University of Twente Student Theses

“Minder Stress door Aandacht” - Gerandomiseerde, gecontroleerde studie naar het effect van mindfulness op angst- en depressieve klachten en het bevorderen van geestelijke gezondheid binnen een preventieve interventie

Dekker, Cynthia (2011) “Minder Stress door Aandacht” - Gerandomiseerde, gecontroleerde studie naar het effect van mindfulness op angst- en depressieve klachten en het bevorderen van geestelijke gezondheid binnen een preventieve interventie.

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Abstract:	Background: Psychological disorders are a big health related problem in the Netherlands. In order to impede the development of mental disorders and symptoms, preventive interventions are very important. Positive mental health may also impede mental issues. The goal in this study was to decrease mental health symptoms (anxiety and depression) in people with mild to moderate symptoms. This was accomplished by a preventive intervention based on MBCT (Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy). The effect on mental health, psychological flexibility and mindfulness was also examined. Method: 151 people with mild to moderate mental symptoms were randomized over two condities: an experimental condition that followed the intervention and a waiting list condition. The average age was 48 years. The majority of de participants was female. The support consisted of 1,5 hour contact in a group during the intervention of twelve weeks. It was supervised by trained employees of prevention. Depression, anxiety, mental health, psychological flexibility and mindfulness were measured by questionnaires before, immediately after and three months after the course. The repeated measures analysis of SPSS (Statistic Package for Social Studies) version 18.0 was used to analyse the results between- and within groups. Results: Compared to the waiting list group, depression (Cohen‟s d = 0.43) and anxiety (Cohen‟s d = 0.53) reduced significantly. Mental health (Cohen‟s d = 0.27), psychological flexibility (Cohen‟s d = 0.52) and mindfulness (Cohens‟s d = 0.59) increased significantly compared to the waiting list group. Conclusions: This study showed that a prevention based intervention, based on mindfulness, can be effective regarding to depression, anxiety, mental health, psychological flexibility and mindfulness. Due to the broad approach and the efficacy of this course, it suits well for preventive interventions.
Item Type:	Essay (Master)
Faculty:	BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:	77 psychology
Programme:	Psychology MSc (66604)
Link to this item:	https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/61202
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