Mindfulness stress-buffering model of health: implications for successful aging

Successful aging and its relationship with mindfulness, self-compassion factors, and subjective well-being in older adults

OBJECTIVES

Aimed to test an association model for Successful Aging (SA), with mindfulness and self-compassion factors as predictor variables, and components of subjective well-being (SWB) as mediating variables in older adults.

METHOD

This cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted using the Google Forms platform and printed questionnaires, applied in an interview format with older adult participants from the Brazilian states of Bahia and Sergipe. A total of 233 older adults participated, residing in the states of Bahia (34.8%) and Sergipe (65.2%), with a mean age of 69.2 years (SD = 7.33).

RESULTS

The multiple linear regression (MLR) results indicated that SA was associated with mindfulness, the positive factor of self-compassion, and positive affect (PA). Subsequently, structural equation modeling (SEM) suggested that both mindfulness and self-compassion, which positively correlated with each other, were significantly and positively associated with PA, while PA was positively and significantly associated with SA.

CONCLUSION

Mindfulness and the positive facet of self-compassion, mediated by PA, were indirectly associated with SA, while PA was significantly and more strongly associated with SA. Finally, mindfulness and the positive facet of self-compassion were positively correlated with each other.

Effects of Mindfulness Based Interventions in Adults and Older Adults Caregivers of Patients with Early Stage Alzheimer's Disease: A Randomized Pilot Study

Background

Many studies have highlighted the effect of training with mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) on the psycho-physical rebalancing of patients suffering from various pathologies, and their families.

Objective

In this study, the effect of a training with mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on quality of life and emotion regulation (depression) was verified in caregivers (CGs) of patients affected by Alzheimer's disease at early stage (AD-P).

Methods

In this randomized controlled study, 22 CGs (age≥60 years) were treated with MBIs, in particular MBSR, and 22 CGs had no treatment. Tests (T0-T1 six months) included: SF 36-Quality of Life (QoL); Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI); FACIT-Spiritual-Well-Being; Beck Depression Inventory (BDI); Everyday Cognition scales; and Mini-Mental State Examination (for AD-P).

Results

Significant differences emerged between T0 and T1 for CGs with MBSR in the following dimensions: Depression-BDI (p > 0.001), Burden CBI-Total (0.001), CBI-Time dependent burden (p < 0.001), CBI-Developmental burden (p < 0.001), CBI-Physical burden (p < 0.001); and pain (p = 0.002) all decreased; while CBI-Social burden (p = 0.004), QoL-Health Role Limitation (p < 0.000), QoL-Role-Limitation-Emotional-Problem (p < 0.000), QoL-Energy-fatigue (p < 0.000), QoL-Emotional Well-Being (p < 0.001), QoL-Social Well Being (p = 0.010), and QoL-General Health (p = 0.004) increased. The control group of untreated CG showed a significant worsening in the dimensions of Physical functioning (p = 0.036) and pain (p = 0.047).

Conclusions

AD-CGs treated with MBI reduced their burden and depression and experienced an improvement in all the dimensions of quality of life.

Mindfulness Intervention Improves Coping and Perceptions of Children's Behavior among Families with Elevated Risk

Mindfulness-informed interventions (MIIs) are increasingly common but have not been extensively studied among families with elevated levels of risk (e.g., those involved in child protective services and/or receiving financial assistance). These families often experience high rates of stressors that can impact coping strategies, interpersonal dynamics, and relationships. Given that mindfulness has been shown to promote health and wellbeing, this study used a sample from two pilot randomized controlled trials to test the extent to which a mindfulness-informed intervention improved coping strategies and perceptions of children's behavior among 53 families with elevated risk. A principal components analysis with a direct oblimin rotation revealed that cognitive-emotion coping strategies could be characterized by three factors: positive adaptation, negative adaptation, and positive refocusing. Intention-to-treat analysis indicated significant group by time differences, with intervention participants demonstrating improvements in positive refocusing coping, positive adaptation coping, and perceptions of children's behavior problems compared to participants in the waitlist control group. No significant differences were found for negative adaptation coping strategies. Findings provide preliminary support for the benefits of mindfulness training in a sample generally underrepresented in the mindfulness intervention literature.