Mindfulness-Based Wellness: Variables and Data Collection

This morning is the kickoff for our Mindfulness-Based Wellness program, the culmination of a LOT of preparation. Today, for our first scheduled class session, we are holding a data collection party; we will be administering 12 measures to our 50 or so volunteers, and these 12 measures will provide us with a wealth of variables, including blood pressure, impulsivity, attentional capacity, body fat, and overall emotional distress. At the end of the semester, we will repeat the measures. We anticipate that we will be able to demonstrate that the group of people who participate in MBW during this Fall Semester will show significant improvements on a number of these variables; and that their improvements will be greater than any improvements that we see in the control group (i.e., those who are waiting until Spring Semester to participate in the program).

I was up till midnight last night making sure that all the data collection packets had all the proper pieces of paper in them, correctly labelled. It's still dark outside this morning; after I finish this post, I'll load up the file folders into the car, get a big cappucino (that's a healthy choice, right?)... and head back to campus.