Minding Well-Being: Validation of the Mindfulness-Based Strategic Awareness Training (MBSAT) for Non-Clinical Populations

A training program called Mindfulness-Based Strategic Awareness Training (MBSAT), delivered over eight sessions, improved well-being in healthy working adults in Switzerland. Compared to a waitlist control group, participants who took MBSAT reported lower stress, worry, and alexithymia (difficulty identifying emotions), and better sleep quality, non-attachment, psychological need satisfaction, flourishing, and work engagement. The benefits were linked to increased interoception (awareness of internal body sensations), suggesting this may be a key mechanism behind mindfulness-based interventions. The study involved 43 participants, most randomly assigned to either the training or waitlist.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This research assessed the effects of the Mindfulness-Based Strategic Awareness Training (MBSAT). MBSAT follows the 8-session structure of established mindfulness courses such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). However, it is a personal and professional development training for non-clinical contexts geared toward healthy individuals with the aim of improving their broadly defined well-being. We conducted an experimental intervention study with a waitlist control group with working adults in Switzerland. Most of the 43 participants were randomly assigned to participate either in the MBSAT ( n = 23) or a waitlist ( n = 20) for subsequent participation in the MBSAT after completion of the data collection. Compared to the control condition, the MBSAT training group participants scored lower on measures of negative well-being, such as stress, alexithymia, and worry, and higher on measures of positive well-being, such as sleep quality, non-attachment, psychological need satisfaction, flourishing, and work engagement after the intervention. Mediation analyses found that greater interoception in the training condition mediated these various well-being outcomes. The study provides quantitative evidence to validate MBSAT as an effective intervention for increasing well-being in a non-clinical setting with active working adult participants. The research highlights the role of interoception as a potential mediator of the benefits of mindfulness-based interventions. This study was not preregistered.