Clinical Psychology Trainees’ Experiences of Mindfulness: an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis

The current study explored clinical psychology trainees’ experience of mindfulness and its impacts on their lives. Participants were recruited from a mindfulness group that was conducted once a week for 10 weeks, with each session lasting 1 h. The participants were interviewed, and the transcripts were analyzed using interpretive phenomenological analysis. The themes suggest that participants experienced increased comfort with mindfulness over time and that the mindfulness group could help trainees with their self-care, professional development in intrapersonal skills, and confidence in their mindfulness intervention skills. Clinical implications for the integration of mindfulness training into clinical psychology programs are discussed.