This article reviews the ways in which mindfulness practices have contributed to cognitive and behavioral treatments for depression and anxiety. Research on mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) has ...increased rapidly in the past decade. The most common include mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. MBIs are effective in reducing anxiety and depression symptom severity in a range of individuals. MBIs consistently outperform non-evidence-based treatments and active control conditions, such as health education, relaxation training, and supportive psychotherapy. MBIs also perform comparably with cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). The treatment principles of MBIs for anxiety and depression are compatible with standard CBT.
This study provides a systematic review of prior empirical research on the impact of mindfulness interventions and practices on leaders. The aim is to integrate existing knowledge and identify future ...research needs. Mindfulness as a leader-specific practice is defined and discussed to provide conceptual clarity and to highlight the importance of understanding the phenomenon and its value in the context of leadership and individual leader development. A conceptual framework is presented which synthesizes findings from prior works and shows that leaders' mindfulness practices affect various developmental outcomes viewed as important for leaders and leadership. A comprehensive future research agenda for theoretical and empirical advancement is proposed that recommends looking beyond the essential wellbeing and work productivity outcomes and exploring the transformative outcomes of mindfulness interventions and practices related to leaders' relationships and inner growth that involve enhanced self-awareness and social/contextual awareness.
•Mindfulness is defined and discussed as a leader-specific practice.•Leaders' mindfulness practice can affect various developmental outcomes for leaders.•Future research on leader mindfulness should be positioned in leader development.
The benefits of empirically supported mindfulness-based programs (MBPs) are well documented, but the potential for harm has not been comprehensively studied. The available literature, although too ...small for a systematic review, suggests that the question of harm in MBPs needs careful attention. We argue that greater conceptual clarity will facilitate more systematic research and enable interpretation of existing findings. After summarizing how mindfulness, mindfulness practices, and MBPs are defined in the evidence-based context, we examine how harm is understood and studied in related approaches to physical or psychological health and wellbeing, including psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy, and physical exercise. We also review research on harmful effects of meditation in contemplative traditions. These bodies of literature provide helpful parallels for understanding potential harm in MBPs and suggest three interrelated types of factors that may contribute to harm and require further study: program-related factors, participant-related factors, and clinician- or teacher-related factors. We discuss conceptual issues and empirical findings related to these factors and end with recommendations for future research and for protecting participants in MBPs from harm.
•Potential harmful outcomes of mindfulness-based programs are under-researched.•Harm occurs in psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy, physical exercise, and meditation.•Potential harm may be related to participant, program, and instructor factors.•Mindfulness practice can be unpleasant and challenging without causing harm.•Understanding of harm in mindfulness programs requires monitoring individual data.
Mindfulness-based programs (MBPs) are increasingly offered in the workplace to reduce stress and enhance wellbeing. A growing body of evidence suggests that these programmes can be beneficial; ...however, dropout rates are often high, and there is great heterogeneity in both programme content and strength of effects between studies. This thesis contributes to a better understanding of what makes these programmes successful, under what circumstances, for whom, and why. A realist approach was employed that is theory-driven and well-suited to make sense of complex interventions, such as MBPs. First, I conducted a realist review where I analysed and synthesised data from 75 existing studies of workplace MBPs to identify the mechanisms through which these programmes work or do not work and discover how particular contexts impact these mechanisms and, consequently, outcomes. The findings were consolidated into a programme theory augmented by theories from organisational literature, such as conservation of resources (COR) theory and psychological safety. I then tested and refined parts of that programme theory with realist evaluation methodology. The evaluation consisted of five workplace MBPs and included quantitative and qualitative data collection methods. The research results show that for managers and employees to invest in an MBP and benefit from it, it is crucial that they feel safe to engage with selfcare at work and show vulnerability to each other. The more participants feel that they are not at work, the safer they feel. To be beneficial, it is also important that managers and employees link the programme and its activities to existing goals and practices. If these conditions are not met, the costs of investing in an MBP may be too high and lead to the strategic use of brief mindfulness exercises, non-adherence, or dropout. These findings should be of value to decision makers and practitioners wishing to offer and implement effective and sustainable workplace MBPs.
Summary
Although mindfulness has attracted increasing attention from scholars and practitioners, we do not have a clear understanding of whether, how, and when individual mindfulness composites may ...shape team mindfulness. Based on the input–process–output (IPO) model and integrating mindfulness theory and team composition perspective, we propose a team‐level model theorizing that the additive accumulation of individual mindfulness among members (i.e., the mean level of individual trait mindfulness within a team) reduces team relational stress and that this reduction in turn enhances team mindfulness. Furthermore, team individual mindfulness diversity (i.e., the variability of individual trait mindfulness within a team) serves as a moderator, such that the indirect effect of team average individual mindfulness on team mindfulness via reduced relational stress is stronger when team individual mindfulness diversity is low rather than high. The results from a three‐wave field survey data support our hypotheses. Our findings resolve important unanswered questions relating to how and when individual mindfulness composites shape team mindfulness, and illuminate critical implications for managerial practice.
