Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Mindfulness strategies'

Performance enhancement strategies in sport have frequently attempted to help athletes gain control over their thoughts and their emotions (Vealey, 1994) . These are 'content-focused' approaches try to change the content of the athlete's internal experience. Recently, increasing attention has been directed toward interventions that try to change an athlete's relationship with those internal experiences, instead of changing the content. These 'context-focused' approaches-including mindfulness and acceptance-based interventions - aim to help athletes perform well with anxiety, rather than trying to remove the anxiety (Gardner & Moore, 2012b) . These approaches promote similar acceptance of other unhelpful cognitions and emotions, such as anger or self-doubt. In this thesis, I aimed to explore the effectiveness of these approaches for promoting performance in sport. Chapter 1 identified the theories underlying context-focused approaches and outlined how they might reduce the likelihood of performance problems. For example, due to decreased self-focused attention, context-focused approaches may reduce the likelihood of choking due to explicit control of otherwise automatic skills. To see how well these theories held up to empirical exploration, Chapter 2 systematically reviewed the literature on context-focused approaches in sport. This review included prototypical context-focused approaches, like mindfulness, and also the wider range of approaches that operate by a similar mechanism, such as self-compassion. It found consistent trends in the research that these approaches improve athletic present-moment awareness, flow, performance, and help to reduce anxiety. It also revealed preliminary evidence for other outcomes like improved confidence and reduced rates of injury. However, none of the 66 studies met the Cochrane Collaboration criteria for low risk of bias (Higgins, Altman, Gotzsche, et al., 2011) . In Chapter 3, I aimed to test a brief context-focused intervention using a study design that met these Cochrane criteria. Golfers were randomised into either a acceptance-based intervention or a control condition. The study was double-blinded, randomised, prospectively registered with putting performance as the primary outcome. This study found few benefits of the acceptance-based intervention for performance, anxiety, or state mindfulness. It found a significant improvement on a secondary outcome: swing mechanics as measured by a SAM PuttLab (Science & Motion, 2016) . While brief interventions are well-established for testing context-focused interventions (Levin, Hildebrandt, Lillis, & Hayes, 2012) , Chapter 3 did not find strong evidence that a brief context-focused intervention leads to short-term improvements in sport performance. One barrier to testing interventions in sport is the questionnaire response burden placed on athletes. This is not unique to context-focused literature, because half of athletes in high-performance environments complete questionnaires every day (Taylor, Chapman, Cronin, Newton, & Gill, 2012) . However, in mindfulness and acceptance literature, reducing response burden would help researchers in many ways. Shorter measures allow researchers to assess more constructs in parallel, or assess the same construct more regularly (Basarkod, Sahdra, & Ciarrochi, 2018) . Many short measures fail to meet psychometric criteria (Smith, McCarthy, & Anderson, 2000) because the process of optimally shortening a questionnaire requires complex evaluations of many factors (Marsh, Ellis, Parada, Richards, & Heubeck, 2005) . As an alternative method, Chapter 4 demonstrated that an advanced machine learning algorithm can shorten athletic questionnaires without compromising reliability or validity. As an example of this process, the substantive-methodological synthesis presents multiple versions of the Mindfulness Inventory for sport. Although reliability was compromised when measures were very brief, shorter measures showed equivalent validity to the full measure. The resulting measures offer future researchers some alternate methods of measuring mindfulness that can be adapted to their needs. The paper also outlined ways for other researchers to efficiently shorten their own measures. Chapter 5 describes limitations of the previous chapters, but also identifies some ways in which researchers might assess the utility of context-focused approaches in the future. Many of these approaches require that athletes make significant investments in time. The thesis concludes that, although there is evidence these approaches might have widespread benefits inside and outside sport, it is not yet clear whether they are an effective use of time for optimising athletic performance.

Mindfulness has received growing attention as an empowering approach for the treatment of addiction and mental health disorders in the criminal justice system. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, this study explored the teaching practices of volunteers who currently facilitate mindfulness programs in correctional settings. A total of fifteen volunteer meditation teachers and three former group members were interviewed. The researcher utilized interview data to construct a grounded theory which conceptualizes the barriers volunteers face, helpful facilitation strategies, and factors which promote and threaten the engagement of group members. The results of this grounded theory illustrate culturally responsive facilitation strategies and empowering ways volunteers share mindfulness teachings with individuals who are incarcerated. Limitations and suggestions for future research are presented, along with implications for the counseling profession.

