Changes in stress-related outcomes among graduate students following the Mindfulness Ambassador Program: A pilot study.
<h4>Objectives</h4>Graduate students face numerous demands, high stress levels, and associated challenges to intra- and inter-personal relationships. Mindfulness may help to ease such challenging experiences. The Mindfulness Ambassador Program (MAP) is a promising group-based program tha...
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| Format: | Article |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2025-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0313499 |
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| author | Varsha Vasudevan Benjamin Tran Shauna M Burke Patricia Tucker Jennifer D Irwin |
| author_facet | Varsha Vasudevan Benjamin Tran Shauna M Burke Patricia Tucker Jennifer D Irwin |
| author_sort | Varsha Vasudevan |
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| description | <h4>Objectives</h4>Graduate students face numerous demands, high stress levels, and associated challenges to intra- and inter-personal relationships. Mindfulness may help to ease such challenging experiences. The Mindfulness Ambassador Program (MAP) is a promising group-based program that has not yet been studied among graduate students. The primary objectives of this study were to: (1) explore graduate students' perceptions of stress, and their relationships with themselves and meaningful others; (2) explore graduate students' perspectives of and satisfaction with the MAP; and (3) investigate if participation in the MAP elicited changes in graduate students' perceived levels of stress, self-awareness, interpersonal skills, and/or social connectedness.<h4>Methods</h4>In this one-group, pre/post mixed-methods pilot study, nine participants completed pre-post questionnaires and participated in a semi-structured interview post-intervention. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, thematic analysis, and paired t-tests.<h4>Results</h4>Pre-intervention, qualitative themes included participants experiencing moderate-to-high stress levels, intrapersonal conflict, interpersonal relationship challenges, and seeing oneself as a work in progress. Post-intervention themes included better stress management, increased consideration for oneself and others, feelings of connection with others, and overall satisfaction with the MAP. Statistically significant improvements were found from pre- to post-intervention in mean score differences for perceived stress (p = .043), private self-awareness (p = .006), awareness of immediate surroundings (p = .044), and social connectedness (p = .006).<h4>Conclusions</h4>Participants reported several benefits from their positive experience participating in the MAP. These findings may be used to inform future mindfulness-based programming for graduate students. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-70a213ce8b6c4f33acfdbb6f7bb85d55 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj-art-70a213ce8b6c4f33acfdbb6f7bb85d552025-02-05T05:31:16ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032025-01-01201e031349910.1371/journal.pone.0313499Changes in stress-related outcomes among graduate students following the Mindfulness Ambassador Program: A pilot study.Varsha VasudevanBenjamin TranShauna M BurkePatricia TuckerJennifer D Irwin<h4>Objectives</h4>Graduate students face numerous demands, high stress levels, and associated challenges to intra- and inter-personal relationships. Mindfulness may help to ease such challenging experiences. The Mindfulness Ambassador Program (MAP) is a promising group-based program that has not yet been studied among graduate students. The primary objectives of this study were to: (1) explore graduate students' perceptions of stress, and their relationships with themselves and meaningful others; (2) explore graduate students' perspectives of and satisfaction with the MAP; and (3) investigate if participation in the MAP elicited changes in graduate students' perceived levels of stress, self-awareness, interpersonal skills, and/or social connectedness.<h4>Methods</h4>In this one-group, pre/post mixed-methods pilot study, nine participants completed pre-post questionnaires and participated in a semi-structured interview post-intervention. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, thematic analysis, and paired t-tests.<h4>Results</h4>Pre-intervention, qualitative themes included participants experiencing moderate-to-high stress levels, intrapersonal conflict, interpersonal relationship challenges, and seeing oneself as a work in progress. Post-intervention themes included better stress management, increased consideration for oneself and others, feelings of connection with others, and overall satisfaction with the MAP. Statistically significant improvements were found from pre- to post-intervention in mean score differences for perceived stress (p = .043), private self-awareness (p = .006), awareness of immediate surroundings (p = .044), and social connectedness (p = .006).<h4>Conclusions</h4>Participants reported several benefits from their positive experience participating in the MAP. These findings may be used to inform future mindfulness-based programming for graduate students.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0313499 |
| spellingShingle | Varsha Vasudevan Benjamin Tran Shauna M Burke Patricia Tucker Jennifer D Irwin Changes in stress-related outcomes among graduate students following the Mindfulness Ambassador Program: A pilot study. PLoS ONE |
| title | Changes in stress-related outcomes among graduate students following the Mindfulness Ambassador Program: A pilot study. |
| title_full | Changes in stress-related outcomes among graduate students following the Mindfulness Ambassador Program: A pilot study. |
| title_fullStr | Changes in stress-related outcomes among graduate students following the Mindfulness Ambassador Program: A pilot study. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Changes in stress-related outcomes among graduate students following the Mindfulness Ambassador Program: A pilot study. |
| title_short | Changes in stress-related outcomes among graduate students following the Mindfulness Ambassador Program: A pilot study. |
| title_sort | changes in stress related outcomes among graduate students following the mindfulness ambassador program a pilot study |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0313499 |
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