Greenhouse gases from human activities are causing climate change, creating risks for people around the globe. Behaviors involving transportation, diet, energy use, and purchasing drive greenhouse gas emissions, but are also related to health and well-being, providing opportunity for co-benefits. Replacing shorter automobile trips with walking or cycling, or eating plants rather than animals, for example, may increase personal health, while also reducing environmental impact. Mindfulness-based practices have been shown to enhance a variety of health outcomes, but have not been adapted towards environmental purposes. We designed the Mindful Climate Action (MCA) curriculum to help people improve their health while simultaneously lowering their carbon footprints. Combining mindfulness-based practices with the Stages of Change theory, the MCA program aims to: (1) improve personal health and well-being; (2) decrease energy use; (3) reduce automobile use; (4) increase active transport; (5) shift diet towards plant-based foods; and (6) reduce unnecessary purchasing. Mindfulness practices will foster attentional awareness, openness, and response flexibility, supporting positive behavior change. We plan to test MCA in a randomized controlled trial, with rigorous assessment of targeted outcomes. Our long-term goal is to refine and adapt the MCA program to a variety of audiences, in order to enhance public health and environmental sustainability.

Background and Objectives: Resident physicians experience a high level of stress. Mindfulness meditation has been shown to offer medical students and physicians a healthier way to relate to daily stressors. We developed and pilot tested a mindfulness training program and assessed its impact on resident physician burnout and resilience. Methods: The residency program offered 17 family medicine residents a 10-hour mindfulness training over the course of 2 months in 2016. Residents were encouraged, but not mandated, to attend. Experienced Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction teachers and a family physician/integrative health fellow cotaught the program. A research team qualitatively assessed deidentified, postintervention resident interviews. Residents completed four quantitative questionnaires preintervention, immediately postintervention, and 3 months postintervention. A t score was calculated to assess for statistical significance. Results: Three residents (18%) attended all five training sessions, seven residents (41%) completed at least four sessions, and 16 residents (94%) completed either one or two sessions. Eight residents completed the postintervention interview. Twelve, nine and 14 residents completed the four questionnaires at the three time points, respectively. Qualitative results identified multiple personal/professional benefits of participating in mindfulness training, and we found a statistically significant decrease in perceived stress and increase in mindful awareness from pre- to postintervention (P<.05). Conclusions: A resident physician mindfulness training program can be reasonably integrated into the residency schedule as part of the wellness curriculum required by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Preliminary results show potential for personal growth and positive changes in patient relationships.

Using general systems theory, we describe findings from a larger qualitative phenomenological study that examined the relational effects of mindfulness training when one member of a couple completed an 8-week, mindfulness-based stress reduction program (MBSR) in the last 6 months. In this segment of the larger qualitative study, we describe what intimate partners observed and if they experienced any direct benefits from the graduates' individual MBSR training. Eleven primarily White, college-educated couples (nine heterosexual and two same sex couples) participated in the larger study; average relationship length was 13.8 years. The following three major themes and seven subthemes emerged for the 11 intimate partners of MBSR graduates: (1) positive observations (general positive perception, graduate's improved emotional balance); (2) perceived impact (perception of communications, impact on intimate partner and relationship); and (3) meaning making (appreciation, incongruence of meaning, continuing practice). Findings suggest intimate partners observed improved emotional balance in MBSR graduates, but reported that behavioral changes were limited in scale and just emerging. Developing mindfulnessenhanced couple interventions that target dyadic outcomes could improve the relational benefits of mindfulness practice. Future studies should examine emotion regulation as a potential relational pathway of mindfulness and include more diverse samples of couples.

ASTA WITH NSOA-YOUR professional association-is always moving forward for you. Much has happened since the last issue of our award-winning American String Teacher. All that has happened has been guided by our mission to lead and serve string teaching in America and to carry out the priorities in our guiding blueprint document: "Advancing Strings in America." Read on to see. New ActivitiesFirst, ASTA has recently received an NEA grant. The purpose of the grant is to fund a new campaign to attract high school and middle school students to the school string/orchestra teaching profession. Research reveals that the school string/orchestra teacher serves as a role model of our profession with students, and that he or she has the most impact on the decision of pre-college students to teach. Research also has identified approaches that are most effective in attracting students to the teaching profession. With NEA funds, a new ASTA program has been created, titled "Careers in String Teaching." One of our nation's premier school orchestra teachers and past president of NSOA, Pam Tellejohn Hayes, was hired to write a curriculum of teaching strategies, based on the aforementioned research, for those in the schools to use in their classrooms to interest their students in teaching. The curriculum will be available to all K-12 ASTA school string teachers. Also, a national publicity campaign, including classroom posters, has been developed to encourage teachers to use the strategies. Special training sessions for teachers to aid teachers in using the strategies will be presented throughout the country, beginning at our upcoming 2006 conference. A "Careers in String Teaching" website also is being designed for students, with a link to our ASTAweb.com site.Second, ASTA has applied for another NEA grant designed to create new string/orchestra programs in the schools. In addition, contacts have been made to begin working with national businesses to fund school programs with ASTA serving as the broker between businesses and local communities. Preliminary discussions have already been held to seed new string programs in a large, urban school district as one site.Next, ASTA is preparing its response to the upcoming congressional discussions on the re-authorization of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act. Our response will include the effect of NCLB on school orchestra programs and recommendations for changes in NCLB. The basis of our response will be the results our first web-based survey through ASTAweb.com, administered to K-12 members last month. Collecting data from members via our website is one of our newest association services. A special session on NCLB and its role in school/orchestra teaching will be held at the 2006 national conference in Kansas City, Missouri, as we begin to prepare to present input to Congress in its upcoming NCLB deliberations.Also, planning has been completed for ASTA to have its annual general membership meeting in Kansas City. For the first time, the meeting will be held at a prime time during the confe...