Curriculum-based yoga and acceptance and commitment training intervention for undergraduate students: A mixed-methods investigation
Section snippets
College student psychopathology
Behavioral health difficulties are a prevalent issue in college-aged individuals, with almost 50% having a psychiatric disorder (Blanco et al., 2008). Large national survey studies in Australia and the Netherlands estimated that 27% and 35%, respectively, of young people between 18 and 30 years reported having mental health difficulties (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1997; Vanheusden et al., 2009). In South Africa, in a large sample of university students (N = 1337), 24.46% reported suicidal
Interventions for college students
Treatment for psychopathology in the college setting has traditionally been through college counseling centers. Counseling centers are on campus and free of cost for students, making them in some ways an ideal choice. However, there are also limitations with regard to this setting. The Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors (Reetz, Krylowicz, Bershad, Lawrence, & Mistler, 2016) recently reported that across 571 counseling centers throughout the world, the first
Yoga-based interventions
One approach that has been supported for those with psychological difficulties is yoga. Hatha yoga has become more popular in Western practices, and typically consists of three elements: (1) asana (postures); (2) pranayama (breathing exercises); and (3) meditation (Riley, 2004). Yoga practice involves being present to one's mind and body through movements and accepting emotions and sensations as they are, in each unfolding moment. Further, the practice of yoga has been shown to contribute to
Yoga for college students within a curriculum-based workshop
Yoga and acceptance-based interventions have been applied effectively within a college setting (Barrasso-Catanzaro, 2015; Danitz et al., 2016; Eustis et al., 2017; Falsafi, 2016; Nemati, 2013; Pistorello, 2013). However, little research examines the effects of yoga in the context of curriculum-based workshops. Incorporating movement may enhance interventions for those who need additional ways to contact the present moment and increase willingness to more fully experience bodily sensations.
Participants
An a priori power analysis indicated that a total sample size of 85 participants was required for the present study, assuming a medium effect size (f2 = 0.25), a power level of 0.80, and an alpha level of 0.05. Students in several undergraduate psychology classes at a large public university in the northeastern United States were invited to participate in the research study during the fall semester of 2017 and spring semester of 2018. Data from a total sample of 276, ages 18–52, participants
Procedure
Institutional Review Board approval for the study was obtained before data collection commenced. Each intervention was co-led by two doctoral students, each with one to three years of doctoral-level training in ACT through their graduate program. The leaders of the ACT plus yoga workshops were certified yoga teachers (RYT-200 hour) in addition to having the training in ACT.
Intervention participants experienced a one-session intervention (approximately 1.5 hour) in their classroom during class
ACT-only intervention
The ACT-only intervention consisted of a curriculum-based workshop that involved exercises designed to increase psychological flexibility. The workshop began with an exercise that fosters exploring and clarifying values. Students were asked to practice engaging in values-consistent behavior in class and to notice the obstacles that get in the way. The workshop then focused on how often students (and people in general) may be on “automatic pilot” in daily life activities and how this takes us
Statistical analyses and assumption testing
Statistical analyses were run using IBM SPSS version 21 (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA). Histograms were created and descriptive analyses were conducted for demographic variables and outcome measures (AAQ-II, DASS-21) to assess whether assumptions were met. Data on several variables (i.e., AAQ-II, DASS-21) presented as positively skewed. Given that several data transformations (i.e., log, square root, and reciprocal) did not help, and the sample size was relatively large, the decision was made to
Discussion
The current study aimed to examine the effects of a curriculum-based intervention that utilized ACT and yoga to increase college students’ psychological flexibility and decrease psychological distress. There were significant differences in psychological flexibility over time (Hypothesis 1), however there were no significant differences in psychological distress over time (Hypothesis 2). Due to low levels of reported psychological distress across the groups, there was little variability to
Conclusion
The current study provides a foundation for future work in the area of yoga-based practices and curriculum-based workshops. It adds to a growing body of literature on the viability of incorporating interventions into college curricula. In the current study, there were no changes in reported distress, yet psychological inflexibility decreased from pre-treatment to follow-up in both intervention groups. Furthermore, both the ACT only and ACT plus yoga workshop participants reported high
Declaration of competing interest
The only conflict of interest is that Dr. Emily Sandoz was a reader for this dissertation and an editor of JCBS.
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