Invited Symposium
Mindfulness-based interventions for vulnerable populations
Pierre Philippot (1), Katleen Van der Gucht (2) and Marbella Perez Peña (1)
(1) UCLouvain; (2) KU Leuven
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are programs that employ systematic and sustained training in mindfulness meditation practice as a core methodology. The main therapeutic component of MBIs is the skill of mindfulness which can be defined as non-judgmental awareness of one’s present moment experiences. Scientific findings from the past 40 years have found that MBIs are effective for a wide variety of stress related and clinical problems as well as for preventive purposes in non-clinical populations. More recently, a growing body of research is striving to assess the impact and working mechanisms of MBIs in society’s most vulnerable populations. This symposium brings together psychological scientists at the forefront of this research effort.
Speaker 1: The SCD-Well Randomized Controlled Trial: Effects of a mindfulness-based intervention
versus health education on anxiety level in patients with subjective cognitive decline
versus health education on anxiety level in patients with subjective cognitive decline
Fabienne Collette (1), Natalie L. Marchant (2), Thorsten Barnhofer (3), Olga M. Klimecki (4), Géraldine Poisnel (5), Antoine Lutz (6), Eider Arenaza-Urquijo (7), Miranka Wirth (7,8), Ann-Katrin Schild (9), Nina Coll-Padrós (10), Karine Goldet (11), Deborah Horney (2), Pierre Krolak-Salmon (12), José Luis Molinuevo (10), Zuzana Walker (2,16), Aline Maillard (13,14), Eric Frison (13,14), Frank Jessen (9, 15),
Gael Chételat (5) and the Medit-Ageing Research Group
Gael Chételat (5) and the Medit-Ageing Research Group
(1) ULiège; (2) University College London, UK; (3) University of Exeter, UK; (4) University of Geneva, Switzerland; (5) Université de Caen-Normandie, France; (6) Université de Lyon, France; (7) Charité-Universitäts medizin Berlin, Germany; (8) University of Cologne, Germany; (9) Hospital Clinic IDIBAPS, Barcelona; (10) Hospices Civils de Lyon, France (11) Bordeaux, Inserm, France; (12) CHU Bordeaux, France; (13) German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Germany.
Subjectively experienced cognitive decline in older adults is an indicator of increased risk for dementia and is also associated with increased levels of anxiety symptoms. Anxiety is itself emerging as a risk factor for cognitive decline and dementia. There are currently no approved interventions or treatments for people with SCD. The SCD-Well study investigate whether two behavioural interventions (mindfulness and health education) can significantly reduce anxiety symptoms in patients with subjective cognitive decline (SCD). 147 older adults with SCD were recruited from memory clinics in the UK, Germany, Spain, and France and were randomly assigned to either an 8-week mindfulness-based intervention or health education program. Changes in anxiety score (trait-STAI) were analyzed. for the total sample and between the two intervention groups, at baseline (V1), immediately after the intervention (V2), and at a 6-month follow-up (V3). For the total sample, there was a significant reduction in anxiety from V1 to V2, and the reduction remained stable at V3. There was no difference between the mindfulness-based and health education groups in anxiety score from V1 to V2 or V1 to V3. The SCD-Well trial provides evidence that behavioural interventions can reduce anxiety level in people with SCD. Further work is needed to understand whether these interventions reduce risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
Speaker 2: Can mindfulness help youngsters to open up to their emotions?
