Abstract
Introduction
Mindfulness-based training has shown potential in reducing anxious and ruminative thoughts before sleep, and improving sleep quality. However, traditional 8-week programs have ...limited acceptability and uptake. In this study, we aimed to test the effects of a short introductory mindfulness training course on pre-sleep arousal and sleep quality.
Methods
Enrollees in a 4-week Mindfulness Foundation Course were invited to participate in the study and were allocated to one of two groups: intervention (N = 57) and waitlist control (N = 39). 101 participants enrolled in the experiment and 96 completed the protocol (mean(sd) age = 49.5(1.5), 56 female). Participants completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Inventory (PSQI) and the pre-sleep arousal scale (PSAS), and were monitored by actigraphy for a week at baseline and post-intervention. To test the effect of the intervention, outcome variables were subjected to repeated-measures ANCOVA with group as a between-subject variable, and age, gender, and years of education as covariates using intent-to-treat analysis.
Results
PSQI scores improved across both groups (treatment: t56=4.25, p<.001, mean(sd) = 6.93(3.25)); waitlist: t38=3.27, p=.002, mean(sd) = 7.15(3.55)); however, there was no significant interaction between group and time. There was a significant group by time interaction in the cognitive arousal subscale of the PSAS (F1,90=4.71, p=.03), Post-hoc tests revealed a significant decrease in the treatment but not the waitlist group (treatment: t50=3.17, p=.001; waitlist: t30=0.20, p=.84). The decrease in cognitive arousal correlated with the decrease in PSQI scores in the treatment group only (r =.3, p=.007). Finally, a statistically significant interaction favoring the treatment group was also observed in actigraphically measured WASO (F1,82=6.18, p=0.015).
Conclusion
The study suggests that a 4-week introductory mindfulness course has moderate effects on reducing cognitive arousal prior to sleep, and that these effects are correlated with improvements in subjective sleep quality.
Support
This study was funded from a STaR investigator grant (NMRC/STaR/0015/2013) and the National Research Foundation (Singapore) Science of Learning Grant (NRF2016-SOL002-001).
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.
Firms are increasingly transforming themselves into agile enterprise by integrating and exploiting digital technologies. Prior research has suggested organization mindfulness would help proactively ...manage digital technologies and reduce the possibility of rigidity resulting from digital technologies. Although the key role of organizational mindfulness has been increasingly recognized, the impact of organizational mindfulness towards digital transformation on developing digital technology enabled information processing capacity (IPC) has not been empirically examined. In this study, we conceptualize digital technology enabled IPC based on the information processing view (IPV) and examine the relationships among organizational mindfulness, IPC, and market agility. Empirical findings from our survey of 102 managers of US companies indicates that digital transformation-mindful organizations are more likely to effectively establish a digital technology infrastructure; digital technology-enabled external and internal relationships and digital technology-business strategic alignment which, in turn, enhances their ability to respond to environmental turbulence in the markets promptly.
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.
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.
PDF
