JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Public safety personnel (PSP) have a high risk for developing mental disorders and face unique barriers to traditional mental health treatments. The PSP Wellbeing Course is a transdiagnostic internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy (ICBT) course tailored to assist PSP to manage symptoms of depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder. The initial course outcomes are promising, but some clients have expressed some challenges with learning skills and recommended adding additional resources. Mindfulness interventions can help people learn to experience the world and their reactions to the world in open and non-judgmental ways, which may complement the existing PSP Wellbeing Course content.

Objective:

To examine the acceptability and feasibility of mindfulness meditations in ICBT tailored for PSP through evaluating symptom change, assessing the relationship between mindfulness use and symptom change, and soliciting feedback to help improve the meditations.

Methods:

A mixed-methods study was undertaken of 40 PSP who enrolled in the PSP Wellbeing Course and were offered five mindfulness meditations during the program (e.g., one per core lesson). Clients completed questionnaires of depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, anger, insomnia, and resilience at pre- and post-treatment, a treatment satisfaction questionnaire at post-treatment, and brief weekly measures of engagement with the mindfulness meditations. Twelve clients were interviewed about their perceptions of the mindfulness meditations.

Results:

Clients experienced statistically significant (p<.05) improvements in outcome measures, but mindfulness practice was not associated with outcomes. There were 27 (67.5%) clients who reported using the mindfulness meditations, practicing for an average of 4.8 minutes (SD = 8.1) each week. Most clients we interviewed described the mindfulness meditations as beneficial (e.g., helping to slow down and regulate their bodies and emotions). Clients also reported challenges with the meditations, such as discomfort sitting with their feelings. Clients provided suggestions for better integrating mindfulness into ICBT.

Conclusions:

The current study evidenced the partial feasibility of adding mindfulness meditations to ICBT tailored for PSP, with many PSP using the meditations and reporting benefits. Improvements could be made to better integrate mindfulness meditation into ICBT.