TPC-Journal-14.3

The Professional Counselor | Volume 14, Issue 3 274 Participants Several studies employing the MBSP program as an intervention within the general population reported individual sample sizes ranging from 20 to 126 (Hofmann et al., 2020; Ivtzan et al., 2016; Pang & Ruch, 2019; Whelan-Berry & Niemiec, 2021; Wingert et al., 2022). The sample size for the study was determined using G-Power software, adhering to Cohen’s (1998) conventions, with a medium effect size of .5, error probability of .05, and a power of .8. A priori statistical power analyses (Faul et al., 2007) indicated a sample size of 15 participants, ensuring adequate statistical power throughout the study. A total of 24 female survivors of MST from various military branches (i.e., Army, Navy, and Air Force), both enlisted members and officers, participated in the study. After cleaning the data, participants who had greater than 20% missing data on the scale items were removed from the study (Hair et al., 2018). For the remaining participants with missing data, mean substitution was used for the Likert scale items (Hair et al., 2018). Of the 24 participants, 41.7% (n = 10) identified as Black/African American, 45.8% (n = 11) identified as White/Caucasian, and 12.5% (n = 3) identified as Latina/Hispanic. Participants were between the ages of 22 and 63, with a mean age of 43.38%. Of the participants, 54.2% served in the Army, 33.3% in the Air Force, and 12.5% in the Navy. The majority (78.3%) had an enlisted military rank and 21.7% were officers. Of the participants, 91.67% received unwanted, threatening, or repeated sexual attention while in the military; 41.67% had prior mindfulness practice experience; 79.17% received prior treatment for PTSD/trauma in therapeutic counseling; 83.33% reported no diagnosis of bipolar, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, or dissociative identity disorder; and 66.67% reported never being a client for PTSD/trauma with Morris. Research Design This study employed a quantitative quasi-experimental design, collecting data pre- and postintervention, utilizing one-way repeated measures ANOVA, the Friedman test, and the Pearson product coefficient for analysis. The dependent variables include relationship satisfaction, mindfulness, and well-being, assessed at three time points. The independent variable was the MBSP intervention, conducted online because of COVID-19. The Relationship Assessments Scale (RAS), PERMA-Profiler, and Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) were used as assessments. Table 1 outlines the 8-week MBSP program. Data Collection Procedures Data collection for this study occurred online from May 2022 to August 2022, with the approval of the University of Texas at San Antonio Institutional Review Board. All participants were provided with an IRB-approved consent form before joining the study. The research involved a prescreening process, demographic data collection, trauma history interviews, and pretest and posttest assessments conducted at different stages (i.e., baseline, Week 4, and Week 8) of the MBSP program. Participant information was securely stored on Qualtrics. Instruments used in the study included the VA-MST screening questions (2 items), the RAS (Hendrick et al., 1998), the MAAS (Bishop et al., 2004), and the PERMA-Profiler (Butler & Kern, 2016). Those who completed the study received a $50 Amazon gift card as compensation. The MBSP sessions were conducted virtually via Zoom, with Morris, a licensed professional counselor, as the facilitator and a CIT as process observer.

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