Enhancing Adolescent Self-Esteem: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of the Online Mindfulness-Based Intervention Program (MBSI Online)

Objective: This study aimed to develop and assess the effectiveness of the MBSI online program in enhancing selfesteem, mindfulness, and resilience among adolescents, while also evaluating its feasibility and participant satisfaction. Materials and Methods: The MBSI online program is an adapted form of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs), developed by integrating specific aspects of mindfulness that are related to self-esteem and the core processes of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), following consultations with mindfulness experts and program trials. The study enrolled 70 adolescents aged 15 to 18 years with low to moderate self-esteem, from diverse Thai regions. Participants were randomly assigned and equally allocated to intervention and waiting-list control groups. The intervention group underwent an 8-week MBSI online program. Self-esteem, mindfulness, and resilience were assessed at baseline, week 4, week 8, 1 month, and 3 months post-intervention. Results: The self-esteem, mindfulness, and resilience scores within the intervention group have significantly increased over time compared to baseline on week 4, week 8, 1 month, and 3 months post-intervention (p < 0.001). Furthermore, between-group comparisons revealed statistically significant improvements in self-esteem, mindfulness, and resilience (p < 0.05) at corresponding intervals, with medium to large effect sizes. The dropout rate was 25.7%, while participant satisfaction with the MBSI online program was remarkably high, averaging 4.73 out of 5, with 76.9% expressing the highest level of satisfaction. Conclusion: The MBSI online program significantly improved self-esteem, mindfulness, and resilience in adolescents, achieving high participant satisfaction. This program presents a valuable intervention for adolescents with low selfesteem, aiming to prevent psychological issues stemming from diminished self-esteem

Efficacy and Feasibility of the Minimal Therapist-Guided Four-Week Online Audio-Based Mindfulness Program &lsquo;Mindful Senses&rsquo; for Burnout and Stress Reduction in Medical Personnel: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Previous online mindfulness-based interventions for burnout and stress reduction in medical personnel had limited effect size and high dropout rate, so we developed a new online mindfulness program &lsquo;Mindful Senses (MS)&rsquo; with aims to increase effect size and lower dropout rate. To test its efficacy and feasibility, ninety medical personnel with moderate or high levels of burnout and stress from across Thailand were recruited and randomly allocated into Group A and Group B equally. Group A read psychological self-help articles (PSA) and attended MS program through smartphone application during weeks 1&ndash;4. Group B read PSA during weeks 1&ndash;4 and attended MS program during weeks 9&ndash;12. Burnout, stress, anxiety, depression, mindfulness, and quality of life were measured at baseline, week 4, and week 8 for both groups, and at weeks 12 and 16 for Group B. Group x time interaction was analyzed by repeated-measures ANOVA. The results showed that, compared to PSA only, MS + PSA had statistically significant improvement of burnout, stress, anxiety, depression, mindfulness, and quality of life with moderate-to-very large effect sizes at week 4 (d = 1.33, 1.42, 1.04, 1.14, 0.70, and 1.03, respectively) and moderate-to-large effect sizes at week 8 (d = 0.84, 0.98, 0.73, 0.73, 0.66, and 0.94, respectively). The dropout rate was 4.4%. In conclusion, the MS program has potential to be an alternative intervention for medical personnel suffering from burnout and stress

Advancing mindfulness research through innovative Ecological Momentary Assessment approaches

There are many critical and unresolved questions regarding how mindfulness impacts daily life experiences. In the current review, we put forward the perspective that ecological momentary assessment (EMA) is a critical research tool to potentially address these questions and advance the field of mindfulness research, but also that it has yet to be fully harnessed, in terms of its key advantages. We highlight various ways by which EMA can be better integrated into mindfulness studies to investigate mindfulness mechanisms in daily life, including individual differences in the rates and patterns of mindfulness learning; the acute and long-term impact of practice experiences; the frequency, quality, and contextual factors that give rise to spontaneous mindfulness states; and the measurement and optimization of mindfulness intervention effects. We further discuss the integration of EMA approaches with both adaptive mindfulness interventions and ecological momentary mindfulness behavioral tasks, to enable simultaneous performance-based measurements and training of mindfulness across various times and contexts. Mindfulness researchers are encouraged to consider incorporating these flexible extensions of EMA methodology into their own work, so as to best combine the primary advantages of laboratory-based, naturalistic, and intervention approaches

Parsing state mindfulness effects on neurobehavioral markers of cognitive control: A within-subject comparison of focused attention and open monitoring.

Over the past two decades, scientific interest in understanding the relationship between mindfulness and cognition has accelerated. However, despite considerable investigative efforts, pervasive methodological inconsistencies within the literature preclude a thorough understanding of whether or how mindfulness influences core cognitive functions. The aim of the current study is to provide an initial “proof-of-concept” demonstration of a new research strategy and methodological approach designed to address prior limitations. Specifically, we implemented a novel fully within-subject state induction protocol to elucidate the neurobehavioral influence of discrete mindfulness states—focused attention (FA) and open monitoring (OM), compared against an active control—on well-established behavioral and ERP indices of executive attention and error monitoring assessed during the Eriksen flanker task. Bayesian mixed modeling was used to test pre-registered hypotheses pertaining to FA and OM effects on flanker interference, the stimulus-locked P3, and the response-locked ERN and Pe. Results yielded strong but unexpected evidence that OM selectively produced a more cautious and intentional response style, characterized by higher accuracy, slower RTs, and reduced P3 amplitude. Follow-up exploratory analyses revealed that trait mindfulness moderated the influence of OM, such that individuals with greater trait mindfulness responded more cautiously and exhibited higher trial accuracy and smaller P3s. Neither FA nor OM modulated the ERN or Pe. Taken together, our findings support the promise of our approach, demonstrating that theoretically distinct mindfulness states are functionally dissociable via direct experimental manipulation, and that interactive variability associated with different operational facets of mindfulness (e.g., trait mindfulness), can be modeled directly