7 research outputs found
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Making mindfulness meditation a healthy habit
ObjectivesThe benefits of mindfulness meditation can only be achieved if it is practiced, but health behavior research tells us that initiating and maintaining long-term behavior change is difficult. We propose that mindfulness meditation can be usefully viewed as a health behavior and that this perspective generates insights into how individuals can be supported to develop a healthy habit of mindfulness practice.MethodWe synthesize health behavior models with research on mindfulness practice and with mindfulness curricula to develop the Sussex Mindfulness MEDitation (SuMMed) model. This new theoretical model of mindfulness meditation as a health behavior outlines the stages individuals progress through as they develop a sustained habit of meditation and the processes that facilitate transition between these stages. We contextualize these processes within existing curricula and outline how they could be further supported.ResultsOur model generates a roadmap for future research as well as practical suggestions tailored to individuals at different stages of behavior change. In particular, our model highlights the need to support individuals to continue practice beyond formal instruction, and suggests how maintenance of a meditation habit could be facilitated.ConclusionsMindfulness meditation can be viewed as a health behavior, and understanding mindfulness practice through this lens can help bridge the challenges associated with developing and sustaining mindfulness practice.</p
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Investigating the combined and unique contributions of positive psychological traits to sleep and exploring emotion regulation as a common mediator
The identification of variables which facilitate good quality and quantity sleep represents an important step in tackling the current global sleep loss epidemic. Previous research has established links between good sleep and the positive psychological traits of mindfulness, self-compassion, gratitude and optimism. However, studies have typically focused on single traits, limiting understanding of their collective and independent associations. The two studies reported here address this gap by exploring the combined and unique contributions of mindfulness, self-compassion, gratitude and optimism to sleep; Study 2 further investigated emotion regulation as a common underlying mechanism. Participants in both studies (Study 1 N = 268; Study 2 N = 333) completed online questionnaires assessing the four positive psychological traits and sleep quality and quantity; participants in Study 2 also completed measures of adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation. Multiple regression analyses revealed that mindfulness, self-compassion, gratitude and optimism collectively accounted for 24.96% (Study 1) and 15.81% (Study 2) of the variance in overall sleep quality and quantity. Optimism and mindfulness emerged as significant linear predictors in their own right, with higher levels of optimism and mindfulness respectively being associated with better sleep. Study 2 further identified maladaptive emotion regulation as a common mediating mechanism. Findings highlight the importance of positive psychological traits in relation to sleep and indicate that optimism and mindfulness might make unique contributions to the prediction of sleep outcomes. Findings also flag emotion regulation as a potential common mediator of associations between positive psychological traits and sleep.</p
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Positive psychological traits predict future sleep quality and quantity: exploring emotion regulation as a common mediator
OBJECTIVE: Mindfulness, self-compassion, gratitude, and optimism have each been associated with better sleep quality and quantity; however, their collective and relative contributions to future sleep outcomes remain unexplored. The current study therefore investigated whether baseline levels of these positive psychological traits could predict subsequent sleep quality and quantity. In addition, emotion regulation was examined as a potential common mediator of the relationships between each of the positive traits and sleep.METHODS AND MEASURES: A prospective, correlational design was employed. Student participants (N = 220) completed self-report measures of mindfulness, self-compassion, gratitude, optimism, emotion regulation and sleep quality and quantity at three separate time-points, each approximately 12 wk apart. RESULTS: Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that, collectively, the positive traits at baseline predicted better sleep quality and quantity 12 wk and 24 wk later. Optimism emerged as a unique predictor of sleep at each time-point, with higher levels of optimism predicting better sleep. Maladaptive emotion regulation mediated the relationships between optimism and sleep and self-compassion and sleep. CONCLUSION: Findings are consistent with the idea that positive psychological traits might help to facilitate good sleep quality and quantity and indicate that reductions in maladaptive emotion regulation may underpin associations between some positive traits and sleep.</p
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āThatās just, par for the courseā: social class, objectification and body image among white working-class women in the United Kingdom
Working-class women are disadvantaged by unequal classed and gendered power dynamics, which shape their experiences of objectification and affect their relationship with their bodies. However, existing objectification and body image literature has scarcely examined working-class womenās experiences. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, the current research contributes to the literature by examining White working-class womenās objectification and appearance-related experiences and sensemaking in the United Kingdom. We conducted semi-structured interviews with ten White heterosexual working-class women (aged between 21 and 35 years) living in England. We found that working-class women understood their positions within society as one where they are inevitably subjected to objectification, harassment and violence (Superordinate Theme 1). Their experiences of being stigmatized also led to feelings of internalized shame (Superordinate Theme 2), which engendered a need for self-protection. As such, working-class women were constantly vigilant over the way they appeared to others (Superordinate Theme 3) to avoid āsticking outā (i.e., being singled out), where becoming āunnoticeableā (Superordinate Theme 4) was a strategy to (visually) fit in. Our findings shed light on White working-class womenās objectification experiences that are underrepresented in existing research. These findings suggest that differential power and control, as reflected by social class, facilitates different constructions of meanings within objectification experiences, which shape womenās body and appearance.
