Mindful Coping
Doctoral thesis
Permanent lenke
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/184970Utgivelsesdato
2012-10-19Metadata
Vis full innførselSamlinger
- PhD theses (SV-IMS) [18]
Originalversjon
Mindful Coping by Kjersti Balle Tharaldsen, Stavanger : University of Stavanger, 2012 (PhD thesis UiS, no. 174)Sammendrag
The main objective of this thesis was to investigate the relation between
mindfulness and coping. Building on a definition of mindfulness as a
way of being in the present moment, appraisal theory was linked to
coping with distress. The reason was to inquire whether mindfulness
may be related to a coping process that entails appraising and to
suggest how it is associated. “Mindful coping” is presented as a way to
link these two traditions. This aim was developed based on years of
working with both clinical and non-clinical populations who have
expressed interest in and benefitted from practicing mindfulness as a
door-opener to more adequate coping with general stress- and emotionrelated
life problems.
Beginning with a look into coping strategies that may play a central
role in mindful coping, these strategies were related to mental health
indicators to provide information on how mindful coping strategies
may affect mental health. Mindful coping strategies were then
investigated empirically within a non-clinical adolescent sample and a
sample of psychiatric outpatients. Two interventions believed to
enhance mindful coping were evaluated with the main goal of learning
more about how mindful coping skills may be developed, as well as
their capability to stimulate mindful coping and improve mental health.
Using a pragmatic approach within a critical realist framework, and by
mixing quantitative and qualitative methods, four studies contributed to
the current research. Findings showed that mindfulness may play a part
in coping (i.e., mindful coping). Strategies for promoting mindful
coping have been suggested. Furthermore, the results revealed that
mindful coping strategies do seem to affect mental health in different
ways for different populations. Within the adolescent sample,
tendencies reflected that some strategies were more beneficial than
others, whereas the strategies seem to affect symptoms of poor mental
health in promising ways within the patient sample.
In response to the findings, suggestions have been made to moderate
interventions that enhance mindful coping to increase the use of such
strategies and promote mental health. Finally, challenges in developing
and executing mindfulness-based interventions for adolescents and for
psychiatric outpatients have been suggested. The study provides
important knowledge on how mindfulness can be linked to coping
theories and how interventions integrating mindfulness practices and
coping skills may be carried out.