Healthcare providers' (HCPs) perspectives on psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) are critical to clinical integration but remain underexplored in Canadian palliative and oncology contexts. This study examines HCP attitudes toward ketamine, psilocybin, and MDMA, and the systemic and ethical factors influencing implementation. An exploratory qualitative study using semi-structured interviews was...
Despite the dramatic growth in the number of clinical trials of meditation and/or mindfulness-based interventions (MMBIs), most trials focus on self-reported or psychological outcomes, less is known about the potential neuroplastic effects of MMBI practice and benefits for brain health. In this review, we aimed to map the extent and nature of existing research on this topic, identify...
Chronic pain has been linked to increased awareness of but decreased accuracy in detecting internal sensations. Interoception, the sense of signals from inside the body, may be a therapeutic target to improve pain. No studies have examined the feasibility of targeting interoceptive skills within a yoga intervention for chronic pain - where direct engagement with challenging sensations may be...
Mental health of emerging, young adults remains a concern, particularly in lower income groups who receive less mental healthcare. Mindfulness-based interventions yield mental health benefits and have been widely applied, though reach and accessibility remain limited. Poor mental health can negatively impact job performance, physical health, and life trajectories. A mindfulness elective was...
Mindfulness-Based Programs (MBPs) are increasingly being introduced into a range of mainstream contexts such as health care, education, criminal justice, workplace, community settings, and leadership. MBPs are available in some form in every continent, and in some countries have become established as part of standard care in publicly funded health care systems and routinely embedded into school...
Non-pharmacologic approaches are now considered best practice for the treatment of chronic pain. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate patient responses to a newly integrated clinic service called Mindful Awareness in Body-oriented Therapy (MABT) at a chronic pain clinic. MABT is designed to develop interoceptive sensibility for improved well-being and emotion regulation. A one-group...
Mindfulness training has been associated with improved health outcomes among family caregivers of people living with dementia, but access to training is limited, especially in rural areas. Moreover, mindfulness training that addresses the unique perspectives of African American families is needed. The study aimed to test the feasibility and acceptability of a theory-driven, telephone-delivered...
Background: There is surging interest in workplace mindfulness programs to address employee stress, resilience, and performance, however, significant gaps in knowledge remain around feasibility, acceptability, effectiveness, and predictors of therapeutic change. Objective: This study evaluated whether a brief, 4-session Mindfulness Skills Course (MSC) for university employees, covered by the...
Hypertension is increasingly recognized as a biopsychosocial condition influenced by psychological distress and systemic inflammation. The potential of integrative mind-body approaches such as Heartfulness meditation and yoga to offer non-pharmacological benefits through neuroendocrine and immunomodulatory pathways is a source of hope and optimism in the field. To evaluate the effects of a...
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) has been shown to be beneficial for adults with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but little is known about its use in pediatric IBD. This pilot study aimed to assess the feasibility and acceptability of an MBSR program delivered by live-video during the COVID-19 pandemic for youth with IBD. Four cohorts of an 8-session MBSR program were conducted via a...
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) reduces depression relapse, yet graduates have expressed a need for structured guidance post-program to maintain mindfulness practice and sustain benefits. To address this, we created MBCT for Depression-Taking it Further (MBCT-D-TiF). To refine and pilot test feasibility and acceptability of MBCT-D-TiF. We collected qualitative focus group data to...
Chronic low back pain is globally prevalent and associated with significant impairment in quality of life. Furthermore, people from historically marginalized communities are less likely to receive treatment, contributing to health inequities. Group mindfulness-based interventions improve pain and function, and virtual delivery has been demonstrated to be feasible. Little is known about how...
People who undergo lumbar spine surgery experience variable pain, disability, and quality of life outcomes. Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are recommended for chronic low back pain and may be an effective approach for surgical patients. Evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of a telehealth MBI following lumbar spine surgery and refine the intervention for optimal delivery. This was...
The association between home mindfulness practice quantity in standard length mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) and chronic pain outcomes is variable. Few studies focus on abbreviated MBIs (< 8 weeks) and distinguish between formal guided practices and informal practices in daily life. To characterize home mindfulness practice and explore associations between home practice quantity and...
Few Spanish mindfulness interventions have been evaluated in Latinx patients with cancer. We culturally adapted a mindfulness intervention for Spanish speaking Latinx patients. The objective was to measure feasibility and acceptability as primary outcomes, with changes in anxiety, depression, and sleep as secondary outcomes. Spanish-speaking Latinx patients with breast cancer (n = 31) were...
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are supported by clinical practice guidelines as effective non-pharmacologic interventions for common symptoms experienced by cancer patients, including anxiety, depression, and fatigue. However, the evidence predominately derives from White breast cancer survivors. Racial and ethnic minority patients have less access to integrative oncology care and worse...
The most common and debilitating side effects of radiation therapy (RT) for prostate cancer (PC) are fatigue, sleep disturbance, anxiety, and depression. Previous research has reported palliative benefits from certain self-management approaches, such as mindfulness meditation. To develop, pre-test, and evaluate the feasibility, acceptability and initial benefit of brief, audio-based mindfulness...
Chronic pain is one of the most common drivers of healthcare utilization and a marked domain for health disparities, as African American/Black populations experience high rates of chronic pain. Integrative Medical Group Visits (IMGV) combine mindfulness techniques, evidence-based integrative medicine, and medical group visits. In a parent randomized controlled trial, this approach was tested as...
Prior data suggests the Mindfulness-Based Interventions: (MBI) Teaching Assessment Criteria (MBI:TAC) has good inter-rater reliability, but many raters knew teacher experience level. We sought to further evaluate the MBI-TAC's inter-rater reliability and obtain preliminary data on predictive validity. We videorecorded 21 MBSR teachers from academic and community settings. We trained 19...
Medical residents commonly face compassion fatigue, burnout, anxiety, and depression. Studies of nature-based interventions show improved mental and physical health; few focus on healthcare providers. To explore potential benefits of forest bathing for medical residents' wellbeing. Using the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy's framework, we piloted a forest bathing intervention among...
Peripheral vascular interventions (PVIs) performed under procedural sedation and analgesia (PSA) can be associated with anxiety and poor compliance with patient instructions during surgery. Mind-body interventions (MBIs) such as meditation have demonstrated the potential to decrease perioperative anxiety, though this area is understudied, and no tailored interventions have been developed for...
Heart-Smile Training (HST) is an interoceptive compassion-based behavioral intervention that in case reports has been beneficial for depression. Interoception refers to the awareness and regulation of physiological signals from inside the body. Depressed patients often have diminished interoceptive awareness and often experience disconnection from bodily needs and sensations. In addition to...
Rising greenhouse gas levels heat the earth's surface and alter climate patterns, posing unprecedented threats to planetary ecology and human health. At the same time, obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease have reached epidemic proportions across the globe, caused in part by decreases in physical activity and by over-consumption of carbon-intensive foods. Thus, interventions that...
Following acute coronary syndrome (ACS), up to 40% of patients report elevated depressive symptoms which is associated with a two-fold increase in mortality risk due to behavioral and biological mechanisms. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) delivered via synchronous group videoconferencing could help reduce depressive symptoms. To guide MBCT adaptation for ACS patients for a future...