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Objective: The present study investigated the effectiveness of a newly developed 3-week self-compassion group intervention for enhancing resilience and well-being among female college students., Method: Fifty-two students were randomly assigned to either an intervention designed to teach skills of self-compassion (n = 27) or an active control group intervention in which general time management skills were taught (n = 25). Both interventions comprised 3 group meetings held over 3 weeks. To measure resilience and well-being gains, participants filled out a number of questionnaires before and after the intervention., Results: Results showed that the self-compassion intervention led to significantly greater increases in self-compassion, mindfulness, optimism, and self-efficacy, as well as significantly greater decreases in rumination in comparison to the active control intervention. Whereas both interventions increased life satisfaction and connectedness, no differences were found for worry and mood., Conclusion: These findings suggest that a brief self-compassion intervention has potential for improving student resilience and well-being., (© 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is an experientially based group intervention empirically supported to reduce psychological symptomology. Although MBSR has shown to be an effective intervention, little is known about which facets of the intervention are important in producing positive outcomes. This study tested several aspects of mindfulness practice (total practice duration, practice frequency and practice quality) with the primary focus being on validating (i.e., predictive and convergent validity) a new measure of mindfulness practice quality (PQ-M). The PQ-M fit a two-factor solution via a Maximum Likelihood Exploratory Factor Analysis (n=99). Using longitudinal multilevel modeling on a smaller subsample (n=19), preliminary support was found for changes in practice quality over the course of the MBSR intervention. Further, change in practice quality was associated with improvements in psychological symptoms. While this study was exploratory, these findings suggest that practice quality is a relevant factor to promote positive outcomes and may guide mindfulness instructors in providing highly tailored interventions.

Objective: To test the effectiveness at 6 and 12 months' follow-up of group cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) compared with blood glucose awareness training (BGAT) in poorly controlled Type 1 diabetic patients and to explore the moderating effect of baseline depression., Research Design and Methods: Adults with Type 1 diabetes (n = 86) with glycated haemoglobin (HbA(1c)) >or= 8% were randomized to CBT or BGAT. Primary outcome was HbA(1c) control. Secondary outcomes were: self-care, diabetes-related distress (Problem Areas in Diabetes scale; PAID), diabetes self-efficacy (Confidence in Diabetes Self-care scale; CIDS) and depressive symptoms (Centre for Epidemiological Studies--Depression scale; CES-D). Measurements were scheduled before CBT and BGAT, and at 3, 6 and 12 months after. Differential effects were analysed for the subgroup of patients reporting low vs. high baseline levels of depression., Results: Neither CBT nor BGAT had a significant impact on HbA(1c) at 6 and 12 months' follow-up. Both interventions resulted in lower depressive symptoms (CES-D 15.7-13.3, P = 0.01) up to 12 months, but only CBT was effective in lowering HbA(1c) in patients with high baseline depression scores (HbA(1c) 9.5-8.8%) up to 1 year of follow-up (P = 0.03)., Conclusions: Our findings suggest that group CBT can effectively help Type 1 diabetic patients with co-morbid depression achieve and maintain better glycaemic outcomes.

Cancer patients who had been treated for early stage breast cancer and were diagnosed with either positive axillary lymph nodes or distant metastases were randomly assigned to either a 13-week experiential-existential group psychotherapy (EEGP) program or a waiting list control (WLC) condition. Endocrine and immune measures were obtained before and after the intervention period. The findings of this study are that, after the 13 weeks of the experiment, patients in the EEGP group showed lower levels of plasma cortisol and lower levels of prolactin as well as lower percentages of natural killer cells, CD8 cells, and CD4 cells in addition to a lower proliferative response to pokeweed mitogen than patients in the WLC group. Importantly, this was only found in those breast cancer patients presenting relatively high endocrine and immune baseline levels, suggesting that the patients' profile with regard to endocrine and immune function at the start of a program can have an important effect. If replicated on a larger scale, the current results may be relevant for the treatment of breast cancer.

Literature reports that cognitive understanding and social support can mitigate stress in both adults and adolescents. As a subcomponent of the Carolina Adolescent Health Project (CAHP), this research evaluated the efficacy of a Cognitive Social Support (CSS) group protocol designed to mitigate the disaster stress of adolescents who had been exposed seriously to Hurricane Hugo. A purposive sample of 259 students participated in and evaluated the CSS. This article reports the specific structure, content, process, rationale, and cost of the CSS. Evaluations indicated that 82% of the students evaluated the small-group component of the CSS as "very good" or "excellent," while 70% rated the large-group component as "very good" or "excellent."

Losing loved ones through death is a common experience for children. Children living in urban centers may be at greater risk for death of family members as a result of increased daily stress and poverty. Children who experience permanent loss of family members without support to grieve are at greater risk for mental health problems. Manifestations of grief that frequently occur in children are psychosomatic complaints and affective distress. This study investigates the prevalence of loss by death among two groups of inner city youths, and the impact of a bereavement group experience on subjects' affective distress and somatic complaints. A significant difference was found between pretest and post-test scores on somatic complaints for the elementary school aged group.

The stress and psychological difficulties of siblings of children with cancer is well documented. Siblings must cope with a myriad of emotions, isolation from the family, and many changes in daily life. Therefore, a need exists to determine the effects of psychosocial interventions on siblings of cancer patients. The support group is one psychosocial intervention that has been suggested as a method to relieve stress and enhance coping. A quasi-experimental design was selected to determine the effects of participation in a support group on the social adjustment of siblings of children with cancer. Conclusions suggest that a support group provides siblings with the opportunity to decrease their sense of isolation, ventilate negative feelings, and learn from each other. Additionally, descriptive data suggest a need for ongoing follow-up with siblings to help them manage the stresses emerging from the impact of the diagnosis and treatment on the family. Implications of this study suggest that nurses should organize support groups for siblings and/or refer them to existing groups. Also, this study suggests the need to work with siblings and educate parents regarding sibling concerns.

In 1984, working as health visitors in the East Dorset Health Authority, we began to run courses to assist people with stress related conditions. The courses were based on counselling and group activity methods to encourage a positive health approach to solving the patients' problems. The initial results were very encouraging, and after completing three groups, we assessed our results which were reported in the Journal in January 1986 in a paper entitled 'the group approach to living with stress'. Requests for places in the stress groups have continued to be high, and courses are now a regular feature of the services offered at the health centre. This paper discusses the development of our stress management programmes, after a further three years experience, summarising our current methods, together with an assessment of the benefits achieved for patients. The study to determine the degree of improvement achieved, and whether this is maintained in the long term has been carried out with advice from Gerald Bennett, a clinical psychologist who also works for East Dorset Health Authority. Dr Bennett analysed the results of the study, and we are grateful to him for his considerable assistance in helping to present an objective view of our work, and in particular for the clear way in which he has written up the analysis, which has been embodied in this paper.