Query: social work mindfulness

title: Irish social work mindfulness, maintenance of emotional separation and professional quality of life
abstract: A study of 103 social workers (male =12, female=90, missing response=1) currently working in Ireland and aged over 18 years of age was conducted to explore the relationships of mindfulness and maintenance of emotional separation with the three subscales of the Professional Quality of Life Scale (Stamm, 2010) compassion satisfaction, secondary traumatic stress and burnout. The study was a mixed design study with correlational and cross sectional aspects. The study found social workers with higher levels of mindfulness exhibited higher compassion satisfaction and lower burnout. It also found those higher in maintenance of emotional separation were also higher in compassion satisfaction, lower in secondary traumatic stress and lower in burnout. Within demographic groups statutory social workers showed higher levels of compassion satisfaction but there were no significant differences based on area or work or gender. Social workers with high and low levels of mindfulness and emotional separation showed significant differences in levels of professional quality of life overall. Those showing higher levels of mindfulness also showed higher emotional separation.

title: Exploring a social work lead mindfulness based intervention to address burnout among inpatient psychiatric nurses: a pilot study
abstract: Acute psychiatric nurses experience workplace stressors related to organizational factors including staffing shortages, along with interpersonal conflict with patients and colleagues. The pilot study examined the experience of burnout among acute care psychiatric nurses and the usefulness of a social work lead mindfulness based intervention for reducing burnout elements. Findings indicated participants experienced emotional exhaustion associated with their work, but also a significant degree of personal accomplishment. Nurses identified the intervention as having the potential to promote better emotional regulation in the workplace and beyond. Social worker education on mindfulness techniques may represent an untapped resource for improving the emotional wellness and effective patient care.

title: Connecting to Inner Guidance: Mindfulness Meditation and Transformation of Professional Self Concept in Social Work Students
abstract: This paper describes a unique technique of training social work students: self observation via guided meditation. A workshop was conducted with two groups of students: one participated in a single session mindfulness meditation; the other participated in this as well as three additional sessions. The workshop trained students in creative focusing while facilitating connection to inner guidance (inner voice) Tuning in to inner guidance is presented as a developmental process and an important source of knowledge about the "self." Students' experiences included various bodily sensations, interactions with a guiding figure, verbal messages or advice, and significant insights. Messages and insights were content analyzed; examples presented illustrate transitions in students' personal and professional self concept.

title: Religiosity, Spirituality, Mindfulness, and Mental Health in Social Work Students
abstract: Social work education is a disequilibrating experience that is stressful. The literature identifies religiosity, spirituality, and mindfulness as potential resources for coping in the general population. The current study examines their relationship with depressive and anxiety symptoms in social work students. A total of 65 MSW students participated in a paper pencil survey. Only half claimed a membership in an organized religion. On average, students endorsed spirituality and mindfulness more strongly than religiosity. While religiosity and spirituality were highly correlated, mindfulness was not. Using multivariate analysis, it was discovered that mindfulness significantly reduced anxiety and depressive symptoms while religious strain increased anxiety symptoms. Implications of study findings for social work education are discussed.

title: Teaching Note Using Simulation to Teach Advanced Competencies in Mindfulness to Social Work Students
abstract: This teaching note describes one example of a shift from content to competence in a graduate MSW course teaching advanced mindfulness complex practice behaviors and skills for use in direct practice. The development of advanced mindfulness competencies and skills provides a conceptual base o shift teaching from lengthy lectures to experiential learning. Simulation based learning and aspects of the objective standard clinical examination adapted for social work are used as a base for a summative evaluation in which students demonstrate their skill level through interviews with simulated clients. The final assignment, a transcription and analysis of segments of the interview demonstrating the advanced complex practice behaviors, is discussed in individual student instructor interviews. Opportunities, challenges, and implications for social work education are presented.

title: Mindfulness, meditation, and breathing exercises: reduced anxiety for clients and self care for social work interns
abstract: The purpose of this article is to identify and describe a teaching tool that supports social work student success in the classroom and in field placement. The project introduced mindfulness, meditation, and breathing techniques to 2nd year master of social work (MSW) students in a group classroom setting and engaged students as they applied those techniques in their internship settings with clients. Students were introduced to mindfulness, meditation, and breathing techniques through lecture, experimental exercises, video clips, and case studies and used the group setting to learn to use those tools to add trauma informed mindfulness interventions to the clinical techniques they concurrently practiced in field placement. Students learned methods to incorporate those interventions into their psychotherapy/counseling sessions with clients and discovered that mindfulness specific interventions also helped regulate their own autonomic nervous systems, contributing to decreased anxiety. Thus, mindfulness skills taught in social work programs have significant multidimensional benefits; engaging a group classroom setting to learn to utilize mindfulness, meditation and breathing techniques can reduce stress and anxiety for clients and promote adaptive self care skills for MSW students.

title: Application of Mindfulness Based Approaches in the Context of Social Work

title: Mindfulness and social work

title: 'Experiencing life for the first time' the effects of a traumatic death course on social work student mindfulness and empathy
abstract: Mindfulness and empathy are protective factors for social workers and may also improve client outcomes. They may be especially important when dealing with clients experiencing grief and death related challenges. This study replicated a previous study assessing empathy and mindfulness in social work students before and after an experiential death education course with a focus on traumatic grief. The Empathy Assessment Index and the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire were used to measure changes in empathy and mindfulness in 111 primarily MSW level social work students after the completion of the course. Results showed statistically significant improvements in overall empathy, on three of five empathy subscales, and on four of five mindfulness facets. A qualitative analysis of responses to an open ended question asking about ways in which the course was meaningful to students found themes of increased awareness, a deepened sense of connection, and preparation for clinical practice.

title: Brief mindfulness training in the social work practice classroom
abstract: Social Work educators are increasingly concerned with discerning how to help students develop the affective, relational, and meta cognitive skills needed for effective, resilient, and sustainable social work practice. A small but growing literature supports mindfulness training as a path to those ends. However, most mindfulness intervention studies, even those mentioning 'brief intervention, have typically used fairly lengthy training programs, often 2 3 h per week for 6 8 weeks. It is unlikely that already over committed social work practice classes would devote this amount of class time to these strategies. This concurrent mixed methods study examined whether very brief mindfulness training in undergraduate social work practice classes (100 min over the course of a 3.0 semester credit hour course) would influence outcomes on measures of mindfulness, emotional regulation, and empathy, as well as student perceptions of helpfulness in managing stress and meeting course goals. No significant differences were found on quantitative measures at post test. However, results of the qualitative analysis suggest that even brief mindfulness exercises in social work practice classes are perceived by students as helpful for managing anxiety, staying present focused with clients, reducing premature judgment, and feeling safe and connected in the classroom. Implications for social work education are discussed.