A Qualitative Examination of the Developmental Trajectory of Learning Mindfulness Across an 8-Week Program
- PDF / 450,533 Bytes
- 14 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 18 Downloads / 178 Views
ORIGINAL PAPER
A Qualitative Examination of the Developmental Trajectory of Learning Mindfulness Across an 8-Week Program Ben Isbel 1
&
Tamara Sysak 1 & Mathew J. Summers 2
# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Objectives While many mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are delivered in an 8-week program, little has been reported regarding the developmental trajectory of acquiring mindfulness proficiency. With the widespread adoption of mindfulnessbased practices in both popular and therapeutic settings, greater knowledge regarding the trajectory of learning mindfulness is essential. The present study sought to investigate the developmental trajectory of mindfulness acquisition across an 8-week MBI through examination of home training diary reports. Methods Daily home practice diaries of 20 healthy MBI-naïve older adults randomly assigned to an 8-week mindfulness intervention as part of a larger RCT assessing the effects of mindfulness on cognition were analysed using qualitative content/ thematic techniques. Rather than adopting an a priori coding scheme, an iterative process of coding was used to develop emergent themes from the data along with a standardized codebook manual. The frequency of codes was analysed by week of the intervention in order to permit an investigation of the temporal development of each theme. Results Diary entries were exhaustively incorporated into four main themes: Difficulties with practice, Understanding the practice, Developing proficiency, and Benefits of mindfulness. Temporal analysis revealed that only after 4 weeks did the frequency of Developing proficiency outweigh Difficulties with practice. Participants continued to develop their mindfulness skills throughout, while Benefits of mindfulness appeared toward the conclusion of the program. Conclusions Diary data suggest that sufficient proficiency to overcome difficulties associated with mindfulness practice is achieved only after 4 weeks of daily training, and that participants continue to develop their understanding of the practice throughout an 8-week MBI. Keywords Mindfulness . MBI . Qualitative . Development . Learning . Training . Attention
Mindfulness-based practices are being increasingly applied in therapeutic interventions to treat a variety of mental health disorders. Despite critiques regarding some of the methodological shortcomings present in the field of mindfulness research to date (Coronado-Montoya et al. 2016), evidence from a growing Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-020-01484-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Ben Isbel [email protected] 1
Thompson Institute, University of the Sunshine Coast, Locked Bag 4 (ML59), Maroochydore DC, QLD 4558, Australia
2
Discipline of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, University of the Sunshine Coast, Locked Bag 4 (ML32), Maroochydore DC, QLD 4558, Australia
body of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) indicates that w
Data Loading...
