Kristy FordFollow

Date

5-2016

Department

Counseling Department

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Chair

Fernando Garzon

Keywords

Christian Meditation, Emotion Regulation, God Attachment, Mindfulness, Multicultural Sensitivity, Religiously Accommodative Treatments

Disciplines

Counseling | Counselor Education

Abstract

Multicultural sensitivity requires consideration of a client’s personal belief system in the administration of ethical and effective mental health treatments. Religiously accommodative treatments seek to increase therapeutic effectiveness, enhancing empirically supported treatments by adapting interventions as needed to respectfully incorporate the worldview of the client. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of a religiously accommodative treatment in a Christian sample. Volunteer participants (n=78) were randomly assigned to one of two treatment conditions. The Christian mindfulness training (CMT) group protocol was explicitly adapted to a Christian worldview, while the conventional mindfulness training (MT) group protocol lacked explicit adaptation to a Christian worldview. Participants completed three weeks of treatment that included psycho-educational group sessions and prescribed daily applications of the mindfulness techniques. The researcher then compared pre- and post-treatment differences between the two groups on measures related to perceived stress, religious coping, and God attachment. Results indicated significant differences within and between groups, with the CMT group reporting lower levels of perceived stress compared to the MT group. CMT group participants also reported significantly greater treatment compliance in comparison to MT group participants. Results did not indicate significant differences on measures of religious coping or God attachment. Recommendations for future research were provided.

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