Date on Senior Honors Thesis

5-2014

Document Type

Senior Honors Thesis

Department

Psychological and Brain Sciences

Degree Program

College of Arts and Sciences

Author's Keywords

Mindfulness; Meditation; Undergraduates; Stress; MBSR; Intervention

Abstract

This study piloted a mindfulness-based intervention to reduce stress in university undergraduates, and explore effects on psychological and biological indicators of stress. Mindfulness is “the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment-by-moment” (Kabat-Zinn, 1994). The one week mindfulness intervention used audiobased mindfulness tracks recorded by Clinical Psychologist Paul Salmon. These tracks taught the basics of mindfulness. Participants were asked to listen to the tracks for 30 minutes a day for five days of the intervention. Perceived stress, self-reported anxiety, self-reported depression, heart rate and skin conductance were measured at baseline and follow-up. It was predicted that these measures would decrease with increased use of the mindfulness tracks. Time listened to the intervention did significantly predict changes in skin conductance during the intervention. No other predicted relationships reached significance.

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