Introduction
Method
Participants
Procedure
Measures
Quantitative Data
Outcome | Measure |
---|---|
Impulsivity | Teen Conflict Survey (TCS; Bosworth and Espelage 1995) |
The Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS-11; Patton et al. 1995) | |
Mental wellbeing | General Health Questionnaire- 12 (GHQ-12; Goldberg 1988) |
Inner resilience | Sense of Coherence (SOC- 13; Antonovsky 1987) |
Mindfulness | Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS; Brown and Ryan 2003) |
Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM; Greco et al. 2011) | |
Emotion regulation | Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS; Gratz and Roemer 2004) |
Qualitative Data
Data Analyses
Quantitative Data
Qualitative Data
Results
Participant Characteristics
Age mean (SD) | 19.4 (0.9) |
---|---|
Ethnicity: | |
White (Scottish) | 42 (87.5%) |
White (British) | 3 (6.3 5%) |
White (other) | 1 (2.1%) |
Black (African) | 1 (2.1%) |
Black (Caribbean) | 1 (2.1%) |
Employment status (prior to incarceration): | |
Employed (full time) | 11 (22.9%) |
Employed (part time) | 2 (4.2%) |
Unemployed (seeking work) | 24 (50%) |
Unemployed (unfit to work) | 4 (8.3%) |
Other | 7 (14.6%) |
Education level reached: | |
Primary school | 20 (41.7%) |
Secondary school | 15 (31.3%) |
College | 13 (27%) |
Sentence length in months: mean (SD) | 52.6 (57.5) |
Time served prior to attending the mindfulness course: mean (SD) | 11.6 (10.7) |
Previously incarcerated: | |
Yes | 27 (56.3%) |
No | 21 (43.7%) |
Previous meditation/yoga experience: | |
Yes | 9 (18.8%) |
No | 39 (81.2%) |
Attended other training programmes at Polmont: | |
Yes | 20 (41.7%) |
No | 28 (58.3%) |
Recruitment and Retention
Quantitative Outcomes
Measure | Baseline | Post | Mean difference | p value | Effect size (Cohen’s ‘d’) | 95% CI | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
n = 32 | Mean (SD) | Mean (SD) | |||||
Teen Conflict Survey (TCS)
|
32
|
12.4 (3.26)
|
10.1 (3.08)
|
2.34
|
0.001
|
0.72
|
[0.32, 1.11]
|
Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS-11)
|
28
|
76.7 (9.78)
|
71.9 (8.74)
|
4.79
|
0.001
|
0.50
|
[0.21, 0.76]
|
Attentional (2nd Order)
|
31
|
19.7 (4.46)
|
17.7 (3.96)
|
1.97
|
0.005
|
0.44
|
[0.15, 0.73]
|
Attention
|
31
|
12.3 (3.08)
|
11.3 (2.77)
|
1.03
|
0.01
|
0.33
|
[0.08, 0.59]
|
Cognitive instability
|
32
|
7.47 (2.03)
|
6.5 (1.85)
|
0.94
|
0.01
|
0.46
|
[0.08, 0.84]
|
Motor (2nd Order)
|
30
|
26.7 (4.60)
|
24.8 (4.17)
|
1.83
|
0.04
|
0.39
|
[0.02, 0.78]
|
Motor impulsiveness | 30 | 17.7 (3.36) | 16.6 (3.13) | 1.10 | 0.08 | 0.33 | [− 0.05, 0.70] |
Perseverance | 31 | 9.0 (2.21) | 8.3 (1.83) | 0.71 | 0.11 | 0.32 | [− 0.08, 0.72] |
Non-planning (2nd Order)
|
29
|
30.0 (5.25)
|
28.2 (4.12)
|
1.87
|
0.01
|
0.36
|
[0.08, 0.63]
|
Self-control
|
30
|
17.0 (3.14)
|
15.8 (2.51)
|
1.17
|
0.01
|
0.37
|
[0.08, 0.66]
|
Cognitive complexity
|
31
|
13.3 (2.46)
|
12.4 (2.37)
|
0.90
|
0.04
|
0.37
|
[0.01, 0.72]
|
Sense of Coherence (SOC-13) | 31 | 49.2 (13.03) | 52.9 (11.46) | 3.68 | 0.12 | 0.28 | [− 0.08, 0.65] |
Meaningfulness
|
32
|
14.9 (4.64)
|
16.5 (3.71)
|
1.63
|
0.03
|
0.35
|
[− 0.02, 0.68]
|
Comprehensibility | 31 | 17.6 (5.82) | 19.6 (5.30) | 2.03 | 0.06 | 0.35 | [− 0.03, 0.73] |
Manageability | 32 | 16.7 (4.46) | 16.7 (4.52) | 0.03 | 0.97 | 0.007 | [− 0.44, 0.45] |
General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12)
|
29
|
3.2 (3.10)
|
1.7 (2.54)
|
1.52
|
