The moderation of Mindfulness-based stress reduction effects by trait mindfulness: results from a randomized controlled trial.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) has shown effectiveness for a variety of mental health conditions. However, it is not known for whom the intervention is most effective. In a randomized controlled trial (N = 30), we explored whether individuals with higher levels of pretreatment trait mindfulness would benefit more from MBSR intervention.

The impact of cognitive behavioral group training on event-free survival in patients with myocardial infarction: the ENRICHD experience.

Objective: Although the Enhancing Recovery in Coronary Heart Disease (ENRICHD) treatment was designed to include individual therapy and cognitive behavioral group training for patients with depression and/or low perceived social support, only 31% of treated participants received group training. Secondary analyses classified intervention participants into two subgroups, (1) individual therapy only or (2) group training (i.e.

Passage meditation improves caregiving self-efficacy among health professionals: a randomized trial and qualitative assessment.

Relational caregiving skills remain seldom studied in health professionals. We evaluated effects on health professional relational caregiving self-efficacy from an eight-week, 16-hour training in self-management tools. Physicians, nurses, chaplains, and other health professionals were randomized after pretest to treatment (n = 30) or waiting list (n = 31).

Cultivating mindfulness: effects on well-being.

There has been great interest in determining if mindfulness can be cultivated and if this cultivation leads to well-being. The current study offers preliminary evidence that at least one aspect of mindfulness, measured by the Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale (MAAS; K. W.

Meditation lowers stress and supports forgiveness among college students: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective And Participants: The authors evaluated the effects on stress, rumination, forgiveness, and hope of two 8-week, 90-min/wk training programs for college undergraduates in meditation-based stress-management tools.

Methods: After a pretest, the authors randomly allocated college undergraduates to training in mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR; n = 15), Easwaran's Eight-Point Program (EPP; n = 14), or wait-list control (n = 15). The authors gathered pretest, posttest, and 8-week follow-up data on self-report outcome measures.

Spirituality, religion, and clinical outcomes in patients recovering from an acute myocardial infarction.

Objective: To assess the prospective relationship between spiritual experiences and health in a sample of patients surviving an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) with depression or low social support.

Methods: A subset of 503 patients participating in the enhancing recovery in coronary heart disease (ENRICHD) trial completed a Daily Spiritual Experiences (DSE) questionnaire within 28 days from the time of their AMI. The questionnaire assessed three spirituality variables-worship service/church attendance, prayer/meditation, and total DSE score.

Passage meditation reduces perceived stress in health professionals: a randomized, controlled trial.

The authors evaluated an 8-week, 2-hr per week training for physicians, nurses, chaplains, and other health professionals using nonsectarian, spiritually based self-management tools based on passage meditation (E. Easwaran, 1978/1991). Participants were randomized to intervention (n = 27) or waiting list (n = 31).

A qualitative examination of a spiritually-based intervention and self-management in the workplace.

This qualitative study assesses the experience of an intervention that provided spiritually based self-management tools to hospital-based nurses. Drawing on wisdom traditions of the major world religions, the eight point program can be practiced by adherents to any religious faith, or those outside of all traditions. Five of eight program points were perceived as directly useful in improving the nurses' workplace interactions and enhancing fulfillment of compassionate caregiving missions.

Effects of a group forgiveness intervention on forgiveness, perceived stress, and trait-anger.

The goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of a 6-week forgiveness intervention on three outcomes: (a) offense-specific forgiveness, (b) forgiveness-likelihood in new situations, and (c) health-related psychosocial variables, such as perceived stress and trait-anger. Participants were 259 adults who had experienced a hurtful interpersonal transgression from which they still felt negative consequences. They were randomized to a forgiveness-training program or a no-treatment control group.

Volunteering is associated with delayed mortality in older people: analysis of the longitudinal study of aging.

The Longitudinal Study of Aging (LSOA) assessed the health and social functioning of a representative sample of 7527 American community-dwelling older people (>70 years). We tested the hypothesis that frequent volunteering is associated with less mortality risk when the effects of socio-demographics, medical status, physical activity and social integration are controlled. We used Cox proportional hazards analyses to assess the unadjusted and adjusted associations between frequency of volunteering and time-to-death (96-month follow-up).

Does writing affect asthma? A randomized trial.