Much of the burden associated with poor mental health is associated with symptom experience in the general population. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies conducted in ...nonclinical samples, evaluating mindfulness-based programs (MBPs) for outcomes related to psychological health and well-being. We focused on mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) because they have the strongest evidence base. We searched MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EMBASE, and CINAHL (from 2006 to February 2019) for published peer-reviewed journals articles of intervention studies evaluating MBCT or MBSR for psychological health and well-being in nonclinical samples. Data were pooled using a random-effects model, and effect estimates were reported as Hedges' g. We included 49 studies conducted in nonclinical samples (n = 4,733). When compared with a passive control, MBPs significantly reduced symptoms of rumination/worry (g = −1.13, −2.17, −0.08), stress/psychological distress (g = −0.52 −0.68, −0.36), depression (g = −0.45 −0.64, −0.26), and anxiety (g = −0.44 −0.65, −0.23), and significantly improved quality of life/well-being (g = 0.32 0.10, 0.54). In general, MBCT generated larger effect sizes than MBSR for all outcomes. This study provides evidence that in nonclinical samples, MBPs are associated with benefits to health and well-being. These findings add to the growing evidence base suggesting that MBSR and MBCT may be effective approaches for subclinical levels of mental ill-health and could form part of the public mental health agenda.
There has been a great increase in literature concerned with the effects of a variety of mental training regimes that generally fall within what might be called contemplative practices, and a ...majority of these studies have focused on mindfulness. Mindfulness meditation practices can be conceptualized as a set of attention-based, regulatory, and self-inquiry training regimes cultivated for various ends, including wellbeing and psychological health. This article examines the construct of mindfulness in psychological research and reviews recent, nonclinical work in this area. Instead of proposing a single definition of mindfulness, we interpret it as a continuum of practices involving states and processes that can be mapped into a multidimensional phenomenological matrix which itself can be expressed in a neurocognitive framework. This phenomenological matrix of mindfulness is presented as a heuristic to guide formulation of next-generation research hypotheses from both cognitive/behavioral and neuroscientific perspectives. In relation to this framework, we review selected findings on mindfulness cultivated through practices in traditional and research settings, and we conclude by identifying significant gaps in the literature and outline new directions for research.
•Considerable growth in the diversity of topics researched from 2003 to 2022.•Growth is most evident at the individual level of mindfulness.•Areas of research saturation include health outcomes and ...standard interventions.•Emerging research areas include adaptive performance and team mindfulness.
Over the last two decades, mindfulness has become increasingly mainstream in the workplace and has attracted significant scholarly attention. However, there lacks a comprehensive and updated review of mindfulness that identifies historical research trends and establishes the current state of knowledge. To address this gap, we conduct a structured review of 217 articles published in top management and psychology journals between 2003 and 2022. Our findings reveal an uneven development in mindfulness research by topic. For example, while substantial research has examined the associations between mindfulness and both job performance and health outcomes, few studies have considered which factors moderate these associations. We propose five areas for future research that will facilitate a deeper understanding of mindfulness at work: the associations between mindfulness and adaptive performance, the design of mindfulness interventions, the complex nature of mindfulness effects, team mindfulness, and the interactions between different levels of mindfulness.
The current study attempted a rigorous test of the construct validity of a widely used self-report measure of dispositional mindfulness, the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), within the ...context of an active controlled randomized trial (n = 130). The trial included three arms: mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), an active control condition that did not include instruction in mindfulness meditation (Health Enhancement Program HEP), and a waitlist control condition. Partial evidence for the convergent validity of the FFMQ was shown in correlations at baseline between FFMQ facets and measures of psychological symptoms and psychological well-being. In addition, facets of the FFMQ were shown to increase over the course of an MBSR intervention relative to a waitlist control condition. However, the FFMQ failed to show discriminant validity. Specifically, facets of the FFMQ were shown to increase over the course of the HEP intervention relative to the waitlist control condition. MBSR and HEP, in contrast, did not differ in changes in FFMQ score over time. Implications of these findings for the measurement and theory of mindfulness and MBSR are discussed.
•We assessed state mindfulness in meditation weekly during a mindfulness intervention.•Individuals’ rates of change in state mindfulness in meditation varied significantly.•These individual ...trajectories predicted pre-post changes in trait mindfulness.•They also directly and indirectly predicted changes in psychological distress.
Theory suggests that heightening state mindfulness in meditation practice over time increases trait mindfulness, which benefits psychological health. We prospectively examined individual trajectories of state mindfulness in meditation during a mindfulness-based intervention in relation to changes in trait mindfulness and psychological distress. Each week during the eight-week intervention, participants reported their state mindfulness in meditation after a brief mindfulness meditation. Participants also completed pre- and post-intervention measures of trait mindfulness and psychological symptoms. Tests of combined latent growth and path models suggested that individuals varied significantly in their rates of change in state mindfulness in meditation during the intervention, and that these individual trajectories predicted pre-post intervention changes in trait mindfulness and distress. These findings support that increasing state mindfulness over repeated meditation sessions may contribute to a more mindful and less distressed disposition. However, individuals’ trajectories of change may vary and warrant further investigation.
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