0.003
|
0.50
|
[0.18, 0.80]
|
Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM)
|
32
|
21.5 (7.93)
|
24 (9.42)
|
2.5
|
0.03
|
0.32
|
[0.03, 0.60]
|
Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) | 32 | 3.66 (0.95) | 3.92 (1.05) | 0.26 | 0.13 | 0.27 | [− 0.08, 0.62] |
Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) | 21 | 92.2 (25.17) | 84.1 (26.5) | 8.14 | 0.09 | 0.32 | [− 0.06, 0.71] |
Non acceptance of emotional responses | 22 | 12.6 (5.65) | 10.8 (5.42) | 1.82 | 0.08 | 0.32 | [− 0.05, 0.69] |
Difficulties in goal directed behavior | 22 | 14.0 (5.0) | 13.0 (4.76) | 1.00 | 0.26 | 0.20 | [− 0.16, 0.56] |
Impulse control difficulties | 21 | 15.2 (7.10) | 14.8 (6.10) | 0.43 | 0. 73 | 0.06 | [− 0.30, 0.42] |
Lack of emotional awareness | 21 | 19.7 (5.47) | 17.8 (5.45) | 1.90 | 0. 12 | 0.34 | [− 0.10, 0.79] |
Limited access to emotional regulation strategies | 21 | 18.7 (8.04) | 16.62 (7.66) | 2.04 | 0. 21 | 0.25 | [− 0.15, 0.66] |
Lack of emotional clarity | 22 | 12.1 (3.7) | 11.3 (4.75) | 0.82 | 0.39 | 0.22 | [− 0.30, 0.74] |
Qualitative Outcomes
The young men found the breathing techniques and body scan the most useful. The sitting breathing practice was identified by the majority (14/20) as most helpful for dealing with challenging experiences and uncomfortable emotional states:… pretend you’re breathing in through your legs and all that stuff and you start to feel pure calm and all that and you actually imagine as if you’re doing that … it just shows what the brain can do for you … [PM06, Course 1]
Another young man spoke about being able to detach from anger-fuelled urges to strike out, instead tuning-in to his breathing:It was after I heard bad news [his friend had died from illicit drug use] I was just looking for an excuse to go off my nut, and then I could actually feel it like right there, what I’m feeling, and I was like that right just calm down now because I’m going to end up getting in a downer, and then I just like in two minutes just a wee breather and that cleared my head [PM17, Course 3]
The body scan was mainly identified as relaxing, “… it was weird because it felt as if you had a quick sleep and that … you felt like rested.” [PM27, Course 4]. However, the young men were also challenged by this practice, expressing difficulty with maintaining attention and stillness, “… they [body scans] were a lot harder … to keep concentration, not fidgeting and pure obviously stay still … and you want to move and that …” [PM35, Course 5]; others found the length of the practice difficult. Confinement in prison was, unsurprisingly, a source of distress. The young men commented on how the mindfulness practices (breathing techniques and body scan) helped buffer against this, “… especially in this kind of situation when we’re behind four walls and like frustration and just keep calm basically in a situation like that” [PM30, Course 4].I was able to channel it [anger] into breathing, instead of ending up getting into bother through like hitting somebody or trashing myself. I just sat on the edge of my bed with my hands on my lap and I just kind of like kept my back straight, deep breaths in and deep breaths out … [PM27, Course 4]
… it [mindfulness] might help me out there if I stick to it, if I don’t stick to it man it might not help but I'm going to try and stick to it when I'm out there so I don’t come back to prison. [PM29, Course 4]