adolescents in the control group received only TAU. Assessments including parent/carer reports were conducted at baseline, postintervention and 3-month follow-up. At postintervention, adolescents in the mindfulness condition experienced significant decrease in mental distress (measured with the DASS-21) compared to the control group (Cohen's d=0.43), and these gains were enhanced at 3-month follow-up (Cohen's d=0.78). Overall outcomes at 3months showed significant improvement for adolescents in the mindfulness condition; in self-esteem, mindfulness, psychological inflexibility and mental health, but not resilience. Parents/carers also reported significant improvement in their adolescent's psychological functioning (using the CBCL). Mediation analyses concluded mindfulness mediated mental health outcomes. Increase in mindful awareness after training leads to improvement in mental health and this is consistent with mindfulness theory. The mindfulness group programme appears to be a promising adjunctive therapeutic approach for clinic-based adolescents with mental health problems.

A pilot study to evaluate mindfulness as a strategy to improve inpatient nurse and patient experiences

The purpose of the Mindful Nursing Pilot Study was to explore the impact of mindfulness training for nursing staff on levels of mindfulness, compassion satisfaction, burnout, and stress. In addition, the study attempted to determine the impact on patient satisfaction scores. The pilot was designed as a quasi-experimental research study; staff on one nursing unit participated in the 10-week mindfulness training program while another, similar nursing unit served as the control group. The intervention group showed improvement in levels of mindfulness, burnout, and stress as well as patient satisfaction while the control group remained largely the same. This pilot provides encouraging results that suggest that replication and further study of mindfulness in the workplace would be beneficial.

Perfectionism and negative repetitive thoughts: Examining a multiple mediator model in relation to mindfulness

Perfectionism is known to be associated with various maladaptive outcomes, yet little research has examined mechanisms underlying perfectionism or potential protective factors. This study investigated worry and rumination as mediators between perfectionism and psychological distress in university students (N=213), and related the multiple mediator model to a five-facet conceptualization of mindfulness. Socially prescribed perfectionism was related to higher levels of distress, including negative affect, depression, anxiety, and stress, while self-oriented perfectionism and other-oriented perfectionism appeared unrelated to distress. Mindfulness facets of acting with awareness, non-judging of inner experience, and to a lesser extent non-reactivity to inner experience, were the strongest independent contributors to perfectionism, negative repetitive thoughts, and distress. Worry and rumination mediated the relationship between socially prescribed perfectionism and negative affect; however, the mediating effect of rumination was absent in those high in mindfulness. These findings suggest that a mindfulness disposition may mitigate distress related to socially prescribed perfectionism by removing the mediating effect of ruminative thought. Future research might explore a mindfulness-training program to target negative repetitive thoughts underlying socially prescribed perfectionism.

Mindfulness and Acceptance in Developmental Disabilities: Introduction to the Special Issue

Mindfulness and acceptance training programs and interven-tionshaverapidlygainedwidespreadinternationalinterest,buttheir use in the field of developmental disabilities has beenmuchslower.However,thefieldappearstohaveovercometheinertia associated with new approaches and is on the tippingpoint of having a major impact. A major reluctance to adoptthese new “therapies” may be attributable to the plethora offadsespousedbysomeprofessionalsindevelopmentaldisabil-ities. Furthermore, there was some question whether individ-uals with developmental disabilities would have the cognitivecapacity to understand and practice some of the foundationalconcepts associated with mindfulness-based procedures. Asattested by the current research, there is now optimism thatmindfulnessand acceptance proceduresmay prove tobe valu-able in assisting parents and paid carers to enhance the qualityof life of individuals with developmental disabilities (Noone2013;Russell2011).Indeed,there is also limitedresearchthatindicates individuals who function at mild, and perhaps mod-erate, levels of intellectual disabilities may benefit from learn-ing mindfulness-based procedures (Robertson 2011).The aim of this special issue was to bring together some ofthe innovative work being done on mindfulness and accep-tance training and interventions in the field of developmentaldisabilities. The first four papers deal with parents and paidcarers,followedbythreepapersthatdealwithindividualswithintellectual disabilities, and one involving both the individualswith intellectual disabilities and their carers. The final paperadds to the rapidly growing number of reviews of the extantmindfulness literature in developmental disabilities (e.g.,Harper et al. 2013; Hwang and Kearney 2013a, 2013b).Parents and Paid CarersThere are four papers in this section. Ferraioli and Harris(2013) compared the effects of mindfulness and skills-basedparent training programs for parents of children with autism.While both mindfulness-based and behavioral skills approachto parent training have been effective in decreasing parentalstress and increasing meaningful parent–child interactions,Ferraioli and Harris provide the first head-to-head comparisoninasmallpilotstudyof15parentsofchildrenwithautismwhowere randomized into two treatment groups. Both groupsparticipated in an 8-week training program that included di-dactics, discussion, role plays, and homework. Outcome mea-sures of parental stress and global heath were assessed atpretest,posttreatment,and3-monthfollow-up.Resultsshowedthe mindfulness group alone had a statistically significantimprovement on both outcome measures following the 8-week course. Positive changes were also noted for the behav-ioral skills group, but not at a statistically significant level.Beer et al. (2013) present a correlational study that inves-tigated factors related to parental well-being that could beamenable to intervention. The study was based on a sampleof28parents ofchildrenwith autismspectrumdisorder. Theyfound that higher levels of mindful parenting were related tolower levels of depressivesymptomsand stress, but unrelatedto anxiety. The also found that mindful parenting did notmediate the relationship between child behavior problemsand parental distress. Overall, the authors suggested thatmindful parenting may have benefits for parent’spsycholog-ical health. What would be interesting is to provide the sameparents with an 8-week mindfulness parenting course, as inthe Ferraioli and Harris study, and then assess the samecorrelations. We suspect the correlations would be somewhatdifferentbecauseofbetterunderstandingofmindfulnessprac-tices by the parents.Bethayetal. (2013) present a pilot study thatevaluated theeffects of a combined acceptance and commitment training(ACT) with training in applied behavior analysis (ABA)

Implementation of mindfulness training for adolescent residential clients

Purpose – Interest in using mindfulness as a clinical intervention technique has increased, with evidence suggesting that it can be successfully integrated both into treatment for adolescents and for people with substance use disorders. The purpose of this paper is to explore the degree to which mindfulness training can be implemented among adolescents undergoing residential substance abuse treatment. Design/methodology/approach – Nine adolescent males in a residential therapeutic community (TC) substance use treatment center enrolled in a voluntary mindfulness training program consisting of eight 90 minute sessions, each led by a clinical psychologist trained in mindfulness-based stress reduction. After the training program concluded, a brief participant survey and participant and staff focus groups were conducted. Findings – Both survey and focus group discussions indicate that the mindfulness training program was perceived as helpful, acceptable, and feasible. Suggestions for integrating mindfulness training into residential treatment facilities for adolescents are discussed. Originality/value – This study highlights the potential of mindfulness training to augment traditional TC treatment for adolescents, and provides enough information for practitioners to implement mindfulness training in their treatment settings.