Mindfulness-Based Wellness

Mindfulness-Based Wellness: Crunching Numbers!

Ask me how much I miss the students who have gone home for their holidays? LOTS!! There were 5 or 6 grad students, and one undergrad, who were helping to collect data, score all the instruments, check each other's scoring, and enter the data in the computer, at the close of our Fall '07 Semester Mindfulness-Based Wellness program. It's no small task; we are using around 12 instruments and questionnaires, and this yields more than 100 variables. Most of the instruments take some time (and careful attention) to accurately score them, and not all of our participants and control group members have been easy to reach; they have to find time to sit down for the 1-2 hours it takes to do the whole procedure. And we have to try to persuade them to actually do that!

Our fantastic grad students, Ian and Crystal (the "data boss" and "underboss") got everything wrapped up as well as they could for me on Friday, and then they and all their helpers were gone.

Meanwhile, data is (or "are," if you prefer) still coming in; I was up this morning at 5am to continue wrestling with all of it, and got in a good 6 hours before lunch. Now, taking a break to eat some soup and dink around on the computer, I am thinking that there may be light at the end of this tunnel. And, best of all, early indications are that the program was successful. It appears, based on one questionnaire, to have been judged as very "helpful"; for example, on a scale of one to four (1= "not at all helpful"; 4 = "very helpful"), the Fall Group participants said that formal mindfulness practice (sitting meditation, etc.) rated a "3.6" for "helpfulness in meeting their wellness goals." They also found informal mindfulness practice and class sessions very helpful, and those who participated in yoga found that to be very helpful, as well. Later this week, I hope to be able to begin looking at what the psychometric and biometric variables, pre- and post-, are showing.