Portuguese-speaking immigrants in the Boston area who completed an 8-week mindfulness program adapted for their language and culture attended an average of 6.1 sessions and practiced 213.7 minutes per week. Nearly all participants rated the program as very good or excellent, would recommend it, and would participate again. Depression symptoms decreased substantially and anxiety symptoms decreased moderately, while emotional regulation improved. Half of those who completed surveys initiated a health behavior change. The program appears feasible, acceptable, and culturally appropriate for this underserved population, though larger controlled studies are needed.
A randomized controlled trial assigned Brazilian police officers to either a mindfulness-based health promotion program or a waiting list. At both post-intervention and 6-month follow-up, the mindfulness group showed greater improvements in quality of life and reductions in depression and anxiety symptoms compared to the waiting list. The program also increased non-organizational religiosity at post-intervention, but this effect was not sustained at 6 months. Changes in self-compassion mediated improvements in quality of life. The authors conclude that the mindfulness program is feasible and efficacious for this population.
Mindfulness, defined as nonjudgmental present-moment awareness, can help initiate and maintain behavior change, which is crucial for preventing and treating chronic medical and psychiatric illnesses. This integrative review synthesizes the neuroscience of mindfulness, integrating motivation and learning mechanisms into a mindful self-regulation model that explains how mindfulness affects behavior change. It also reviews clinical research on mindfulness-based interventions for health behaviors relevant to psychiatric care. The authors highlight current research limitations and propose mechanisms for future study to enhance mindfulness's impact on behavior change.