Mindfulness Mental Health and Emotion Regulation Discussion

Mindfulness Mental Health and Emotion Regulation Discussion ORDER NOW FOR CUSTOMIZED AND ORIGINAL ESSAY PAPERS ON Mindfulness Mental Health and Emotion Regulation Discussion Select one of the articles, either the quantitative research report or the quality improvement initiative report, identify the following elements: sampling method, measurement of dependent variable, and the data collection/management procedures.Mindfulness Mental Health and Emotion Regulation Discussion In your discussion of the measurement of the dependent variable be sure to describe the type of measure (e.g. survey, physiologic measure) and explain its validity and reliability for the concept being measured; keep in mind you may have to look beyond the article itself for this information. re__pico_revision.zip _2342_2_pb.pdf mindfulness_in_psychiatry_where_are_we_now.pdf russell_2016_mindfulness_in_mental_health.pdf spinelli_2019_mindfuln Grégoire, S., Lachance, L., & Taylor, G. (2015). Mindfulness, mental health and emotion regulation among workers. International Journal of Wellbeing, 5(4), 96-119. doi:10.5502/ijw.v5i4.444 ARTICLE Mindfulness, mental health and emotion regulation among workers Simon Grégoire · Lise Lachance · Geneviève Taylor Abstract: Few studies have been conducted to examine the relationship between mindfulness training and emotion regulation at work. This study reports results from a semi-randomized controlled trial of a brief Mindfulness-Based Intervention (MBI) (Grégoire & Lachance, 2015) delivered in audio format. A pretest-posttest switching-replication design was used to assess changes in mindfulness, mental health (psychological wellbeing, psychological distress, stress and burnout) and emotion regulation (emotion awareness and impulse control) among forty-one (N = 41) employees working in a call center. Data was collected using self-report questionnaires at baseline (t1), week 6 (t2), week 11 (t3) and week 25 (t4) in order to have a follow-up measure. Both the analysis of variance and the prediction analysis showed that the intervention helped increased mindfulness and psychological wellbeing, but also reduced psychological distress, stress and burnout among employees. Overall, the intervention helped employees refrain from impulsive or reactive behavior when experiencing negative emotions but had no significant effect on their emotional awareness. Finally, there was a trend toward emotion regulation mediating the effects of the intervention on psychological distress. Keywords: mindfulness, mental health, emotion regulation, intervention, workplace 1. Introduction Call centers can be stressful work environments (De Cia et al., 2012). Research shows that there is significantly more stress in call centers than in other work environments (15% vs 11% respectively; The Shepell·fgi Research Group, 2008) and that many call center agents experience either mild (39.4%) or severe (8.3%) psychological distress symptoms (Charbotel et al., 2009). Call center agents also face great emotional demands (Grebner et al., 2003). According to a survey conducted by The Shepell·fgi Research Group (2010), over 40% of call center agents deal with angry clients every day. They are often victims of verbal aggression from clients or find themselves in a state of emotional dissonance, for instance, they have to maintain a professional, helpful and caring attitude while feeling angry, sad or diminished. Such emotional labor may in part explain why there are significantly more emotional problems, such as anxiety and depression, in call centers than in other workplaces (19% vs 15%; The Shepell·fgi Research Group). These statistics indicate that there is a need for interventions that could help promote mental health and the use of effective emotion regulation strategies among call center employees. The aim of the present study was to assess the efficacy of a Mindfulness-Based Intervention (MBI) recently developed by Grégoire and Lachance (2015). The authors have shown that this intervention helps to reduce psychological distress among call center employees. Mindfulness Mental Health and Emotion Regulation Discussion This study extends their work in four important ways. First, the efficacy of their intervention was assessed using both positive (psychological wellbeing) and negative (psychological distress, stress and Simon Grégoire Université du Québec à Montréal gregoire.simon@uqam.ca 96 Copyright belongs to the author(s) www.internationaljournalofwellbeing.org Mindfulness, mental health and emotion regulation Grégoire, Lachance, & Taylor burnout) mental health indicators. According to a growing number of researchers, mental health measures should not only include manifestations of psychological distress but manifestations of psychological wellbeing as well (Massé et al., 1998). Secondly, this study explores the effect of Grégoire and Lachance’s (2015) intervention on two critical emotion regulation abilities among call center employees (i.e., emotion awareness and impulse control). It has been shown that the extent to which these employees are aware of their own emotions (as well as those of their clients) and refrain from impulsive or reactive behavior when experiencing negative emotions positively