APS Convention: Research on Mindfulness-Based Wellness!

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I got the word yesterday from the Association for Psychological Science (APS) that a research poster I submitted for the annual convention has been accepted! I will be going to Chicago (along with co-author, Ian Butterbaugh) in May to display the method and results of the Mindfulness-Based Wellness program we ran at Avila University in the fall semester of 2007. Here’s what the program entry looks like:

Mindfulness-Based Intervention Enhances Wellness

on University Campus

Time and Location
Brain, Body, Behavior, and Health - Board: BH-020
Friday May 23, 2008, 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
Chicago 8&9

Delany Dean [E-mail Presenter]
Avila University

Maria Hunt
Avila University

Ian Butterbaugh
Avila University

Abstract

A semester-long program for students, faculty, and staff at a small university combined Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction with values-based behavioral activation. Participants showed significantly improved scores on measures of: depression, anxiety, attention, overall psychological discomfort, psychological/emotional sensitivity, impulsivity, attentional deficits, mindfulness, and overall quality of life.

That’s the good news; the not-so-good news is that the program no longer exists in the same format at Avila University. Certain decisions were made (not by me) that the program should not have so much emphasis on the teaching and practice of mindfulness meditation. And so the program was substantially changed. That was very disappointing to me (see my previous post called "Are There Any Shortcuts?"); the original curriculum, as I designed and taught it, was based primarily on the extremely successful and well-researched Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program created by Jon Kabat-Zinn, in which the teaching and practice of mindfulness meditation is the centerpiece. I think that the best approach to use in teaching mindfulness (with the intent of helping people to make changes in their lives) is to teach and encourage the practice of mindfulness meditation, and to help people to use the practice of meditation to bring mindfulness (compassionate attention) into everyday life. This is also the approach that Thich Nhat Hanh (a Vietnamese Zen monk) teaches (more about his teaching and practice here).

I’m hoping that some of the folks I meet in Chicago will be interested in the program as it was originally presented; I’d be delighted to take that show on the road!