Browsing by Subject "self-compassion"

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    Development and Preliminary Validation of a Self-compassion Measure
    (2020-12) Chinh, Kelly; Mosher, Catherine E.; Johns, Shelley A.; McGrew, John H.; Wu, Wei
    Research and clinical interest in self-compassion has grown due to its positive links with a variety of physical and psychological health outcomes. This burgeoning interest calls for measures of self-compassion that are theoretically supported and empirically validated. The purpose of this project was to (1) develop a new self-compassion measure, the Self-compassion Inventory (SCI), and (2) test its psychometric properties. To obtain feedback on potential SCI items, a cognitive interviewing study was completed with cancer patients (n = 10). Qualitative findings suggested that, in most cases, items were easily understood and participants’ reasoning for their responses aligned with the intention of each item. After altering certain items based on participant feedback, the scale was then tested with a group of adults with breast, gastrointestinal, lung, and prostate cancer (n = 404). Confirmatory factor analyses suggested a unidimensional structure and internal consistency reliability was excellent. Construct validity of the measure was established through correlations with other psychological variables hypothesized to be related to self-compassion. Evidence of the incremental validity of the SCI relative to the Self-Compassion Scale Short-Form (SCS-SF) also was obtained. For example, the SCI showed smaller correlations with negative psychological variables (e.g., depressive symptoms, anxiety) than the SCS-SF. In supplemental analyses, a 5-item version of the measure, the Brief Self-compassion Inventory (BSCI) was tested and found to have a unidimensional structure, excellent internal consistency, and evidence of validity. Furthermore, measurement invariance testing of the BSCI indicated that the measure could be used across populations of varying genders, cancer types, and stages of illness. Through robust testing, the SCI and BSCI were determined to be psychometrically sound and can be used in both clinical and research settings.
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    Psychological processes and symptom outcomes in cancer survivors following a mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention
    (2017-07) Chinh, Kelly; Mosher, Catherine E.; McGrew, John; Rand, Kevin L.
    Mindfulness-based interventions targeting psychological and physical symptoms in cancer survivors have been shown to be efficacious. However, little is known about theory-based psychological processes through which mindfulness-based interventions may decrease symptoms. The present study is a secondary analysis of data from a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) pilot trial targeting cancer-related fatigue (CRF) in cancer survivors. Thirty-five persistently fatigued cancer survivors were recruited from a university hospital and various community clinics in Indianapolis, Indiana. Participants were randomized to either a 7-week MBSR intervention for CRF or a waitlist control (WC) condition. Measures were administered at pre-intervention, post-intervention, and 1-month follow-up and included levels of mindfulness, acceptance, and self-compassion as well as the symptom outcomes of fatigue interference, sleep disturbance, and distress. I hypothesized that MBSR would lead to increased levels of five facets of mindfulness (i.e., observing, describing, acting with awareness, nonjudging of inner experience, nonreactivity to inner experience), self-compassion, and acceptance as compared to the WC condition. Using a linear mixed modeling approach, significant group by time interactions were only found for observing, acting with awareness, nonjudging, and self-compassion, such that the MBSR group showed steady increases in these processes over time, whereas the WC group’s scores remained relatively stable. In addition, I examined whether positive changes in the five facets of mindfulness were associated with reductions in the three symptoms using multiple linear regression. This hypothesis was partially supported; acting with awareness was the only facet of mindfulness to show a modest association with a decrease in fatigue, but this result fell short of statistical significance. In addition, decreased sleep disturbance was predicted by increases in acting with awareness and nonjudging, while decreased distress was predicted by increases in observing, acting with awareness, nonjudging, and nonreactivity. Results point to specific psychological processes that may be targeted to maximize the efficacy of future MBSR interventions for cancer survivors.