affects both their performance (Nel & De Villiers, 2004; Shamsuddin & Rahman, 2014) and their job satisfaction (Çekmecelio?lu, Günsel, & Uluta?, 2012). In this study, a mediating framework was tested in which the effects of the intervention on call center employees’ mental health would depend on how they regulated their emotions. Although promising studies have been conducted recently on the role of mindfulness for emotion regulation at work (Hülsheger, Alberts, Feinholdt, & Lang, 2013), research in this field is still scarce (Glomb, Duffy, Bono, & Yang, 2011). Third, the effects of the intervention developed by Grégoire and Lachance (2015) were assessed using a three months follow-up period. As noted by Virgili (2013), the longer-term impact of MBIs in the workplace are rarely assessed. Fourth, compared to Grégoire and Lachance’s (2015) original study, the current research took into account employees’ compliance with the intervention. According to Goyal et al. (2014), it is important to control for this variable since participants’ level of engagement in MBIs may moderate their effectiveness. The background behind these goals is elaborated next. 2. Mindfulness and mental health Lately, various MBI’s (Cullen, 2011) have been integrated in the workplace as part of mental health prevention initiatives (Escuriex & Labbé, 2011; Irving, Dobkin, & Park, 2009; Virgili, 2013). Mindfulness is usually defined as the act of “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally” (Kabat-Zinn, 1994, p. 4). MBIs are structured group interventions aimed at helping people cultivate mindfulness; they integrate ancient Buddhist as well as modern clinical practices (Keng, Smoski, & Robins, 2011). These interventions rely on various meditation techniques, either as a stand-alone intervention or combined with existing psychological interventions, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (Chambers, Gullone, & Allen, 2009). In MBIs, participants are trained to consciously keep their attention and awareness focused on whatever is present (breath, thoughts, emotions, etc.), without fixating on any particular part of that experience or engaging in any secondary processing. They are encouraged to observe their mental phenomena as they manifest while noting any tendency to evaluate or appraise, and to consciously avoid engaging in these processes (Chambers et al., 2009). Mindfulness Mental Health and Emotion Regulation Discussion The goal is to develop the ability to calmly step back from thoughts and feelings during stressful situations, rather than engage in anxious worry or other negative thinking patterns that might otherwise escalate into a cycle of stress reactivity (Bishop, 2002). Originally developed in clinical settings, MBIs such as the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program (MBSR; Kabat-Zinn, 1990), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy1 (ACT; Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 1999) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT; Segal, Williams, & Teasdale, 2002) have been implemented lately in workplaces such as schools (Flook, Goldberg, Pinger, Bonus, & Davidson, 2013; Roeser et al., 2013), hospitals (Bazarko, Cate, Azocar, & Kreitzer, 2013; Mackenzie, Poulin, & Seidman-Carlson, 2006), telecommunications companies (Bond & Bunce, 2000) and call centers (Walach et al., 2007). Adaptations of these MBIs have also 1 The term “training” rather than “therapy” is usually used in work settings. www.internationaljournalofwellbeing.org 97 Mindfulness, mental health and emotion regulation Grégoire, Lachance, & Taylor been proposed where the form, content and overall duration of training were slightly adjusted in order to fit specific work environments. For example, brief (Klatt, Buckworth, & Malarkey, 2009; Mackenzie et al., 2006), on-line (Malarkey, Jarjoura, & Klatt, 2013) and audio (Grégoire & Lachance, 2015) versions of MBIs have been recently introduced in organizations. A growing amount of evidence suggests that MBIs implemented in the workplace help reduce stress (Bazarko et al., 2013; Geary & Rosenthal, 2011; Gold et al., 2010; Klatt et al., 2009; Pipe et al., 2009; Roeser et al., 2013; Roeser, Skinner, Beers, & Jennings, 2012; Shapiro, Astin, Bishop, & Cordova, 2005; Walach et al., 2007; Wolever et al., 2012), anxiety (Gold et al., 2010; Ruths et al., 2013), depression (Bond & Bunce, 2000; Gold et al., 2010; Hayes et al., 2004), burnout (Bazarko et al., 2013; Cohen-Katz, 2004; Flook et al., 2013; Galantino, Baime, Maguire, Szapary, & Farrar, 2005; Goodman & Schorling, 2012; Krasner et al., 2009; Mackenzie et al., 2006; Martín, Rodríguez, Pujol-Ribera, Berenguera, & Moix Queraltó, 2013; Roeser et al., 2013; Shapiro et al., 2005), negative affect (Galantino et al., 2005), and psychological distress (Franco, Mañas, Cangas, Moreno, & Gallego, 2010; Shapiro et al., 2005). In a recent meta-analysis including 19 controlled and uncontrolled intervention studies, Virgili (2013) showed that MBIs had a robust medium– large effect on employees’ psychological distress. The overall within-group (pre–post) effect was Hedges’s g = .68 (95 % CI [.58, .78]), while the posttreatment between-group effect size for MBI compared with an inactive control was Hedges’s g =.68 (95 % CI [.48, .88]). Correlational studies conducted in organizations corroborate these results and indicate that mindfulness is negatively related to the number of sick-leave days and medical treatment utilization (Dahl, Wilson, & Nilsson, 2004), burnout (Abdool Karrim Ismail, Coetzee, Du Toit, Rudolph, & Joubert, 2013; Reb, Narayanan, & Ho, 2013), negative affect, sleep related impairment, daily physical symptoms and perceived stress (Abenavoli, Jennings, Greenberg, Harris, & Katz, 2013). Taken together, these studies suggest that MBIs represents a valuable way to reduce negative mental health outcomes such as psychological distress. However, their impact on positive outcomes remains unclear despite the fact that mental health and, conversely, mental ill-health, are usually conceptualized as a spectrum ranging from ‘positive mental wellbeing’ to mental illhealth and clinical problems (Hassard, Cox, Murawski, & DeMeyer, 2011). Mindfulness Mental Health and Emotion Regulation Discussion Goyal et al., (2014) noted that few mindfulness studies include wellbeing indicators. Based on the randomized controlled trials they reviewed to test the efficacy of MBIs within clinical populations, they concluded that although positive outcomes are a key focus of meditative practices, most trials did not include positive outcomes such as wellbeing, either as primary or secondary outcomes. Moreover, it remains unclear whether or not the effect of MBIs last over time. In their metaanalysis, Virgili (2013) noted that only 6 studies (out of 19) included follow-up and that the length of these follow-ups was rather short (8.3 weeks on average). He concluded that at this point, we still do not know much about the long-term effectiveness of MBIs. What also remains unclear are the variables that moderate or mediate the relationship between mindfulness training and mental health (Baer, 2010). Various authors have pointed out that participants’ level of engagement or compliance during MBIs may influence the impact of this type of intervention (Goyal et al., 2014). Others argue that the effect of these interventions on mental health depends, at least in part, on its effects on employees’ emotion regulation (Glomb et al., 2011; Hülsheger et al., 2013). 3. Mindfulness and emotion regulation Emotion regulation can be defined as the ability to regulate one’s own emotions and emotional responses (Gross, 1998). It is usually assumed that adaptive emotion regulation promotes mental health and adaptive functioning, while emotional dysregulation is part of many disorders such as depression and anxiety (Chambers et al., 2009). According to a growing number of authors, www.internationaljournalofwellbeing.org 98 Mindfulness, mental health and emotion regulation Grégoire, Lachance, & Taylor mindfulness training may promote emotion regulation. For example, Shapiro, Carlson, Astin and Freedman (2006) argue that through a process called reperceiving, people gradually develop, throughout their mindfulness training, the ability to observe their thoughts and feelings from a distance and see them as temporary events in the mind that do not necessitate particular responses, rather than as reflections of the self that are necessarily true or important. By learning to intentionally focus nonjudgmental attention on the contents of their mind, they begin to strengthen what Hayes, Strosahl, and Wilson (2011) call their “observing self”. Shapiro et al. (2006) argue that this particular shift in perspective brings clarity, objectivity, and equanimity, which in turn, promotes better emotion regulation. In their model, mindfulness training is conceptualized as a response-focused type of regulation that focuses on changing a person’s relationship to his or her emotions rather than the nature of the emotions themselves (Chambers et al., 2009). Others maintain that mindfulness training promotes emotion regulation by improving self-control or executive control (Friese, Messner, & Schaffner, 2012; Muraven & Baumeister, 2000). For instance, Teper, Segal and Inzlicht (2013) argue that when mindful, people are more aware of their interoceptive signals, which give them precious insights about their body’s affective responses to events. When such visceral sensations signal conflict between current behavior and a goal state, they are able to recognize it and mobilize self-regulatory resources, thereby avoiding the rumination that often ensues. For instance, if someone is able to focus on the bodily sensations of anger (e.g., rapid breathing), he or she can quickly recognize that control is needed. Teper et al. (2013) also argue that when mindful, people are in a better position to accept and respond efficiently to affective signals that are vital in initiating adaptive behavior (i.e., regulation) instead of elaborating on them or suppressing them. Mindfulness Mental Health and Emotion Regulation Discussion In other words, the authors maintained that “people who are able to feel and accept the initial pang of affect will also be able to quickly mobilize the necessary regulatory resources, minimizing the negative consequences associated with full-blown emotional reactions” (Teper et al., 2013, p. 452). The Shapiro et al. (2006) and Teper et al. (2013) models both suggest that mindfulness may be especially