TPC-Journal-V5-Issue1

The Professional Counselor /Volume 5, Issue 1 45 Results All five participants completed the baseline phase (A) of four weekly meetings to complete the dependent measures. A 1 –A 4 represent weeks one through four of the baseline phase . Out of five participants, three participants completed the full intervention phase (B) of six weekly 1-hour sessions. B 1 –B 6 represent weeks one through six of the intervention phase. The phases ran consecutively. One participant completed only two of the intervention sessions before withdrawing from the study. This participant cited a variety of issues including unexpected sickness and time constraints as deciding factors for withdrawal. Another participant completed three intervention sessions before withdrawing, citing time constraints and academic demands as reasons for withdrawal. The researchers have included the results for only the three participants who completed the full intervention, due to the importance in single-subject designs of multiple measurements of the dependent variable occurring over the complete span of the study in order to determine changes in self-reports of mindfulness and perceived stress. It is the comparison of the two full phases that allows interpretation of whether the intervention was the cause of the change. Participant 1 Participant 1 reported no previous experience with mindfulness activities. The baseline mean score on the PSS-10 for Participant 1 was 21.75. This baseline mean score is higher than that of the normative sample and indicates some experience of perceived stress. The baseline mean score on the MAAS was 3.07. This baseline mean score is lower than that of the normative sample and indicates less self-report of mindfulness as measured by the MAAS. The individual scores over the baseline period for the PSS-10 fluctuated, which may be related to the time of administration. The A 1 and A 4 scores were both 22, and both measurements were taken at high- stress academic times. However, Participant 1 earned the highest score in the baseline phase (25) at A 3, on Christmas Eve. These scores support the literature that found several factors leading to nursing student stress, including home and academic demands (Magnussen & Amundson, 2003). Alternately, the individual scores over the baseline period for the MAAS were mostly stable with a significant drop in A 4, which was collected on the last Friday before the spring semester started. With the focus that mindfulness places on staying in the present moment, as measured by the MAAS, the anticipation of the new semester may have taken precedence. Essentially, baseline scores on the PSS-10 were variable, as were the academic and home stressors, and MAAS scores were relatively stable, but below normative scores for college populations. The intervention mean score on the PSS-10 was 23. This score was 1.25 points higher than the baseline mean of overall self-reported stress as measured by the PSS-10. The individual scores of the intervention phase showed decreasing PSS-10 scores from B 1 –B 3 while showing increasing MAAS scores at the same time for Participant 1 (see Figure 1). B 4 showed a 1-point increase from B 3 in PSS-10 scores, which coincided with Participant 1 experiencing a medical emergency. Despite this crisis, stress scores increased only minimally while mindfulness scores increased by .47 from B 3 –B 4 . MAAS scores continued to increase throughout the intervention phase, with the highest score of 4.93 reported at the final session. This finding indicated that increased exposure to and practice of mindfulness activities correlated with higher self-report of mindfulness scores. This result was confirmed by an increase of 0.88 in the mean scores on the MAAS from baseline to intervention and a gain of 2.73 from B 1 –B 6 (see Figure 1). Table 2 provides the dependent measure scores for Participant 1. Participant 2 Participant 2 reported no previous experience with mindfulness activities. The baseline mean score on the PSS-10 for Participant 2 was 22.25. This baseline mean score is higher than that of the normative sample and indicates some experience of perceived stress as measured by the PSS-10. The baseline mean score on the