Doctor of Philosophy
Psychological Sciences
Laura A. Brannon
Previous research suggests that college-age students, namely first-year college individuals, are particularly prone to experience relational conflict. Interpersonal forgiveness has been well-documented as a variable that can reduce relational conflict among young adults. However, limited empirical research to date has explored the motivation and ability of college-age students to engage in forgiveness granting behaviors when they are the victim of an interpersonal conflict; this lack of empirical research is especially prevalent when considering the perpetrator’s perspective and why (motivation) and how (ability) perpetrators engage in forgiveness seeking behaviors following conflict. Given this gap in previous research, the current dissertation assessed forgiveness granting and forgiveness seeking behaviors for victims and perpetrators of an interpersonal transgression, respectively. Using attitude and behavioral change models as theoretical guides, we exposed young adults to a message pertaining to reasons/motivations for why they should engage in forgiveness behaviors as well as two training techniques (i.e. mindfulness and implementation planning) that may promote the ability to express granting/seeking forgiveness. Study 1 focused on naturalistic, self-reported transgression experiences occurring within close relationships, while Study 2 focused on a standardized transgression experience occurring in a lab setting. Across these two studies, we found that participants who were exposed to reasons/motives for forgiveness as well as a mindfulness or implementation planning technique were more likely to engage in forgiveness grating/seeking behaviors than participants who were not exposed to this information. Furthermore, results suggest that the participants’ mood and attitudes toward forgiveness granting/seeking were enhanced by receiving both a message and a training technique. These results were especially pronounced for victims in the mindfulness training conditions for both Study 1 and Study 2. Overall, our results suggest that receiving both a message emphasizing motives/reasons for forgiveness as well as an easy to implement technique may assist young adults in alleviating severe interpersonal conflict (Study 1) as well as every day, slight transgressions (Study 2). The findings from Study 1 and Study 2 add unique knowledge to previous forgiveness literature and help to inform previous research about the process victims and perpetrators undergo when engaging in forgiveness following relational conflict.

Title: MENTAL HEALTH INTERVENTION STRATEGIES FOR YOUTH IN RURAL NORTHEAST TN Introduction: A major need in Hawkins County entails lack of access to mental health resources. As a rural Appalachian county, this scarcity is especially felt by the area’s youth, who are subject to peer pressure, higher ACE scores, and may lack the autonomy to seek out professional help. Methods: The community-based intervention spanned in three consecutive weekly small-group sessions. Eligible participants were recruited from the afterschool program at the Boys and Girls Club of Hawkins County and must have been in the 5th to 8th grade (middle school) during the course of the study (n=13). Each participant completed a pre-­intervention assessment, a series of short weekly surveys (one per session) and a post-­intervention assessment to determine effectiveness and retention of the material presented. Statistical significance was determined using a paired T-Test. Results: Results did not provide any statistically significant relationships but trends were observed in perceived stress which decreased overall from pre-survey to post-survey (p=0.716), as did the self-reported use of negative coping strategies in the group (p=0.193). There was also a slight increase (p=0.653) in self-reported use of positive coping skills. A trend for greater change in the male participants was also observed. The mindfulness activity was perceived with a higher affinity than the baseline knowledge (Unpacking Mental Health) session (p=0.017). Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that short 1-hour interventions per week, especially those incorporating mindfulness strategies, can influence attitudes and coping strategies in rural adolescent children compared to mental health knowledge sessions alone (p=0.017). Trends in gender differences could underlie cultural and societal norms. Due to the limited number of mental health providers, evaluating behaviors were considered but not utilized. These trends, especially in mindfulness activities, could help further guide community partner mental health strategies for youth in rural Appalachia. Overall, these initial trends warrant further work in a much larger sample size and power of the study to draw definitive results.

Ruminering är en maladaptiv emotionsregleringsstrategi som definieras av repetitiva, återkommande, okontrollerbara och påträngande tankar. Ruminering har visats vara starkt kopplat till depression. Självmedkänsla är en adaptiv emotionsregleringsstrategi som består av komponenterna mindfulness och motpolen överidentifiering, self- kindness och motpolen self-judgement och common humanity och motpolen isolering. Studiens syfte var att undersöka sambandet mellan de sex komponenterna av självmedkänsla och ruminering samt om komponenterna av självmedkänsla kunde predicera ruminering, kontrollerat för kön och ålder. Åttio deltagare varav 57 kvinnor, svarade på en online enkät som mätte självmedkänsla, ruminering samt demografiska variabler. Korrelationer visade, som förväntat att ruminering hade negativa samband med mindfulness, self-kindness och common humanity samt positiva samband med deras motpoler. En hierarkisk regression visade att överidentifiering kunde predicera 6.5% av ruminering kontrollerat för kön och ålder. Ju mer överidentifiering desto mer ruminering. Resultatet från studien kan vara viktigt i arbete med att förebygga ruminering då ruminering kan kopplas till depression.

