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Full-Text Articles in Social Work

Generating Therapeutic Attunement Through Mindfulness Practice, Kestrel Feiner-Homer May 2016

Generating Therapeutic Attunement Through Mindfulness Practice, Kestrel Feiner-Homer

Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers

Therapeutic attunement refers to the non-linear process in which therapists track the moment-to-moment changes in the somatic, emotional and energetic rhythms of the client, themselves and the intersubjective relationship that exists between them. Literature on this topic suggests that therapeutic attunement is imperative for creating empathic alliances that foster reparative neural growth and result in positive treatment outcomes. This study uses Scholarly Personal Narrative and single system design to explore the impact that integrating forty minutes of mindfulness meditation into my daily routine had on my ability to cultivate therapeutic attunement in my work with clients. Over the course of …


Mindfulness And The Oncology Patient: A Systematic Review, Kristina Babcock May 2016

Mindfulness And The Oncology Patient: A Systematic Review, Kristina Babcock

Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers

This systematic review was designed to gather and analyze data available regarding the effectiveness of mindfulness practice in decreasing depression or anxiety for oncology/hematology patients. The electronic databases used to identify studies for this review included the University of St. Thomas’ Summon Data Base, Psychinfo, Social Work Abstracts, SocINDEX and St. Catherine University’s Academic Search Premier. Sixteen quantitative studies met criteria and were reviewed and analyzed. All sixteen studies were divided between the categories of post cancer treatment/cancer survivors or active cancer diagnosis. The three major themes that surfaced within these two categories were depression, anxiety and stress. The studies …


Effects Of Mind And Body Interventions On Family Dementia Caregivers: A Systematic Review, Katherine C. Johnson May 2016

Effects Of Mind And Body Interventions On Family Dementia Caregivers: A Systematic Review, Katherine C. Johnson

Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers

Family members caring for a loved one with dementia encounter a multitude of physical and psychological stressors. Current interventions address some of these concerns, but are not adequate to address the daily psychological stress that leads so many dementia caregivers to anxiety and depression. The current review selects empirical research from the past twelve years on the effects of mind and body interventions on family dementia caregivers and finds that, while intervention type varies widely, overall results suggest that MBSR and yoga-based methods implemented for eight weeks can have a beneficial impact on caregiver anxiety, depression, mood, stress, and quality …


The Relationships Between Perceived Stress, The Big Five Inventory, The Five- Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, And Yoga, Erin Meyer Stamp May 2016

The Relationships Between Perceived Stress, The Big Five Inventory, The Five- Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, And Yoga, Erin Meyer Stamp

Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers

Much research exists on the relationships between personality and stress, and other research examines the relationships between stress and coping. However, few studies have examined the relationships between how personality, stress, and coping. This study investigated the relationships between stress, personality, mindfulness, and yoga practice. A survey including an abbreviated version of the Big Five Inventory (BFI-10), a short version of the Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ-SV), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and qualitative questions on yoga practice was created. Fifty-eight people participated. Results indicate that personality not only impacts how people perceive stress, but it may also impact how people …


How Therapists Use And Choose Mindfulness To Treat Trauma, Jessica M. King Jan 2016

How Therapists Use And Choose Mindfulness To Treat Trauma, Jessica M. King

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

This qualitative study used the phenomenological method to examine how therapists use mindfulness therapies and interventions to address trauma-salient issues with their clients. Specifically, it explored therapists’ use of and choices about mindfulness-based treatments when addressing post-traumatic stress symptoms, and trauma-relevant emotion dysregulation and attachment injury. Informants were associate and fully-licensed local therapists, recruited using convenience sampling and snowball sampling by word-of-mouth referrals. Data was collected by semi-structured interviewing. Interview data was analyzed with Moustakas’ (1994) recommended procedures for analysis of phenomenological data. Results, Discussion, Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research are described at the end.


A Mindfulness-Based Intervention To Improve Family Functioning Among Child Welfare-Involved Families With Substance Use, Samantha Marie Brown Jan 2016

A Mindfulness-Based Intervention To Improve Family Functioning Among Child Welfare-Involved Families With Substance Use, Samantha Marie Brown

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite the frequent co-occurrence of parental substance misuse and child maltreatment, the field lacks feasible and effective intervention and strategies designed to meet the complex needs of child welfare-involved families with substance misuse. Mindfulness demonstrates promise in cultivating awareness and self-regulatory capacities, thereby reducing stress and substance use and improving parent-child interactions. The purpose of this mixed methods, randomized clinical trial was to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement adapted for child welfare families (MORE-CW), and to test initial treatment effects on proximal (i.e., parental stress, autonomic activity during a stress-induced state and recovery [heart rate variability], …


Cultivating Resilience : Antidotes To White Fragility In Racial Justice Education, Katherine E. Roubos Jan 2016

Cultivating Resilience : Antidotes To White Fragility In Racial Justice Education, Katherine E. Roubos

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This qualitative study explores what skills, tools and approaches may be helpful antidotes to white fragility in racial justice education. This study is in response to the challenge posed by white fragility, as defined by Robin DiAngelo (2011) in which white people experience such extreme emotions in response to learning about racism in the USA that they become either defensive such that they are unable to engage in a learning experience, or so swept up in guilt or shame that they require substantial emotional tending in order to continue to engage in the educational experience. Robin DiAngelo frames this phenomenon …