Keywords: social class, self-objectification, body image, interpretative phenomenological analysis, working-class women</p
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Standardised data collection from people with dementia over the telephone: a qualitative study of the experience of DETERMIND programme researchers in a pandemic
There is a notable lack of evidence on what constitutes good practice in remote quantitative data collection from research participants with dementia. During the COVID-19 pandemic face-to-face research became problematic, especially where participants were older and more at risk of infection. The DETERMIND-C19 study, a large cohort study of people with dementia, switched to telephone data collection over this period. This paper explores the experiences of researchers who collected quantitative data over the telephone from people with dementia during the first COVID-19 lockdowns in England. The aim was to learn from these experiences, share insights and inform future research practice across disciplines. Seven DETERMIND researchers were interviewed about the processes and challenges of collecting quantitative data from people with dementia over the telephone compared to face-to-face. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Two themes were developed: first the telephone adds an extra layer of confusion to an already cognitively complex interaction. Second, researchers found it difficult to recognise subtle cues that signalled participantsā rising emotion over the telephone in time to prevent distress. The researchers employed strategies to support participants which may not have conformed to the strict conventions of structured interviewing, but which were informed by person-oriented principles. Whilst in practice this may be a common approach to balancing the needs of participants and the requirements of quantitative research, it is rare for studies to openly discuss such trade-offs in the literature. Honest, reflective reporting is required if the practice of remote data collection from people with dementia is to progress ethically and with integrity.</p
Long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the quality of life of people with dementia and their family carers
Introduction: Few studies have longitudinally mapped Quality of Life (QoL) trajectories of newly diagnosed people with dementia and their carers, particularly during COVID-19.
Methods: In a UK cohort study, 261 newly diagnosed people with dementia and 206 family carers were assessed prior to the pandemic (July 2019-March 2020), followed up after the first lockdown (July-October 2020) and then again a year and two years later. Latent growth curve modeling examined the level and change of QoL over the four time-points using dementia-specific QoL measures (DEMQOL and C-DEMQOL).
Results: Despite variations in individual change scores, our results suggest that generally people with dementia maintained their QoL during the pandemic, and experienced some increase towards the end of the period. This contrasted with carers who reported a general deterioration in their QoL over the same period. āConfidence in futureā and āFeeling supportedā were the only carer QoL subscales to show some recovery post-pandemic.
Discussion: It is positive that even during a period of global disruption, decline in QoL is not inevitable following the onset of dementia. However, it is of concern that carer QoL declined during this same period even after COVID-19 restrictions had been lifted. Carers play an invaluable role in the lives of people with dementia and wider society, and our findings suggest that, post-pandemic, they may require greater support to maintain their QoL.</p
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Long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the quality of life of people with dementia and their family carers
Introduction: Few studies have longitudinally mapped Quality of Life (QoL) trajectories of newly diagnosed people with dementia and their carers, particularly during COVID-19.
Methods: In a UK cohort study, 261 newly diagnosed people with dementia and 206 family carers were assessed prior to the pandemic (July 2019-March 2020), followed up after the first lockdown (July-October 2020) and then again a year and two years later. Latent growth curve modeling examined the level and change of QoL over the four time-points using dementia-specific QoL measures (DEMQOL and C-DEMQOL).
Results: Despite variations in individual change scores, our results suggest that generally people with dementia maintained their QoL during the pandemic, and experienced some increase towards the end of the period. This contrasted with carers who reported a general deterioration in their QoL over the same period. āConfidence in futureā and āFeeling supportedā were the only carer QoL subscales to show some recovery post-pandemic.
Discussion: It is positive that even during a period of global disruption, decline in QoL is not inevitable following the onset of dementia. However, it is of concern that carer QoL declined during this same period even after COVID-19 restrictions had been lifted. Carers play an invaluable role in the lives of people with dementia and wider society, and our findings suggest that, post-pandemic, they may require greater support to maintain their QoL.</p