Acceptance and mindfulness-based stress management for support staff caring for individuals with intellectual disabilities

Abstract

The intervention led to significantly greater reductions in distress in the intervention group than in the control group. This was largely maintained at 6 week follow-up. This effect was more pronounced amongst a subsample that had shown higher levels of psychological distress at baseline. Thought suppression was found to reduce significantly in the intervention group between post intervention and follow-up, although no significant change was found in well-being or experiential avoidance/psychological inflexibility. Overall, results demonstrated support for the effectiveness of an acceptance and mindfulness-based intervention in reducing distress.

Effects of mindfulness, coping styles and resilience on job retention and burnout in caregivers supporting aggressive adults with developmental disabilities

“…For example, a significant time by condition interaction was found in favour of a mindfulness‐based intervention, compared with no intervention, on psychological distress and thought suppression (McConachie et al . ). Noone and Hastings () found a medium effect of a short‐term, mindfulness‐based training for caregivers on self‐reported stress.…”

“…There has been a growing body of work evaluating mindfulness‐based interventions for DSPs as a method to decrease stress (Noone & Hastings ; McConachie et al . ; Singh et al . ; Singh et al .…”

“…There has been a growing body of work evaluating mindfulness-based interventions for DSPs as a method to decrease stress (Noone & Hastings 2010;McConachie et al 2014;Singh et al 2015;Singh et al 2016). For example, a significant time by condition interaction was found in favour of a mindfulnessbased intervention, compared with no intervention, on psychological distress and thought suppression (McConachie et al 2014). Noone and Hastings (2010) found a medium effect of a short-term, mindfulness-based training for caregivers on selfreported stress.…”

Mindful Caring: Using Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy With Caregivers of Cancer Survivors

“…Researchers (e.g., McConachie, McKenzie, Morris, & Walley, 2014;Schenström, Rönnberg, & Bodlund, 2006) indicate that formal caregivers and support staff benefit from the use of mindfulness practices (e.g., Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction). Additionally, researchers investigating mindfulness practices for formal caregivers have reported consistent findings overtime that perceived stress and distress decrease while quality of life increases (McConachie et al, 2014;Schenström et al, 2006). Numerous hospitals and universities (e.g., University of Massachusetts Medical School and Jefferson University Hospitals) utilize mindfulness programs to encourage staff and faculty to practice mindfulness as a way to decrease stress and increase quality of life.…”

Acceptance and Commitment Training in the workplace

“…Additional research outcomes have supported the use of ACTraining to mitigate stress levels for university personnel [45 ], early childhood special education teachers [46], and staff members working with individuals diagnosed with intellectual disabilities [47,48]. Mental health workers receiving six ACT-related phone consultations reported improvement in dealing with burnout and a significant progress in personal accomplishment [49].…”