Preliminary results of a school-based randomised controlled trial
Preliminary results of a school-based randomised controlled trial
Merle Kock* (1), Liesbeth Bogaert* (1), Katleen Van der Gucht (1), Peter Kuppens (1) and Filip Raes (1) (* joint first authorship)
(1) KU Leuven
Emotional distress, especially depression, is highly prevalent in adolescents, it has multiple problematic consequences and, most alarming, it is on the rise. All too often, these symptoms persist and lead to long-term, severe psychiatric problems. One promising technique to target emotional distress is mindfulness training, which has been proven effective in improving well-being and combatting mood disturbances in a wide range of conditions in both treatment and prevention. In a cluster-randomized controlled trial, we aim to investigate whether mindfulness training can counter both the non-acceptance of negative emotions (underlying low mood, anxiety and stress) as well as the dampening of positive emotions (underlying anhedonia) and, whether this ‘opening up’ leads to a more balanced discourse among youngsters about their emotional lives. For that purpose, school classes are randomly assigned to an 8-week mindfulness training or a no-intervention control condition. Participants are assessed before randomization, post-intervention, and at 3-months follow-up using self-report questionnaires and experience sampling methodology. In this talk, pre- and post-intervention data from the first wave of recruitments will be presented to gain preliminary insights into the effects of mindfulness training on emotion acceptance and social expectancies in adolescents. The project is financed by Red Noses – FWO.
Speaker 3: Mindfulness for breast cancer survivors with cognitive complaints
Michelle Melis (1), Katleen Van der Gucht (1,2), Ann Smeets (1,3), Sabine Deprez (1), Stefan Sunaert (1,3)
(1) KU Leuven; (2) Leuven Mindfulness Centre; (3) University Hospitals Leuven
Up to 78% of breast cancer survivors suffer from cognitive complaints after cancer treatment, affecting their quality of life. In this pilot study we investigated the effect of a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) on cancer-related cognitive impairment, as well as on functional and structural brain changes. Breast cancer survivors reporting cognitive impairment (CFQ>42.9) were randomly allocated to a mindfulness-condition or a waitlist-control condition. Patients completed MRI-scans of the brain, neuropsychological tests and questionnaires. Assessments took place at three timepoints: one week before the start of MBI (T1), one week after completion of MBI (T2) and three months post-intervention (T3). MBI consisted of four group sessions spread over eight weeks. We estimated resting-state functional connectivity between the dorsal and salience attention networks, the frontoparietal and default mode network. Furthermore, we calculated structural differences in gray matter with a VBM-analysis. Mixed model repeated measures analysis was performed to test the intervention effect on behavioural and cognitive outcomes. Patients in the mindfulness-condition (n=12) showed significantly higher resting-state connectivity than the waitlist-control group (n=13) between the anterior cingulate cortex and the intraparietal sulci after the intervention (T2). Both timepoints showed a significant condition-by-time interaction effect for subjective cognitive impairment, emotional distress and fatigue at follow-up. MBI may enhance functional connectivity in attention-related networks and may have a positive impact on subjective cognitive impairment in breast cancer survivors. Therefore, it deserves further study in this context. Currently, we are conducting a study with a larger sample size and an active control group.
Speaker 4: Mindfulness-Based Interventions for adolescents with behavior disorders
Benjamin Roux (1) and Pierre Philippot (1)
(1) UCLouvain
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are widely used in adults and children to treat anxiety and depressive symptomatology. However, only few studies with a rigorous design were conducted among adolescents with behaviors disorders even though this population suffer from symptoms that can be addressed by MBIs such as inattention and hyperactivity. The present study includes 129 adolescents living in a residential service for youth and investigates the effect of a MBI on internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Three treatment conditions were designed using randomized allocation: a treatment as usual condition, a health psychoeducation condition, and a MBI condition. The three groups were compared over a period of three assessment points plus a one-year follow-up on self-report questionnaires, questionnaires rated by adolescent’s educators, and behavioral tasks. To test the MBI efficacy, multilevel analyses were performed, controlling for gender and medication. Results indicate that all groups improved on most measures, likely due to the intensive institutional care provided by default. The MBI did not impact differently depressive symptomatology, mindfulness, impulsivity, hyperactivity or oppositional behaviors compared to the two other conditions. However, the MBI had a positive impact on attentional capacities. This latter result is consistent with a large body of literature. However, the absence of findings concerning the externalizing as well as internalizing symptomatology is unexpected and may require an investigation of moderating factors. MBIs may help adolescents with behavior disorders at the attentional level but further research is needed to specifically determine benefits of mindfulness on externalizing and internalizing symptoms in this population.
