Moving Beyond the Mat: Exploring the Application of Mindfulness Training in Professional and Educational Settings
Abstract
Objectives. This dissertation provides an evaluation of three web-based mindfulness interventions administered to legal professionals and graduate students — populations characterized by high rates of depression, anxiety, and stress. Chapter 2, Study 1. Lawyers completed questionnaires before and after engaging in Cho and Gifford’s (2016) 8-week Anxious Lawyer program. Analyses revealed improvements in perceived stress; mood; resilience; trait mindfulness; and the severity of depression, anxiety, and stress-related symptoms over time. Chapter 2, Study 2. Lawyers were randomly assigned to either an experimental or waitlist control condition. Well-being was measured at the beginning of the study (i.e., Time 1), after experimental participants had completed Cho’s 30-day Mindful Pause intervention (i.e., Time 2), and after control participants had completed Mindful Pause (i.e., Time 3). Between-group analyses measured differences in Time 2 scores while controlling for variations in Time 1 scores; Time 2 and 3 comparisons were implemented to examine intervention-related changes experienced by control participants. Experimental participants reported lower Time 2 levels of perceived stress and negative affect; less severe stress-related symptoms; and higher levels of positive affect, non-reactivity, and observing than control participants, who displayed post-intervention increases in non-judging and reductions in perceived stress and negative affect. Chapter 3. Graduate students completed a 4-week intervention adapted from the Anxious Lawyer program. As in Chapter 2, Study 2, a mixed design was used to analyze between-group differences at Time 2 and within-group changes between Time 2 and 3. Experimental participants displayed less severe depressive symptoms at Time 2 and higher levels of trait mindfulness than control participants; comparative improvements regarding awareness, perceived stress, negative affect, and stress severity were additionally noted but were limited to those who began the study with low (awareness) or high (perceived stress, negative affect, and stress severity) levels of these factors. Control participants experienced post-intervention decreases in perceived stress, negative affect, and the severity of stress-related symptoms, as well as increases in positive affect, non-reactivity, describing, and non-judging. Conclusions. These studies imply that lawyers and graduate students may benefit from the practice of mindfulness and add to a growing body of literature that suggests mindfulness enhances well-being.