Skip to content

Teacher Competence in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression and Its Relation to Treatment Outcome

Marloes J. Huijbers, R. Crane, Willem Kuyken, L. Heijke, I. Van, Den Hout, A. Donders, Anne E. M. Speckens

Mindfulness January 12, 2017 DOI: 10.1007/s12671-016-0672-z (opens in new tab)

Read Full Text
Relevant Not relevant

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Multi-centre trial Peer reviewed
Sample size 241
Population Patients with recurrent depression in remission
Intervention Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT)
Duration 15-month follow-up
Topics Depression Meditation
Key findings Teacher competence, as measured by the MBI:TAC, was not significantly associated with adherence, mechanisms of change, or depressive outcomes in MBCT for recurrent depression.

Abstract

As mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) becomes an increasingly mainstream approach for recurrent depression, there is a growing need for practitioners who are able to teach MBCT. The requirements for being competent as a mindfulness-based teacher include personal meditation practice and at least a year of additional professional training. This study is the first to investigate the relationship between MBCT teacher competence and several key dimensions of MBCT treatment outcomes. Patients with recurrent depression in remission (N = 241) participated in a multi-centre trial of MBCT, provided by 15 teachers. Teacher competence was assessed using the Mindfulness-Based Interventions: Teaching Assessment Criteria (MBI:TAC) based on two to four randomly selected video-recorded sessions of each of the 15 teachers, evaluated by 16 trained assessors. Results showed that teacher competence was not significantly associated with adherence (number of MBCT sessions attended), possible mechanisms of change (rumination, cognitive reactivity, mindfulness, and self-compassion), or key outcomes (depressive symptoms at post treatment and depressive relapse/recurrence during the 15-month follow-up). Thus, findings from the current study indicate no robust effects of teacher competence, as measured by the MBI:TAC, on possible mediators and outcome variables in MBCT for recurrent depression. Possible explanations are the standardized delivery of MBCT, the strong emphasis on self-reliance within the MBCT learning process, the importance of participant-related factors, the difficulties in assessing teacher competence, the absence of main treatment effects in terms of reducing depressive symptoms, and the relatively small selection of videotapes. Further work is required to systematically investigate these explanations.

Comparable studies

Other non-randomized and open-label trials on depression, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Psilocybin with psychological support for treatment-resistant depression: an open-label feasibility study. Patients with moderate-to-severe, unipolar, treatment-resistant major depression 2016 Open-label feasibility trial n = 12
Psilocybin with psychological support for treatment-resistant depression: six-month follow-up. Patients with severe, unipolar, treatment-resistant major depression 2017 Open-label trial n = 20
Quality of Acute Psychedelic Experience Predicts Therapeutic Efficacy of Psilocybin for Treatment-Resistant Depression Patients with treatment-resistant depression 2018 Clinical trial n = 20
Rapid Resolution of Suicidal Ideation After a Single Infusion of anN-Methyl-D-Aspartate Antagonist in Patients With Treatment-Resistant Major Depressive Disorder Subjects with DSM-IV-diagnosed treatment-resistant major depressive disorder 2010 Open-label trial n = 33
Antidepressant Effects of a Single Dose of Ayahuasca in Patients With Recurrent Depression Patients with recurrent depression 2015 Open-label trial n = 17

Citations in the library

Cited by 27

and 22 more in the library

Cites 22

and 17 more in the library

Related reading

Explore topics

Depression Meditation