When applied to psychotherapy for shame-related distress, these findings point to the importance of exploring clients' attributions related to specific shame events and using interventions that promote attributional change. Directions for further research are discussed.
Although recent research has pointed to the potential benefits of self-compassion for youth, relatively little is known about the perspectives and lived experience of adolescents as they extend compassion toward themselves. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to gain an in-depth understanding of self-compassion from the adolescent perspective. Six adolescents, who had experienced a variety of life difficulties, were interviewed about their experiences of self-compassion in the context of their daily lives. Data were analyzed for common themes using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The resulting themes included putting oneself at the center, maintaining a positive outlook, engaging in pleasurable activities, connecting positively with others, working on self-improvement, making oneself attractive to others, accepting oneself, and experiencing emotional balance. Findings from this study add to self-compassion research by bringing attention to the contextualized meaning and experiences of self-compassion from the adolescent perspective. Directions for future research and limitations of the study are discussed.
Community-based social support interventions are a gender-sensitive-, culturally appropriate-, and resource-sparing approach to promote women's resilience and improve their mental health.
Background: While studies on mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) for youth have recently emerged, there is a shortage of research on how adolescents from clinical populations experience MBSR. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the impact of MBSR from the subjective perspective of adolescents with serious mental health concerns. Method: Adolescents (n = 28) from a residential treatment center participated in an adapted 8-week MBSR program in which they learned a range of mindfulness skills and were encouraged to apply the skills to their everyday lives. At the end of the program and at a 3-month follow-up, the youth participated in semistructured interviews in which they were asked to describe the impact of the program from their perspectives. Basic interpretive qualitative analysis methods were used to code the data and to group the codes into higher level themes. Results: Six main themes were found, including improved mood, enhanced relationship to self, increased self-control, improved problem-solving, awareness of the present, and enhanced interpersonal relationships. Discussion: Results from this study suggest that the MBSR program was perceived as beneficial both in the short-term and follow-up in several aspects of emotional, cognitive, and interpersonal functioning.
Key Practitioner Message• The small number of existing studies on mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) have shown promising results with youth. However, there is limited knowledge of the experience of MBSR for youth in treatment for mental health concerns.• This study addresses the need for qualitative research on how adolescents from clinical populations experience and perceive MBSR.• Participants who completed an inpatient MBSR program perceived the program to be helpful in improving mood, self-concept, self-control, problem-solving, interpersonal relationships, and awareness of the hereand-now.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.