Original article
“A Conscious Control Over Life and My Emotions:” Mindfulness Practice and Healthy Young People. A Qualitative Study

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2012.09.008Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose

Although quantitative benefits of mindfulness training have been demonstrated in youth, little is known about the processes involved. The aim of this study was to gain a detailed understanding of how young people engage with the ideas and practices known as mindfulness using qualitative enquiry.

Methods

Following completion of a six-week mindfulness training program with a nonclinical group of 11 young people (age 16–24), a focus group (N = 7) and open-ended interviews (n = 5) were held and audio-recorded. Qualitative data, collected at eight time points over three months from the commencement of training, were coded with the aid of computer software. Grounded theory methodology informed the data collection process and generation of themes and an explanatory model that captured participants' experiences.

Results

Participants described their daily lives as beset by frequent experiences of distress sometimes worsened by their unhelpful or destructive reactions. With mindfulness practice, they initially reported greater calm, balance, and control. Subsequently they commented on a clearer understanding of themselves and others. Mindfulness was then described as a “mindset” associated with greater confidence and competence and a lessened risk of future distress.

Conclusions

Participants demonstrated a sophisticated understanding of and engagement with mindfulness principles and practice. Their reported experience aligned well with qualitative research findings in adults and theoretical literature on mindfulness. An encouraging finding was that, with ongoing mindfulness practice and within a relatively short time, participants were able to move beyond improved emotion regulation and gain greater confidence in their ability to manage life challenges.

Section snippets

Qualitative Research in Mindfulness

In the past decade, attempts to develop quantitative measures of mindfulness have proliferated. As Grossman [9], [10], credited with developing a mindfulness scale himself [11], has argued, the inherent complexity and subjectivity of mindfulness may render such attempts misleading. Qualitative enquiry offers a way of gaining greater depth and clarity about participants' experiences of MT and its inclusion may be an important way to enhance the validity of findings in MT studies [9], [10].

A

Mindfulness training program

Characteristics and development of the MT program employed and its initial evaluation are detailed elsewhere (Monshat, 2011, in peer review). Briefly, it involved six weekly 1.5-hour sessions facilitated by C.H., an academic primary care physician with more than 20 years' experience in teaching mindfulness. Meditation practice was supported between sessions through audio-recorded instructions and handouts outlining ways to apply mindfulness skills to day-to-day life.

Recruitment

As well as posters at a

Results

The main storyline, which aims to capture the experience of participants in this study, is presented in Box 1.

Discussion

This is the first study to develop an explanatory model of how adolescents or young people relate to mindfulness practice. With the exception of the single-case adolescent study reviewed previously [21] and one study of adult college students [23], this is the first detailed qualitative study, known to the authors, of MT in participants of any age not suffering from a specific clinical disorder or social disadvantage. Young people in this study were able to go beyond an arguably superficial,

Acknowledgments

We thank all participants for giving their time and their openness in discussing personal experiences.

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