| Mindfulness,which stems from Buddhism meditation,has been applied in western psychological and medical communities for over 30 years.Although there have been substantial supports for the intervention effect of mindfulness in general public,its application in prisoners is still in its infancy.As a special population in society,prisoners are more prone to mental health problems,to cope with such problems,more attention and resources should be called for.Nowadays in China,researches on mindfulness is just in its start-up step,not to mention the mindfulness-based group intervention for prisoners.In this study,based on the theories of mindfulness and approaches of mindfulness-based therapies,a mindfulness-based group intervention program was carried out to help prisoners improve their mental health problems.2 Quasi-experiments were carried out,in which 56 male prisoners in one prison administered by Beijing judicial system were assigned to experimental and control groups.In experimental group,participants took part in a 120-minutes group intervention per week for 6 weeks.After experiment 1,modifications were made in the program.Then the revised plan was implemented in experiment 2.Pre-and after the interventions,participants in both experimental and control groups were evaluated using the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire(FFMQ),Self-reporting Inventory(SCL-90),Self-Rating Anxiety Scale(SAS),Self-Rating Depression Scale(SDS).In addition to the questionnaires,2 prison guards and 6prisoners were interviewed before and after the group interventions,in order to collect information about the prisoners’ mental health condition,daily life situation and the effects of mindfulness-based group interventions.The data of scales showed that there was a positive significant change in the level of mindfulness(p=0.015)and overall mental health condition(p=0.025)in experiment 1,after6-weeks intervention,while control group has no conspicuous change.In the 3 months’ follow-up survey,the effects in the experimental group were maintained.The level of mindfulness(p=0.008)and mental health(p=0.019)in the second group were significantly improved,and the level of depression(p=0.004)and anxiety(p=0.002)decreased significantly.Analysis of the interviewing data also showed that the intervention improved prisoners’ positive emotion,sleep quality and overall well-being.Based on these results,it could be concluded that the mindfulness-based group intervention has significant positive effects for the prisoners’ mindfulness and overall mental health. |