Objective: Nonpharmacologic treatments for asthma may act as useful adjuncts to pharmacotherapy but should be recommended to patients only after several well-controlled studies provide evidence of efficacy. Research demonstrating that written emotional expression can improve pulmonary function in patients with asthma consists of one impressive yet unreplicated study. Our main objective was to test and extend previous research finding that written emotional expression improves pulmonary function in patients with asthma compared with writing on neutral topics.

The big five personality traits and individual job performance growth trajectories in maintenance and transitional job stages.

This study extends the literature on personality and job performance through the use of random coefficient modeling to test the validity of the Big Five personality traits in predicting overall sales performance and sales performance trajectories--or systematic patterns of performance growth--in 2 samples of pharmaceutical sales representatives at maintenance and transitional job stages (K. R. Murphy, 1989).

The affective underpinnings of job perceptions and attitudes: a meta-analytic review and integration.

Using psychometric meta-analysis, the authors present a quantitative and qualitative review (k = 205, total pairwise N = 62,527) of the literature relating trait and state positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) to job-related attitudes, including job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover intentions, and dimensions of job burnout. Results indicated substantial correlations, ranging in absolute value from -.17 (PA and turnover intentions; NA and personal accomplishment) to.

Religion and spirituality. Linkages to physical health.

Evidence is presented that bears on 9 hypotheses about the link between religion or spirituality and mortality, morbidity, disability, or recovery from illness. In healthy participants, there is a strong, consistent, prospective, and often graded reduction in risk of mortality in church/service attenders. This reduction is approximately 25% after adjustment for confounders.

Spirituality, religion, and health. An emerging research field.

The investigation of spiritual/religious factors in health is clearly warranted and clinically relevant. This special section explores the persistent predictive relationship between religious variables and health, and its implications for future research and practice. The section reviews epidemiological evidence linking religiousness to morbidity and mortality, possible biological pathways linking spirituality/religiousness to health, and advances in the assessment of spiritual/religious variables in research and practice.

Relationship of functional quality of life to strategies for coping with the stress of living with HIV/AIDS.

The authors examined factors associated with four dimensions of functional quality of life (physical functioning, energy/fatigue, social functioning, and role functioning) in 142 men and women living with HIV/AIDS. Participants completed the Brief COPE inventory and the Medical Outcomes Study Health Survey, with HIV-relevant items added. Greater use of maladaptive coping strategies was associated with lower levels of energy and social functioning.

Are measures of self-esteem, neuroticism, locus of control, and generalized self-efficacy indicators of a common core construct?

The authors present results of 4 studies that seek to determine the discriminant and incremental validity of the 3 most widely studied traits in psychology-self-esteem, neuroticism, and locus of control-along with a 4th, closely related trait-generalized self-efficacy. Meta-analytic results indicated that measures of the 4 traits were strongly related. Results also demonstrated that a single factor explained the relationships among measures of the 4 traits.

'Does religion cause health?': differing interpretations and diverse meanings.

The question, 'Does religion (or spirituality) cause physical health benefits?' may be given at least four diverging interpretations in terms of causal path diagrams. In common usage, the question may be interpreted to indicate that religion causally influences health by: (1) any mechanism, including well-established factors such as social support and improved health behaviors; (2) additional mechanisms, such as enhanced positive psychological states (e.g.

An example of maximizing survey return rates. Methodological issues for health professionals.

Obtaining a high response rate in survey research can bolster statistical power, reduce sampling error, and enhance the generalizability of the results to the population surveyed. We describe a mail survey designed to achieve a high return rate of completed questionnaires from members of the American Psychological Association who were engaged in clinical practice. We adapted the Total Design Method for survey research and were able to achieve a high response rate (68%) among health professionals.

Correlates of self-perceptions of spirituality in American adults.

To advance knowledge in the study of spirituality and physical health, we examined sociodemographic, behavioral, and attitudinal correlates of self-perceptions of spirituality. Participants were a nationally representative sample of 1,422 adult respondents to the 1998 General Social Survey. They were asked, among other things, to rate themselves on the depth of their spirituality and the depth of their religiousness.

Spirituality and health: what's the evidence and what's needed?

In this article, we familiarize readers with some recent empirical evidence about possible associations between religious and/or spiritual (RS) factors and health outcomes. In considering this evidence, we believe a healthy skepticism is in order One needs to remain open to the possibility that RS-related beliefs and behaviors may influence health, yet one needs empirical evidence based on well-controlled studies that support these claims and conclusions. We hope to introduce the dismissing critic to suggestive data that may create tempered doubt and to introduce the uncritical advocate to issues and concerns that will encourage greater modesty in the making of claims and drawing of conclusions.