A comparison of mindful awareness practices (MAPs) meditation versus Korean-style Tai Chi for home care aides found that both groups improved in depression, insomnia, and negative affect over six weeks. Only the MAPs group showed sustained improvement in negative affect at three-month follow-up. At that point, 75% of MAPs participants continued practicing, compared to 55% of Tai Chi participants. MAPs were deemed more practical and easier to integrate into daily life, leading to their selection for scaling as a benefit for home care aides.
A randomized clinical trial compared a standardized mindfulness meditation program (MAPs) with health education (HE) among 76 Latino adults in Los Angeles, half Spanish-speaking and half English-speaking, who had moderate perceived stress. Depressive symptoms, measured by the Beck Depression Inventory, improved more in the MAPs group than in the HE group, with a mean difference of -2.2 points and a small effect size of 0.28. Similar benefits appeared in both language groups. Mindfulness also improved more with MAPs, but perceived stress did not differ between groups. The comparable efficacy in Spanish and English suggests that this community-based mindfulness intervention may help reduce depression risk in Latino adults facing social adversity.