Assessing the Efficacy of a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program

Krista Barker
School of Social Work
University of Georgia
Tucker Hall
Athens GA 30602
USA
Phone: 706-282-7672
FAX: 706-282-4544
Email: klbarker@arches.uga.edu
 
Purpose: Social workers are increasingly utilizing complementary stress reduction and anxiety management techniques in practice, however empirical evidence for the efficacy of such techniques is limited in the field. The purpose of this study is to assess a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program in four areas of functioning; psychological, physical, emotional, and spiritual.

Methods: 59 adults who participated in an MBSR program at a county hospital were evauluated using a pre-test post-test design with multiple treatment groups and a 6 month follow-up observation. The Beck Depression Inventory, the Rand 36-Item Health Survey and the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory were used to assess functioning and determine long-term benefits of the program.

Results: Results identify significant areas of improvement in all four areas of functioning; psychological, emotional, physical and spiritual. Long-term benefits are maintained to some degree, relating to frequency of practice post program completion.

Implications for Practice: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction programs can be useful in social work practice settings to address client proplems in a variety of areas of functioning. Suggestions for improvements in the future development of stress reduction programs are presented based on these findings.