This paper researches the techniques of mindfulness meditation, guided imagery, and artistic exploration as strategies for self-care among therapists. Literature indicates self-care is an important and essential practice for mental health practitioners to best serve their clients. Literature on the pro-active strategies of mindfulness meditation and guided imagery include benefits and techniques in implementing self-care. The research study involves a case study utilizing a systematic process to research the effects of a daily meditation and guided imagery practice for the therapist during at two week period. Data was gathered and analyzed from journal and art responses. The data revealed immediate and long-standing positive changes tophysiological states, emotions, cognitive states and outlook through the implementation of all the strategies. All techniques prompted feelings of calmness and relaxation, while guided imagery techniques promoted changes in outlook and utilized problem solving. The art products served to map the experience and revealed themes of containment and release throughout all techniques, indicating the strategies success in cultivating emotional regulation through cultivating present moment attention. Thus, the research demonstrates the unique contribution these diverse approaches play in supporting the practitioner in successful and necessary practices of self-care.

This thesis explored the relationships between 1) Self-compassion 2) Cognitive Emotion Regulation and 3) Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and teacher stress in a foreign international school setting. The retrospective, multi-tiered study investigated a total of 177 expatriated teachers working in multiple international schools around the globe; at least 17 of whom indicated that they had completed a MBSR course. A mixed-methods approach was used over three stages utilising the following instruments: 1) an adapted stress impact survey, 2) Teacher Interview Protocol (TIP), 3) the short forms of the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ-SF), the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS-SF), and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4). Results suggest that teachers’ beliefs about stress correlate with job satisfaction; 82.6% of respondents who reported that stress has ‘hardly any effect’ also reported that they liked their job overall; whereas, 76.9% and 36.4% of respondents that believed stress had affected their teaching ‘some’ or ‘a lot’ reported liking their job, respectively. Results also indicate that higher perceived stress is strongly correlated with both 1) decreased self-compassion (r = -.491, p < .001) and 2) increased use of non-adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies, such as Catastrophizing (r= < 0.392, p < .001). All five adaptive cognitive coping strategies were positively correlated with Self-Compassion, four were significant; only Refocus on Planning failed to reach significance at p < .05. The data indicated no statistically significant differences between MBSR and non-MBSR participants, regarding perceptions of stress (PSS-4), self-compassion (SCS-SF), and eight of the nine coping strategies (CERQ-S), with the exception being that MBSR participants experienced reduced Self-Blame (p < 0.007). Conclusions find that policies and practices aimed at supporting the three aspects of self-compassion offer one possible avenue to reducing teacher stress and maladaptive thinking strategies, and thereby increasing job satisfaction, for teachers working in a foreign country.

Doctor of Philosophy
Department of Psychological Sciences
Laura A. Brannon
The current research investigated strategies to reduce cell phone use while driving. Anti-distracted driving campaigns, which typically communicate risk information and target driver behavior, may produce limited effects because people tend to underestimate their risk from this behavior (e.g., Schlehofer et al., 2010). Study 1 compared the effects of messages targeting drivers to messages targeting non-drivers in order to examine the potential of discouraging people from having cell phone communication with others who are driving. Some anti-distracted driving campaigns have emphasized the potential harm to both the driver and others, but whether one approach (self-oriented or other-oriented messaging) is more persuasive than the other has not been examined empirically. Study 1 compared messages that were self-oriented, other-oriented, or neutral in terms of who could be affected by cell phone use while driving. Although cell phone use while driving generally is perceived as dangerous, people may make justifications for engaging in the behavior on at least some occasions, and these justifications may override the influence of risk knowledge on behavior. Consistent with inoculation theory (McGuire, 1961), if given the opportunity to practice refuting these justifications in a controlled setting, people will be more likely to defend themselves against justifications to engage in cell phone use while driving. Thus, Study 1 tested the prediction that participation in an inoculation task would reduce the likelihood of cell phone use while driving. Results from Study 1 suggested an advantage of targeting non-driving participants of cell phone conversations to enhance efforts for reducing on-the-road cell phone use. Study 1 also demonstrated a positive effect of inoculation, but primarily for behavior of non-driving participants of cell phone conversations. In addition to overconfidence in ability to avoid risk, habitual tendencies also may impede the influence of risk communication campaigns (Bayer & Campbell, 2012). Study 2 investigated the potential of mindfulness-based and implementation intentions techniques for helping people overcome habitual responses to their cell phone when doing so is inappropriate or inconvenient. Results indicated that pairing mindfulness-based training with risk information may be significantly more effective than risk information alone at inhibiting inappropriate cell phone use.

