Minding Well-Being: Validation of the Mindfulness-Based Strategic Awareness Training (MBSAT) for Non-Clinical Populations
Eva K. Peters, Samantha Sim, Jochen Reb, Juan Humberto Young, Monika Elser Young
Mindfulness May 20, 2025 DOI: 10.1007/s12671-025-02581-0 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Experimental intervention study with waitlist control group Preregistered Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 43 |
| Population | Working adults in Switzerland |
| Intervention | Mindfulness-Based Strategic Awareness Training (MBSAT) |
| Duration | 8-session intervention |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Public health Applied psychology Psychotherapist Clinical psychology Nursing |
| Citations | 1 |
| Key findings | MBSAT training, compared to a waitlist control, improved multiple measures of positive well-being and reduced negative well-being in healthy working adults, with interoception mediating these outcomes. |
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.
Comparable studies
Other experimental studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Cancer patients (clinical intervention study) | 2003 | Mixed methods: scale development, correlational, quasi-experimental, laboratory, experience-sampling, and clinical intervention study | |
| Loving-kindness meditation increases social connectedness. | 2008 | Controlled laboratory experiment | |
| Mindfulness and mind-wandering: Finding convergence through opposing constructs. | 2012 | Two studies: correlational study and experimental study | |
| Mental Training Enhances Attentional Stability: Neural and Behavioral Evidence | 2009 | Experimental study | |
| Mindfulness meditation and substance use in an incarcerated population. Incarcerated population | 2006 | Quasi-experimental with treatment-as-usual control condition |
Citations in the library
Cites 20
- The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2003
- Mindfulness Interventions Annual Review of Psychology September 30, 2016
- Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2012
- Active interoceptive inference and the emotional brain Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences October 11, 2016
- Mindfulness for Teachers: A Pilot Study to Assess Effects on Stress, Burnout, and Teaching Efficacy Mind, Brain, and Education August 16, 2013
and 15 more in the library