www.ohca.com FALL/WINTER 2024 The Oregon Caregiver 11 DATA & RESEARCH We tend to go about our lives preoccupied with all the many things we need to do— meeting deadlines for work, running errands, making plans for the upcoming weekend. We also spend considerable time thinking about the past. While this might include reminiscing about fond memories, we often focus on the mundane, such as a purchase on a recent trip to the grocery store or last week’s staff meeting. As a result, we miss out on the present moment. These factors have all sorts of effects on our daily lives, many of which can negatively influence mental health and well-being. Enter the practice of mindfulness. While mindfulness has been practiced for thousands of years, a flurry of research in recent decades has propelled mindfulness into everyday life. So, what is mindfulness? According to the American Psychological Association (APA), mindfulness is an awareness of one’s internal states and surroundings (APA, 2024). In other words, mindfulness is being attuned to one’s thoughts, feelings, body, senses, and what is happening around us right now. Mindfulness helps remind us to focus on what is happening in the present moment rather than all the other stuff—past and future—vying for our attention. Mindfulness, however, is much more than being present in the moment; it also has real impacts on our mental health and well-being. According to multiple studies, mindfulness may be a good way to reduce anxiety or depression (Hoffmann and Gómez, 2017). Mindfulness may also be beneficial to our physical health. Multiple studies suggest that practicing mindfulness may specifically support cardiovascular health (Loucks et al., 2015), including controlling one’s blood pressure (Loucks et al., 2019; Nardi et al., 2020). Other studies appear to show that mindfulness may help to reduce chronic pain (Zeidan et al., 2015). Based on these few examples of the benefits of mindfulness, it’s no wonder that the practice is so popular. So, what about the use of mindfulness in long term care settings? There is a clear need to support resident mental health and well-being. Mindfulnessbased interventions (MBIs) are a way to meet this need. MBIs include mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), which was first developed as an intervention in 1979 and has been studied extensively since then (KabatZinn, 1982; Gu et al., 2015). A few recent studies have looked at using MBIs within long-term care settings and the impacts on residents, including on physical as well as mental well-being (Chen et al., 2020; Hsiung et al., 2023; Terry et al., 2021). Chen et al (2020) found that residents living with type 2 diabetes experienced improvements in their HbA1c (glycemic) levels following participation in a nine-week mindfulness-based Mindfulness to Support Resident Well-being in Long Term Care Settings By Walt Dawson, D. Phil program that include meditation, education, and exercise. Another study found that residents’ mental health improved including a substantial decrease in anxiety and fewer depressive symptoms after completing an eightweek, group-based MBI that included lectures on awareness and yoga (Hsiung et al., 2023). The use of MBIs can also benefit direct care staff who work in these care settings. There is ample evidence that Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MSBR) is a helpful approach for reducing anxiety, depression, and stress among health care professionals (Kriakous et al., 2021). One small study found that certified nursing assistants who participated in an online MBI reported reduced depressive symptoms following their participation (Young et al., 2022). More research is needed to clearly demonstrate how the positive impacts of mindfulness on residents and staff in long term care settings can be optimized. We also need to think about the barriers that may limit resident and staff participation in MBIs. For instance, Mindfulness is being attuned to one’s thoughts, feelings, body, senses, and what is happening around us right now. Mindfulness helps remind us to focus on what is happening in the present moment rather than all the other stuff—past and future—vying for our attention. CONTINUES »
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