Although empirical research has shown that a clearly defined information system (IS) strategy has a positive impact to a firm’s performance and a poorly defined IS strategy has a negative impact to a firms’ performance, firms still develop poorly defined IS strategies. Further compounding the problem, research has revealed that 87% of the business executives believe information systems are a critical enabler to their firms' strategic realization, yet only 33% of business executives involve the Chief Information Officer (CIO) in their firm’s business strategy development. The main goal of this research study is to empirically identify factors which impact development of an IS strategy. This research analyzed the relationship of factors which included organizational mindfulness, CIO and senior management team relationship, and CIO capability to the firm’s level of IS strategy definition. A total of 80 senior leaders completed a web-based survey instrument containing previously validated and refined questions. The questions were answered using a five-point Likert scale. The survey results were analyzed using statistical methods including Pearson’s Correlation, Cronbach’s alpha and linear regression. The statistical results revealed that the factors accounted for 50% of the variance in the level of information system strategy definition. Further, this research study identified five variables which include CIO knowledge of the business, communication ability, informal interaction, trust, and top management support that potentially predict the levels of IS strategy definition. Six variables which include openness, extraversion, political savvy, Top Management Team (TMT) knowledge of IS, formal interaction and reluctance to simplify interpretations were not identified as potential predictors of levels of IS strategy definition. This research study discusses the methodology; data collection and analysis; results of the three research questions and overarching question; and the conclusions, implications, and recommendations. Several future studies are required to provide additional qualitative and quantities findings to better understand the results of this study.

