An Interpersonal Approach to Mindfulness Practice

Abstract

Many individuals who wish to practice mindfulness do not necessarily follow through on this intention. This issue is further exacerbated by the fact that there is limited research on the factors affecting engagement in mindfulness practice. More specifically, the effectiveness of having a practice companion on increasing the amount of mindfulness practice has yet to be investigated, despite companion-based interventions being relatively successful in increasing behaviour in other health and wellness domains. It is hypothesized that having a mindfulness buddy leads to a greater amount of time spent practicing. 100 participants were randomly assigned to either a control group (practice alone) or an experimental group (practice together) in a between-subjects experimental study, in which participants undertook a 5 week Mindfulness-Based Intervention (MBI) either alone or with a mindfulness buddy. There was no difference in the average total number of minutes spent meditating between participants in the practice alone and practice together group. The strength of the behavioural intention to practice did however, moderate the relationship between the group type and the time spent meditating. The implications of these findings for improving participation in MBIs are explored, as well as the limitations of this study, and suggestions for future research are proposed. Keywords: Mindfulness, Mindfulness-Based Intervention, Practice, Companion, Buddy