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Investigating the Impact of Peer-Trainer Delivered Mindfulness Training on Cognitive Abilities and Psychological Health

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Abstract

Objectives

Mindfulness training (MT) has emerged as a promising tool to promote cognitive functioning and psychological health. As a result, demand for scalable dissemination of MT is increasing across many time-pressured settings. One such setting is the military family. Military spouses face numerous challenges and yet there is a paucity of evidence-based training programs available that are tailored to promote their cognitive functioning and psychological health.

Methods

In the present study, we examined the impact of a 4-week MT program contextualized for military spouses and delivered via a peer train-the-trainer approach by fellow military spouse instructors (SIs). SIs first participated in an MT teaching practicum to learn how to deliver the program. They then delivered the MT program to military spouse participants (MT group, n = 48). The MT group was tested before (T1) and after (T2) the training interval and compared to a no-training control group (NTC group, n = 58) that did not receive MT but completed both testing sessions.

Results

Compared to the NTC group, the MT group showed benefits on measures of cognitive abilities, psychological health, and well-being. Particularly, benefits were reflected in the decrease over time (T1 to T2) in daily cognitive failures and depressive symptoms. Furthermore, correlation analyses revealed that greater MT practice corresponded with greater improvements in objective attentional performance.

Conclusions

These findings provide initial evidence for the beneficial effects of a tailored MT program when delivered by peer trainers.

Trial Registration

Clinicaltrials.gov (NTC03308344).

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank LTG Walter Piatt, Mrs. Cynthia Piatt, COL Shane Morgan, MAJ Corbett Baxter, and the 10th Mountain community for their support of this project. We thank Joanna Witkin for assistance with data collection.

Funding

This research was supported by Department of Army award # W81XWH-14-1-0443 to APJ. Opinions, interpretations, conclusions and recommendations are those of the author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Department of Defense.

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

ED collaborated with the study design and execution, analyzed the data, wrote the manuscript; JB assisted with data collection, analyzed the data, prepared the figures, and assisted with editing of the manuscript; LS collected the data, assisted with the practicum delivery, the execution of the study and the final editing of the manuscript; APZ collaborated with the data analyses and the final editing of the manuscript; SLR co-authored the training materials, delivered the practicum, collaborated with the execution of the study and the final editing of the manuscript; APJ secured the funding, designed the study, executed the study, co-authored the training materials, reviewed data analyses, and edited the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Amishi P. Jha.

Ethics declarations

Ethics Approval

All procedures in the study were approved by the University of Miami Institutional Review Board with oversight from the Human Research Protections Office of the U.S. Department of Defense.

Informed Consent Statement

All participants provided written, informed consent.

Conflict of Interest

APJ and SLR are co-authors and copyright holders of the Mindfulness-Based Attention Training (MBAT) program that was a part in this project. ED, JB, LS, and APZ declare they have no potential conflict of interest.

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Denkova, E., Barry, J., Slavin, L. et al. Investigating the Impact of Peer-Trainer Delivered Mindfulness Training on Cognitive Abilities and Psychological Health. Mindfulness 12, 2645–2661 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-021-01713-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-021-01713-6

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