This study examined the structural relationships among stress of middle-agedwomen, mindfulness, self-compassion and emotional well-being. The study alsoinvestigated the efficacy of manual-guided mindfulness based intervention formiddle aged women who ...
This study examined the structural relationships among stress of middle-agedwomen, mindfulness, self-compassion and emotional well-being. The study alsoinvestigated the efficacy of manual-guided mindfulness based intervention formiddle aged women who complain emotional distress. This thesis consists of twoparts. In Study 1, 405 middle aged women completed a packet of questionnairesmeasuring the stressful life event, role stress, mindfulness, self-compassion, andpsychological well-being, and psychological symptom. Stress, mindfulness,self-compassion, and emotional well-being were defined theoretical latent variables.
Hypothetical model for the paths and role among constructs of interest waspresented drawing on previous theoretical background and analyses wereperformed using AMOS 7.0 Structural Equation Modeling. The results showmindfulness and self-compassion partially mediate between stress and emotionalwell-being. Regarding psychological well-being, dual mediation model ofmindfulness and self-compassion indicated reasonable model fit, but the path ofself-compassion to psychological well-being was not significant. Meanwhile dualmediation of mindfulness and self-compassion between stress and psychologicalsymptom indicated reasonable fit, and all the paths turn out to be significant.
These results suggest that self-compassion and mindfulness partially mediate thelink between stress and psychological symptom.
Study 2 was performed to develop a mindfulness and self-compassionenhancement intervention for middle-aged women who complained emotionaldistress and to ascertain whether participation in the mindfulness based programwas associated with increase in psychological well-being and improvement ofpsychological symptoms. Thirty participants in the program and thirty waiting listgroup members were assessed on Psychological Well-Being Scale(PWBS),psychological symptom scales, Mindfulness scale, Self-Compassion Scale(SCS), andDysfunctional Attitude Scale(DAS). The measures of program participants werealso assessed at 2-month follow-up. In study 2, time by group interactions weresignificant in psychological well-being, depression, anxiety, hostility, somatization,Positive Affect(PA), and Negative Affect(NA). But comparison group did notreport any positive results. These positive changes were maintained or improvedat the time of 2 months follow-up. These results suggest that participants in themindfulness enhancement group program appears to be associated withenhancements of psychological well-being and improvement in psychologicaldistress. And the results show that self-compassion, mindfulness, anddysfunctional attitude mediate between program participation and positive effects.
This study demonstrates that an 8-week mindfulness-based intervention may beeffective for reducing stress related psychological symptom and increasingpsychological well-being in middle-aged women.
The implications of this study are as follows. First, this study has broken newground in the study of emotional well-being of middle-aged women, includingprocess-oriented questions about mediators of these relations. The study findingsalso suggest that mindfulness and self-compassion enhancement program may bean intervention with potential for helping many to learn to deal with emotionaldistress. Although the positive outcomes of mindfulness interventions are widelyaccepted, the changes in psychological process leading to these positive outcomesare not yet fully understood. Further studies to clarify this process will berequired. Directions for future research and practice are discussed.