Beyond the individual: group effects in mindfulness-based stress reduction.


Author: Imel Z, Baldwin S, Bonus K, Maccoon D.

Affiliation: Department of Counseling Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53703, USA. zeimel@wisc.edu
Conference/Journal: Psychother Res.
Date published: 2008 Nov
Other:
 Volume ID: 18   ,  Issue ID: 6   ,  Pages: 735-42   ,  Word Count: 119  
    The authors explored the group as a source of change in mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). Participants consisted of 606 adults in 59 groups who completed an 8-week MBSR program. The authors examined change in the General Symptom Index (GSI) of the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised and the Medical Symptom Checklist (MSC) from pre- to postintervention. Multilevel models were used to examine the extent to which groups differed in the amount of change reported by the participants. After controlling for pretreatment severity, group accounted for 7% of the variability in the GSI and 0% in the MSC. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for the practice of MBSR as well as for research investigating the effects of MBSR and other programs or psychotherapies.