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Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), a community-based or worksite program, is a group intervention for individuals experiencing stress related to a range of life experiences, medical conditions, or psychological symptoms.Participants learn and practice specific techniques that help them manage and reduce stress and improve their ability to cope with challenging circumstances. EVIDENCEThis program has been tested with a range of populations including non-clinical samples, such as college students, community residents, and health care employees and clinical samples, such as individuals with cancer, chronic pain, anxiety disorders, fibromyalgia, and HIV. Positive effects, such as reduction in physical or psychological symptoms and/or improvement in life satisfaction, have been found in all of these populations. A small randomized trial with veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) found that a significantly greater percentage of MBSR participants experienced clinically meaningful improvement in both PTSD symptoms and mental health-related quality of life at the 4-month follow-up compared to a group receiving treatment as usual. COMPONENTSThe MBSR program is based on the central concept of mindfulness, which involves focusing one's attention on the immediate experience in the present moment rather than the past or future with an attitude of openness, acceptance, and compassion. The program consists of three main components.Explanation of mindfulness, relaxation, meditation, yoga, and the mind-body connection;Instruction in and practice of meditation, gentle stretching, and yoga during the meetings and also as a daily, homebased practice; participants receive materials for home practice including CDs and a workbook; and Group discussion focused on problem-solving for barriers to effective practice of the above techniques; practical, daily applications of mindfulness; and supportive interaction between participants. PREVIOUS USEMore than 19,000 individuals have completed the MBSR intervention since it was initiated in 1979. As of November 2011, there were more than 700 MBSR programs in the U.S. and other nations, and program materials have been translated into many languages. MBSR has been used by members of all branches of the U.S. military.

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Widowhood researchers have been increasingly interested in the construct of resilience and identifying factors which contribute to adaptive responses to conjugal loss. Available measures of general resilience were validated on nonwidowed samples and broadly lack face validity for use with widowed people. This article reports the development and validation of a resilience scale specific to widowhood, the Widowhood Resilience Scale. Initially, qualitative responses from 744 widowed people were analyzed and cross-referenced with existing literature on resilience to develop 49 items. The 49 items were tested on a sample of 1,188 widowed people, resulting in a 6-factor, 25-item scale.

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