Introduction to Mindfulness - Dean Amory

worker or a counsellor. Six participants had previous experience of
meditation, three of whom practiced on a regular basis. None of the
participants had any previous experience of mindfulness training.
Two participants had a primary school education or less, six had a
secondary school education, and six had completed tertiary education.
One participant was in full-time employment, two were unemployed,
one was in vocational training, and five were students.
Independent sample t-tests revealed no significant differences
between baseline assessments of participants who completed the
program (n=7) and those who did not (n=8). One-tailed paired
samples t-tests compared means of participants’ pre- and post course
assessments.
Improvements were found in participants’ self reported level of
psychological functioning, quality of life and mindful qualities.
However, not all of these improvements reached statistical
significance. This may have been due to a lack of statistical power in
the data set due to the small sample size (n=7).
Participants showed significant improvements in their quality of life
relating to their social relations and their satisfaction with their
environment. The most substantial improvement they reported was
in their social relations. There was a trend toward improved physical
and psychological functioning however it did not reach statistical
significance.
Neither of the mindfulness scales used detected a significant
improvement in participants’ mindful qualities, however, there was a
trend toward an improvement. Participants did report significant
improvement in three of the fours subscales of the KIMS. The
greatest improvement was in their ability to act with awareness; they
also reported improvement in their ability to observe their thoughts
and feelings and to act without judgement.
They reported a slight improvement in their ability to describe their
thoughts and feelings; however this improvement was not significant.
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