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Mindfulness has become increasingly popular in social work practice and research (Decker, Constantine, Brown, Ong, & Stiney-Ziskind, 2015; Lynn, 2010; McGarrigle, 2011). Mindfulness can be defined as a meditative practice that increases present moment awareness and feelings of equanimity (Birnbaum, 2008; Kabat-Zinn, 2003). It is enfolded into behavioral therapies used by social workers in practice such as Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (Baer, 2011; Hick & Chan, 2010; Napoli & Bonifas, 2011). These mindfulness-based therapies are effective in the treatment of depression, anxiety and trauma often drawing from secular or Buddhist frameworks. (Hayes, Follette & Linehan, 2004; Springer, 2012). These therapies may be enhanced for some social workers or their clients by adapting the mindfulness meditation practices to be more congruent with their Christian faith experience.
The purpose of this poster is to explore whether an adaptation of mindfulness with a Christian framework is effective as measured by the Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale (MAAS). Participants experienced a six-week Mp3-intervention compared to a control group with no intervention. The findings in this poster suggest a viable adaptation in mindfulness-based therapy work for some social workers or their clients.
Method:
A convenience sample of 121 social work and psychology students from two private universities were randomly assigned to experimental versus control groups via Excel’s RAND function or coin-toss by someone other than the investigator. This investigator developed twelve MP3 modules, each 20-30 minutes long, containing content from Christian meditative practices. The experimental group received the modules via email over six-weeks while the control group received an email without modules. Pre-and-post tests of the MAAS were administered to both through Qualtrics. The MAAS is a 15-item scale by Brown & Ryan (2003) with high reliability and validity and used in mindfulness research (Brown, Gaudiano, & Miller, 2011; Jensen, Vangkilde, Frokjaer, & Hasselbaich, 2012).
Results: A total of n=121 pre-test, and n=77 post-test scores of the MAAS were collected and normally distributed, Shapiro Wilk’s, (p >.05). Two outliers were winsorized.
To assess whether there was an interaction between intervention and pre-test MAAS, a preliminary ANCOVA was run using SPSS GLM custom model. This was not statistically significant: F(2,72) =1.141, p =.289.
A full ANCOVA procedure revealed a statistically significant difference in Pre and Post-test MAAS scores between participants in Control versus Experimental groups, F(2,74)=16.706, p<.01 with partial η 2 = .188. Higher scores on the MAAS equates to higher levels of mindfulness. Experimental Post-MAAS, M= 4.01, Control Post-MAAS, M=3.26.
Implications: The findings of this poster suggest that an adapted Christian mindfulness program can increase mindfulness states when compared with a control group. The study is limited by its sample of students. However, social workers whose clients prefer a Christian model of mindfulness practice are able to honor the social work value of beginning where the client is. Meditative practices with a Christian framework expand the options for social workers who use mindfulness-based therapies. Further study of a Christian mindfulness intervention applied to other populations is recommended.