AUTHOR=Niu Ya-Nan , Long Di 

TITLE=Manual development and efficacy of Mindful Living Group activities to promote trauma healing during the COVID-19 pandemic in China

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1102473

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2023.1102473

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p>Disasters can be traumatic with a profound and lasting impact on individuals. During the COVID-19 pandemic, our team developed the Mindful Living Group (MLG) activities manual based on Eastern body-mind wisdom and Western trauma healing theory to provide psychological assistance for trauma healing.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>In this study, we introduce a framework developed for the 10-session MLG activities manual, which consists of three core modules. Thirty-one participants living all over the country who had experienced traumatic stress resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic received the MLG intervention. This single-arm intervention study offered psychological assistance during the pandemic. The MLG intervention included 10 weekly 2-h sessions held online. Participants completed the initial interview, pre-test, post-test, and 1-month follow-up interviews. The effectiveness of the MLG activities manual was evaluated using psychological measures, including Self-Rating Depression Scale, Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, Post-traumatic Growth Inventory, General Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Perceived Social Support Scale.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Compared with the pretest level, the post-test levels of depression (<italic>F</italic> = 42.78, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001, <italic>η</italic><sup>2</sup> = 0.59) and anxiety (<italic>F</italic> = 23.40, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001, <italic>η</italic><sup>2</sup> = 0.44) were significantly lower; and mindfulness (F = 12.98, <italic>p</italic> =0.001, <italic>η</italic><sup>2</sup> =0.30), posttraumatic growth (<italic>F</italic> = 27.06, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001, <italic>η</italic><sup>2</sup> = 0.48), general self-efficacy (<italic>F</italic> = 13.20, <italic>p</italic> = 0.001, <italic>η</italic><sup>2</sup> = 0.31), and perceived social support (<italic>F</italic> = 16.27, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001, <italic>η</italic><sup>2</sup> = 0.35) were significantly higher (ANOVA). Further correlation analysis revealed a significant negative relationship of mindfulness with both depression (<italic>r</italic> = −0.43, <italic>p</italic> = 0.015) and anxiety (<italic>r</italic> = −0.35, <italic>p</italic> = 0.053), and significant positive relationships of mindfulness with posttraumatic growth (<italic>r</italic> = 0.40, <italic>p</italic> = 0.025), general self-efficacy (<italic>r</italic> = 0.52, <italic>p</italic> = 0.003), and perceived social support (<italic>r</italic> = 0.40, <italic>p</italic> = 0.024).</p></sec><sec><title>Discussion</title><p>These preliminary findings showed the effectiveness of MLG activities for trauma healing. The mechanisms underlying mindfulness promoting trauma healing are discussed based on both Eastern body-mind wisdom and Western theories of trauma healing.</p></sec><sec><title>Clinical trial registration</title><p>Identifier, ChiCTR2000034164.</p></sec>