Effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Intervention on Psychological Well-being and Quality of Life: Is Increased Mindfulness Indeed the Mechanism?

By I. Nyklíček, K. F. Kuijpers. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 2008

608 citations recorded by the source corpus.

BackgroundAlthough several studies have reported positive effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) intervention on psychological well-being, it is not known whether these effects are attributable to a change in mindfulness.PurposeThe aim of this study is to compare the effects of MBSR to a waiting-list control condition in a randomized controlled trial while examining potentially mediating effects of mindfulness.MethodsForty women and 20 men from the community with symptoms of distress (mean age 43.6 years, SD = 10.1) were randomized into a group receiving MBSR or a waiting-list control group. Before and after the intervention period, questionnaires were completed on psychological well-being, quality of life, and mindfulness.ResultsRepeated measures multiple analysis of variance (MANCOVAs) showed that, compared with the control group, the intervention resulted in significantly stronger reductions of perceived stress (p = 0.016) and vital exhaustion (p = 0.001) and stronger elevations of positive affect (p = 0.006), quality of life (p = .009), as well as mindfulness (p = 0.001). When mindfulness was included as a covariate in the MANCOVA, the group effects on perceived stress and quality of life were reduced to nonsignificance.ConclusionIncreased mindfulness may, at least partially, mediate the positive effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention.

Subfields: Clinical Psychology, General Health Professions, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/ad38f7f18d1bfe044c7b8764125230fdc5422a81

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Clinical Psychology

In General Health Professions

In Social Psychology

Citations in the corpus

Mindfulness meditation improves cognition: evidence of brief mental training. (2010, background): “Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programs, which are usually 8 weeks in duration and combine mindfulness meditation and gentle yoga, have been found to improve mood and affective processes (Nyklícek & Kuijpers, 2008); and are .”
Mind the Gap in Mindfulness Research: A Comparative Account of the Leading Schools of Thought (2013, background): “…(Anderson et al., 2007; Baer, 2003), stress (Cordon, Brown, & Gibson, 2009; Astin, 1997; Bränström, Kvillemo, Brandberg, & Moskowitz, 2010; Nyklícek & Kuipers, 2008; Oman, Shapiro, Thoresen, Plante, & Flinders, 2008; S. L. Shapiro, Astin, Bishop, & Cordova, 2005; Speca et al., 2000;…”
Effects of a yoga-based intervention for young adults on quality of life and perceived stress: The potential mediating roles of mindfulness and self-compassion (2012, unknown): “This pilot study examined the effects of a four-month residential yoga-based program on quality of life, perceived stress, mindfulness, and self-compassion.”
Mindfulness‐Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness‐Based Cognitive Therapy – a systematic review of randomized controlled trials (2011, background): “Increase in mindfulness correlated significantly with improvements in mental health in two studies (24, 29), whereas the effects of mindfulness were in the predicted direction, but failed to reach significance in another study (34).”
Relational Aspects of Mindfulness: Implications for the Practice of Marriage and Family Therapy (2010, background): “There is extensive research on the positive outcomes of mindfulness training including: increased general life satisfaction and well being (Nyklicek and Kuijpers 2008), increased positive affect (Barnes et al. 2007), and increased secure self-esteem (Heppner and Kernis 2007).”
Comparing Self-Compassion, Mindfulness, and Psychological Inflexibility as Predictors of Psychological Health (2014, background): “The cultivation of mindfulness has also been connected to increases in positive aspects of mental health (Nyklicek & Kuijpers 2008).”
Self-compassion is a better predictor than mindfulness of symptom severity and quality of life in mixed anxiety and depression. (2011, background): “…& Ryan, 2003) because it (a) is psychometrically consistent across cultures (Christopher et al., 2009), (b) has shown theoretically consistent relationships to neural activity (Creswell, Way, Eisenberger, & Lieberman, 2007), and (c) is a known mediator of MBI outcomes (Nykliček & Kuijpers, 2008).”
A controlled trial of mindfulness training in schools: The importance of practice for an impact on well-being (2010, unknown): “Keywords: well-being; education; mindfulness; adolescents; intervention”
Effects of Mindfulness on Psychological Health: A Review of Empirical Studies (2011, methodology): “…(again, assessed by theMAAS, the KIMS, and/or the FFMQ) statistically mediated the effects of mindfulness interventions on perceived stress (Nyklíček & Kuipers, 2008; Shapiro et al., 2008), rumination (Shapiro et al., 2008), cognitive reactivity (Raes et al., 2009), quality of life…”
Mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for psychological health and well-being in nonclinical samples: A systematic review and meta-analysis. (2020, unknown): “…(POMS) 33 Montero-Marin et al., 2018 Working adults (58) Spain 49.01, 77.5% Pre-post MBSR n/a Baseline; 4-weeks AA (MAAS); Burnout/ Fatigue (BCSQ-12) 34 Nyklicek & Kuijpers, 2008 Community (60) Netherlands 46, 67% RCT MBSR (28) WLC (29) Baseline; 8-weeks Stress (PSS-10); Burnout/ Fatigue (MQ);…”
The Effects of Mindfulness Meditation: A Meta-Analysis (2012, background): “…42 Yes Journal 0.22 48 MacKenzie et al. (2006) Shortened version of MBSR 0 28 Yes Journal 0.33 30 Morone et al. (2008) MBSR 0 56 Yes Journal 0.17 30 Nyklicek & Kuipers (2008) MBSR 0 56 Yes Journal 0.30 57 Oman et al. (2008) MBSR 60 % had none 56 Yes Journal 0.12 30 Shapiro et al. (1998) MBSR 0 56…”