helpful for developing emotional awareness (Erisman & Roemer, 2010) and impulse control (Feldman, Greeson, & Senville, 2010). Emotional awareness is defined as the extent to which people are aware of emotions in both themselves and others (Ciarrochi, Caputi, & Mayer, 2003) while impulse control is the ability to refrain from impulsive or reactive behavior when experiencing negative emotions (Gratz & Roemer, 2004). These are critical abilities for call center agents as they have to interact with clients and customers on a regular basis and face many emotional demands (Grebner et al., 2003; Shamsuddin & Rahman, 2014). In fact, these employees sometimes get insulted or have to deal with clients’ impatience, anger or frustration, which elicits all kind of emotions in them. By learning to develop a more mindful stance and reperceive their emotional experiences (Shapiro et al., 2006), call center employees may come to manage even complicated and confusing emotions with more clarity while interacting with their clients (Erisman & Roemer, 2010). As suggested by Teper et al. (2013), they may recognize subtle changes in their affective states more easily and notice specific information related to their emotions, such as their origin or their consequences (Hill & Updegraff, 2012). They may also learn to respond to their emotions with greater self-control, flexibility and equanimity instead of reacting to them in an impulsive, automatic or rigid way (Masicampo & Baumeister, 2007; Shapiro et al., 2006). These ideas have recently received empirical support outside organizational settings. In an experience-sampling study, for instance, Hill and Updegraff (2012) asked undergraduate students to report their current emotional experiences six times per day throughout the course of one week on a Palm Pilot device. They found that self-reported mindfulness was positively www.internationaljournalofwellbeing.org 99 Mindfulness, mental health and emotion regulation Grégoire, Lachance, & Taylor related to emotional awareness (as measured by the ability to describe subtle differences between discrete emotions) and negatively related to emotion reactivity (as measured by less emotion liability for both negative and positive emotions).Mindfulness Mental Health and Emotion Regulation Discussion In a series of correlational studies, Fetterman, Robinson, Ode and Gordon (2010) found self-reported mindfulness to be positively related to self-control and negatively related to impulsivity, while Baer, Smith and Allen (2004) found that it was associated with attention to feelings and with clarity of feelings. In a laboratory study, Feldman et al. (2010) asked undergraduate students to go through a short (15 minutes) audio mindfulness meditation training. The authors found the training to be helpful at reducing reactivity to repetitive thoughts. In other words, participants were more likely to experience ruminative thoughts and emotions without becoming emotionally distressed by them. Considering that emotion regulation is a critical ingredient of mental health (Chambers et al., 2009) and that preliminary evidence suggests that mindfulness training helps promote emotional awareness and impulse control (Baer et al., 2004; Feldman et al., 2010; Fetterman et al., 2010), we argue that the effects of the intervention developed by Grégoire and Lachance (2015) on employee’s mental health should be mediated by their impact on these two emotional strategies. Throughout their mindfulness training, employees may gain more emotional awareness and control, which in turn, may positively affect their mental health. This mediation framework is in part supported by two studies recently conducted by Hülsheger et al. (2013). The authors conducted a diary as well as an experimental field study in order to explore the relationship between mindfulness and surface acting, a common emotion regulation strategy among employees working in emotionally demanding jobs (e.g., employees interacting with aggressive or unpleasant clients). Surface acting aims at altering the outward emotional expression without changing the actual feeling. It involves suppressing negative and faking positive emotional expressions for jobs holding positive emotional display rules (Grandey, 2000). Although often encouraged and supported in organizations, this strategy undermines employees’ well-being and increases their emotional exhaustion, partly because it is effortful and depletes mental resources (Hülsheger et al., 2013). In their studies, Hülsheger et al. (2013) found mindfulness to be helpful at reducing the use of surface acting among employees working in a broad range of service jobs, which, in turn, reduced their emotional exhaustion. 4. Objectives and hypotheses of the study The aim of this study was to assess the effect of a MBI developed by Grégoire and Lachance (2015) on three outcomes: mindfulness, emotion regulation and mental health. The latter was operationalized with positive (i.e., psychological wellbeing) and negative (i.e., psychological distress, stress and burnout) indicators according to Goyal et al.’s (2014) recommendation. Psychological wellbeing is a state characterized by happiness, mental balance or … Get a 10 % discount on an order above $ 100 Use the following coupon code : NURSING10