The Effects of Mindfulness Training on Perceived Stress, Emotion Regulation, Self-Compassion, and Trait Mindfulness in Older Adult Canadian Immigrants

The current study investigated the effects of virtual Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) on older adult Canadian immigrant well-being compared to a waitlist control group. MBSR was implemented weekly for nine weeks, and participants completed measures before and after MBSR. It was hypothesized that participants who completed MBSR would show significant improvements in perceived stress, emotion regulation, self-compassion, and trait mindfulness. It was also hypothesized that these improvements would be greater than improvements for waitlist controls. MBSR participants showed improvements on outcomes of interest. Waitlist control participants also showed improvements on perceived stress and self-compassion, indicating that virtual MBSR may not be more effective than the passage of time. Though there were time by condition interactions for three mindfulness sub-facets, there were no interactions for other outcome variables. Findings demonstrate that virtual MBSR may not be beneficial for older Canadian immigrant well-being, but study limitations prevent proper conclusions from being drawn.