Mindfulness for psychosis groups; description and preliminary evaluation of a novel routine care pathway in Hong Kong

Abstract

Background There is no current guidance on where Mindfulness for Psychosis groups should best be situated within care pathways. The objectives of this paper are to (1) describe a novel care pathway tested out in a psychiatric outpatient service in Hong Kong, and (2) to present feasibility outcomes on attendance and drop-out, and routine clinical outcomes. Methods A new mindfulness pathway was set up, for service users with psychosis who had first completed a course of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for psychosis (CBTp). After attending an orientation ‘taster’ session, service users could then attended a 4-session weekly Mindfulness for Psychosis group, followed by optional monthly follow-up sessions. Results A high proportion of service users referred into the pathway (19/22; 86%) went on to attend a Mindfulness for Psychosis group after attending an orientation ‘taster’ session. Attendance at group sessions was high, with all participants attending at least 2/4 group sessions, and no drop-outs. Attendance at monthly follow-up groups was also high, with 84% (16/19) attending at least one monthly follow-up. Routine clinical outcome data showed a reduction in negative symptoms of psychosis, and an increase in mindfulness and mindful responding in daily life, from pre- to post group. Conclusions Offering service users with psychosis the opportunity to attend a mindfulness for psychosis group after completing a course of CBTp was highly acceptable, as evidenced by high attendance, and low drop-out. Possible benefits in terms of improving negative symptoms may be particularly important in promoting recovery through improved everyday functioning.

Home practice in mindfulness-based interventions for psychosis groups: a systematic review and qualitative study

“…We then moved on to reviewing the data extracted from the remaining mixed-methods studies, to build on our initial synthesis of findings. We found that the majority of mixed-methods studies yielded limited qualitative data from feedback forms or brief interviews, and did not report any findings specifically about home practice [ 20 , 21 , 23 – 26 , 36 – 38 ]. The one exception to this was the study by Tong et al [ 27 ], who conducted a full grounded theory analysis of the experience of 11 group participants.…”

“…RCT 50 39. Ting et al [ 36 ] Pre-post study Hong Kong Outpatients Mindfulness for Psychosis, n = 22 None 1 × 75 min session/week for 4 weeks Feasibility and acceptability 4. Quantitative Descriptive 100 40.…”

Facilitating Personal Recovery Through Mindfulness-Based Intervention Among People With Mental Illness

“…Studies revealed that females were more likely than males to engage in mindfulness or meditation interventions (Bodenlos et al, 2017; Upchurch & Johnson, 2019). Further, participants in MBIs studies conducted in the Hong Kong community mental health settings were predominately female (Lam et al, 2020; Ting et al, 2020). Further research can explore such gender disparity among MBIs.…”

New Adaptations in the Application of Mindfulness to Psychosis Spectrum Disorders

“…Asimismo, varios estudios han reportado resultados prometedores sobre el deterioro cognitivo y la sintomatología negativa residual en personas con esquizofrenia (Ting et al, 2020;Shen et al, 2023), promoviendo la recuperación a través de un mejor funcionamiento diario (Ting et al, 2020) y la calidad de vida (López-Navarro et al, 2015). Además, la integración de la atención plena a un programa de rehabilitación cognitiva en psicosis ha demostrado efectos positivos sobre el control inhibitorio (López-Navarro et al, 2020), estrechamente relacionado con la calidad de vida y el funcionamiento social en psicosis (Ojeda et al, 2019;Peña et al, 2018).…”