L'une des définitions les plus anciennes et les plus importantes attribuées à la responsabilité sociale des entreprises (RSE) est celle donnée par Howard Bowen, qui se réfère au père de la RSE pour son livre « historique » de 1953, Social Responsibilities of the Businessman « The obligations of entrepreneurs to ces politiques, de prendre ces décisions ou de poursuivre les lignes d'action souhaitées en fonction des objectifs et des valeurs de notre société » (Bowen, 1953a).Plus tard, (Carroll, 1979a) s'est concentré plutôt sur des obligations fermes envers certaines responsabilités envers la société qui s'étendaient au-delà des domaines économiques et juridiques pour inclure le bien-être des employés et de la communauté, les besoins politiques et éducatifs de la société et le service pour améliorer la qualité de la vie humaine et définir La RSE en tant que : "La responsabilité sociale des entreprises englobe les attentes économiques, juridiques, éthiques et discrétionnaires que la société a des organisations à un moment donné". De nos jours, la RSE est reconnue au niveau mondial, national, régional et même local, principalement comme une « contribution volontaire au développement durable » (Jurkowska-Gomulka et al., 2021). Le concept volontaire de RSE considère la RSE comme un engagement des entreprises envers la durabilité qui va au-delà des exigences légales.Pourtant, la RSE est devenue un élément crucial du plan stratégique d'une entreprise et une réelle préoccupation pour de nombreuses entreprises industrielles (Widad et al., 2021). En conséquence, plusieurs organisations ont mis en place différentes initiatives pour encourager les entreprises à adopter des démarches RSE, telles que la Coopération économique pour le développement, le Pacte mondial des Nations Unies, l'Organisation internationale du travail et la Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) (Shehabi et al., 2016). Toutes ces initiatives ont contribué à l'élaboration d'un cadre RSE unifié connu sous le nom de norme ISO 26000 publiée par l'Organisation internationale de normalisation (ISO) en 2010 (Popa & Dabija, 2019). ISO 26000 définit la RSE comme : la responsabilité d'une organisation vis-à-vis des impacts de ses décisions et activités sur la société et l'environnement, par un comportement transparent et éthique en tenant compte des attentes des parties prenantes (ISO, 2010). Un comportement socialement responsable des entreprises est aujourd'hui attendu par un large éventail d'entités : principalement les consommateurs, mais aussi les partenaires commerciaux, les sous-traitants et les pouvoirs publics (Haseeb et al., 2019). Dans ces circonstances, la RSE n'est plus volontaire, mais devient un devoir moral voire légal fort (certains groupes d'entreprises sont légalement tenus de déclarer leurs activités non financières dans des documents accessibles au public). Les entreprises sont de plus en plus conscientes des dangers que leurs activités peuvent faire peser sur la planète et sur la société à l'avenir. L'entreprise consciente (MC) représente un état d'esprit d'entreprise soucieux de la société, de la communauté et de l'environnement qui se manifeste de manière comportementale dans la modération des activités qui sont à la fois défaitistes et non durables sur le plan environnemental
One of the oldest and most prominent definitions attributed to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is that given by Howard Bowen who refers to as the father of CSR for his “landmark” 1953 book, Social Responsibilities of the Businessman “The obligations of entrepreneurs to pursue those policies, to make those decisions, or to pursue desired lines of action in terms of the aims and values of our society” (Bowen, 1953a).Later, (Carroll, 1979a) focused rather on firm obligations to certain responsibilities to society that extended beyond the economic and legal domains to include employee and community welfare, the political and educational needs of society and service to improve the quality of human life and defined CSR as: “Social responsibility of business encompasses the economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary expectations that society has of organizations at a given point in time”. Nowadays, CSR is recognized at the global, national, regional, and even local level, mostly as a “voluntary contribution to sustainable development” (Jurkowska-Gomulka et al., 2021). The voluntary concept of CSR views CSR as firms’ commitment to sustainability that is beyond the legal requirements.However, CSR is become crucial part of a company’s strategy plan and a real concern of many industrial companies (Widad et al., 2021). As a result, several organizations have implemented different initiatives to encourage companies to adopt CSR approaches, such as Economic Cooperation Development, United Nations Global Compact, International Labour Organisation, and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) (Shehabi et al., 2016). All these initiatives have contributed to developing a unified CSR framework known as ISO 26000 standard published by the International Standard Organization (ISO) in 2010 (Popa & Dabija, 2019). ISO 26000 defines CSR as: responsibility of an organization for the impacts of its decisions and activities on society and the environment, through transparent and ethical behavior by taking into account the stakeholder’s expectations (ISO, 2010). Socially responsible behavior of companies is expected nowadays by a wide scope of entities: mainly consumers, but also trading partners, contractors, and public authorities (Haseeb et al., 2019). Under these circumstances, CSR is no longer voluntary, but is becoming a strong moral or even legal duty (some groups of companies are legally obliged to report their non-financial activities in publicly available documents). Companies have become increasingly aware of the dangers that their activities can cause to the planet and to society in the future. Mindful company (MC) represents a company mindset of caring for society, community and environment which manifests behaviorally in the tempering on activities of which is both defeating and environmentally unsustainable

This diploma thesis is proposing and evaluating a strategy of human resource management in the field of productivity of intellectual workers and students while using insights from scientific research on procrastination and productivity. The suggested strategy implements especially two methods that were found effective for lowering the rate of procrastination in latest scientific studies – the method of awareness and mindfulness and the method of journaling. This diploma thesis includes design and creation of an educational program consisting of video lessons in the field of time-management, techniques of mindfulness and awareness and the method of journaling. Furthermore, it includes running research with a group of students during an exam period, while all participants record information on using the above mentioned methods for the period of 15 days, while the logged information has combined nature between objective information on performance (data on usage of personal computer, data on the amount of work done and time spent on it) and self-evaluation information (subjective evaluation of daily performance and subjective evaluation of perceived daily happiness). This thesis evaluates the suggested strategy on the research sample of 15 university students and is using the methods of input and output questionnaire, same as analysis of the continuous data logged while journaling from the research participants, to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy. The goal is to be able to apply this strategy in the business practice in human resource management. Another possible application is also improvement of study productivity of students using self-management techniques.

