Considerations for mood and emotion measures in mindfulness-based intervention research

Not all types of meditation are the same: Mediators of change in mindfulness and compassion meditation interventions

BACKGROUND

The general aim of the study was to examine the relative effectiveness and mediators of change in standardized mindfulness and compassion interventions.

METHODS

A sample of 431 participants enrolled in a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program (MBSR = 277) and a Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT = 154). The assessment before and after the program included a set of outcomes and mediators measures. A three-step data analysis plan was followed: ANCOVAs, Reliable Change Index, and mediations (simple and multiple).

RESULTS

Both interventions yielded increased mindfulness, decentering, body awareness, and self-compassion. Yet, present-moment awareness improvements (i.e., decentering, and body awareness) were significantly larger in the MBSR than in CCT, whereas socio-emotional changes (i.e., common humanity and empathic concern) were larger in the CCT than in MBSR. The magnitude of effect sizes ranged from medium to large. Furthermore, both mindfulness and compassion interventions yielded similar changes in psychological distress (i.e., stress, anxiety, and depression), maladaptive cognitive processes (i.e., rumination and thought suppression), and well-being. The mediation models showed that although the MBSR program seemingly relies on changes in present-moment awareness mechanisms (i.e., decentering and body awareness) to reduce psychological distress and to improve well-being, the CCT program seemingly achieves the same positive outcomes through changes in socio-emotional mechanisms (i.e., common-humanity and empathy concern).

LIMITATIONS

Due to our naturalistic design in real-world community setting, it was infeasible to randomly assign participants to conditions.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest that mindfulness and compassion programs operate through different pathways to reduce psychological distress and to promote well-being.

Allegiance effects in mindfulness-based interventions for psychiatric disorders: A meta-re-analysis

Objectives: A recent meta-analysis reported that mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) outperform specific active control conditions but not evidence-based treatments (EBTs) across various psychiatric conditions. Given both comparison conditions represent bona fide treatments, the superiority of MBIs over other bona fide treatments is unexpected. The current study examined researcher allegiance (RA) as a potential source of bias that may explain this result. Method: All studies from the original meta-analysis that compared MBIs with bona fide psychological treatments were included. RA was independently coded using established methods. A series of meta-analyses examined the RA-outcome association and the degree to which RA may account for the effect of EBT status. Results: Sixty independent comparisons (n = 5,627) were included. MBIs outperformed bona fide treatment comparisons overall (g = 0.13), but effects were smaller with EBT comparisons. RA towards MBIs was associated with larger effects. No evidence for superiority of MBIs was found when RA was absent or balanced. Further, EBT status no longer predicted effects when controlling for RA. Conclusions: RA appears to be a potential source of bias in MBI research that should be considered when interpreting existing studies (clinical trials, meta-analyses) and planning future studies. RA may account for smaller effects when using EBT comparisons.