International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Rachel G. Lucas-Thompson

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Guest Editor

1. Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
2. Department of Community and Behavioral Health, Colorado School of Public Health, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
Interests: reducing regulation and health problems in adolescents through mindfulness and mindfulness-based interventions; stressful environments and stress responding in adolescence

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Studies investigating the benefits of mindfulness-based interventions for psychological health and well-being have proliferated exponentially since 2006. However, much of this research has focused on relatively short-term change in samples of white adults from Western countries, with an underuse of active control interventions. In the last several years, there has been growing interest in a process-oriented investigation of mindfulness-based interventions, an emphasis on long-term change in participants of mindfulness-based interventions vs. other active intervention conditions, and innovations in the delivery of mindfulness-based interventions and/or assessment of their effects. This Special Issue invites papers that represent these innovations and next steps in the study of the benefits of mindfulness-based interventions for psychological health. The following topics are particularly encouraged: (a) process-oriented tests of these benefits that focus on how (i.e., mechanisms of change or mediators) and/or for whom (i.e., moderators) mindfulness-based interventions benefit psychological health; (b) tests of novel delivery methods of mindfulness-based interventions (e.g., mobile health) and/or tests of the benefits of mindfulness-based interventions that incorporate innovations in measurement/analysis (e.g., through the use of intensive repeated measurements, neuroscientific outcomes, objective measurements of mindfulness, and/or health); and (c) studies that represent populations underrepresented in the mindfulness-based intervention literature, including individuals from non-Western countries, children and/or adolescents, and individuals from traditionally minoritized backgrounds.

Dr. Rachel G. Lucas-Thompson
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

mindfulness-based intervention
mental health
well-being
underrepresented
psychological health
mHealth
health behaviors
mindfulness
randomized controlled trials

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Editorial

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5 pages, 289 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Advancing the Study of Mindfulness-Based Interventions in Relation to Psychological Health

by Rachel G. Lucas-Thompson and Megan J. Moran

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(8), 5473; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20085473 - 11 Apr 2023

Viewed by 1072

Abstract

Since 2006, there has been exponential growth in the number of publications on mindfulness [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Psychological Health and Benefits of Mindfulness-Based Interventions)

Research

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18 pages, 936 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Mindfulness Intervention Improves Coping and Perceptions of Children’s Behavior among Families with Elevated Risk

by Jill T. Krause and Samantha M. Brown

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(23), 7092; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20237092 - 21 Nov 2023

Viewed by 1712

Abstract

Mindfulness-informed interventions (MIIs) are increasingly common but have not been extensively studied among families with elevated levels of risk (e.g., those involved in child protective services and/or receiving financial assistance). These families often experience high rates of stressors that can impact coping strategies, interpersonal dynamics, and relationships. Given that mindfulness has been shown to promote health and wellbeing, this study used a sample from two pilot randomized controlled trials to test the extent to which a mindfulness-informed intervention improved coping strategies and perceptions of children’s behavior among 53 families with elevated risk. A principal components analysis with a direct oblimin rotation revealed that cognitive–emotion coping strategies could be characterized by three factors: positive adaptation, negative adaptation, and positive refocusing. Intention-to-treat analysis indicated significant group by time differences, with intervention participants demonstrating improvements in positive refocusing coping, positive adaptation coping, and perceptions of children’s behavior problems compared to participants in the waitlist control group. No significant differences were found for negative adaptation coping strategies. Findings provide preliminary support for the benefits of mindfulness training in a sample generally underrepresented in the mindfulness intervention literature. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Psychological Health and Benefits of Mindfulness-Based Interventions)

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