Uppmärksamhet/övervakning (monitoring) är en viktig komponent vid utvecklandet och vidmakthållandet av insomni. Genom medveten närvaro (MN) kan förmågan att rikta uppmärksamheten tränas upp. Syftet med studien var att undersöka effekten av MN och beteendeterapi (BT) vid behandling av primär insomni hos personer med hög uppmärksamhet/övervakning av sömnrelaterade stimuli. Behandlingens effekt på sömn och uppmärksamhet samt en eventuell sekundär effekt på oro och ruminering undersöktes. En single-subject design med en konstruktiv strategi användes och två behandlingar gavs, där hälften av deltagarna fick BT och hälften fick BT+MN. Resultaten visade att sömn, uppmärksamhet/övervakning och oro förbättrades av behandlingarna men obreoende av MN. För framtida forskning rekomenderas en utökad design för att undersöka effekten av MN vid behandling av insomni.
People with insomnia attend to sleep-related stimuli during the day and night. The activity is called monitoring. In mindfulness (MN) attention plays a central part, and by practicing MN the ability to direct attention can be improved. The aim of this study was to explore the effect of MN and behavioral therapy (BT) when treating people with primary insomnia who tend to monitor sleep-related cues. The effect on sleep and monitoring was examined, as well as the secondary effect on worry and rumination. A single-subject design with a constructive strategy was used. Two different treatments were implemented and half of the participants were given BT and the other half BT+MN. Together the results showed that sleep, monitoring and worry improved, but independent of MN. A suggestion for future research is to extend the current design to further explore the effect of MN within the treatment of insomnia.

We disbelieve it; we deny it; we even disguise it; but racial prejudice continues to permeate the United States. As a result, researchers labor to determine variables that can reduce these attitudes and consequently, improve social behavior. Three confirmed conditions that can reduce racial attitudes include: (a) awareness to racial biases, (b) motivation for bias reduction, and (c) cognitive strategies for prejudice regulation. However, racial awareness are usually nonexistent for White Americans, and when introduced, racial awareness can cause negative outcomes, such as guilt or denial, that can decrease motivation to reduce one’s prejudice levels. The construct and practices of mindfulness may provide a solution to these limitations and help reduce racial prejudice levels for White individuals. The present dissertation explored the initial steps of this racial mindfulness program of research by first investigating the influence of White participants' degree of mindfulness on their racial prejudice levels using structural equation modeling. Because mindfulness can increase awareness to stimuli, mindfulness could meet the first prejudice reduction condition (i.e., raise awareness to racial stimuli), and therefore, reduce racial prejudice levels directly. In addition, mindfulness has been found to increase similar variables that influences motivation to reduce racial prejudice levels, such as empathy and interconnectedness. Therefore, White participants’ degree of mindfulness could decrease their racial prejudice levels indirectly as well. Results from this study indicated that mindfulness did not reduce racial prejudice levels directly or indirectly, although there were some methodology limitations that could have obscured the results. The next step investigated if White participants' degree of mindfulness can attenuate the negative affects that can arise when Whites first become aware of racial biases, as mindfulness has been found to mitigate ego defensiveness and negative emotions when one's self-esteem is threatened. Written reactions to a White privilege article from White participants identified as holding a high and low degree of general mindfulness were subject to content analysis. The results indicated that participants with a high degree of mindfulness exhibited greater awareness and acceptance to White privilege and less negative reactions. The findings support the need to create and explore a racial mindfulness intervention.
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Effective emotion regulation plays an important role in psychological health. Two commonly-researched emotion regulation strategies are reappraisal, a cognitive change-based strategy, and mindfulness, an acceptance-based strategy. Although their potential in facilitating adaptive emotion regulation has been empirically demonstrated, little work has directly compared their cognitive and emotion regulatory effects, particularly in a symptomatic population. Using an analogue depressed sample, this study examined the relative effects of mindfulness and reappraisal in reducing sad mood and whether individual differences in trait mindfulness and habitual use of reappraisal moderated the effects. The study also compared the extent to which implementation of these strategies incurred cognitive resources and affected attitudes towards negative experiences. One hundred and twenty-nine participants were randomly assigned to receive training in mindfulness, reappraisal, or no training prior to undergoing an autobiographical sad mood induction. Following mood induction, participants rated their sadness on a visual analog scale before completing a Stroop test. Results showed that mindfulness and reappraisal were superior to no training, and equivalent in their effects in lowering sad moods. Compared to the mindfulness group, the reappraisal group reported significantly higher Stroop interference scores, reflecting greater depletion of cognitive resources. Higher trait mindfulness predicted greater reductions in sadness in the reappraisal group, but not in the mindfulness group. Habitual reappraisal did not moderate the effects of either mindfulness or reappraisal. Mindfulness, relative to reappraisal or no training, resulted in significant increases in acceptance of negative experiences and decreases in maladaptive beliefs about rumination. Overall, the study suggests that although mindfulness and reappraisal are equally effective in down-regulating sad mood, they incur different levels of cognitive costs and lead to differential changes in attitudes towards negative experiences.

Dissertation