Exploring the Effectiveness of Guided Mindfulness Protocol on Experiential Avoidance, Smartphone Addiction, Sleep Quality, and General Psychological Distress Level in University Students in Bangkok, Thailand: A Mixed-method Study

Description

Page: 384-394

Ittikorn Sriratanarungrueng and Rajitha Menon Arikkatt (Graduate School of Human Sciences, Assumption University of Thailand, Bangkok, Thailand)

Existing empirical studies either lack a control group or have small sample sizes that examine the interventions for maladaptive behavior such as smartphone addiction. This study evaluated the Western School of Therapy of Acceptance Commitment Therapy’s interventions (4 weeks guided mindfulness protocol) with the Eastern population of undergraduate students in Thailand. In this mixed-method study, a sequential design approach was adopted to examine the attitudes and effectiveness of the 4-week guided mindfulness protocol in a workshop for undergraduate students in Bangkok, Thailand (N = 58). The quantitative strand was designed with an experimental (N=29) and control group (N=29) with pre-test and post-test models in which the levels of experiential avoidance, smartphone addiction, general psychological distress, and sleep quality were assessed at 2-time points using the Multidimensional Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire (MEAQ), Smartphone Addiction Scale- Short Version (SAS-SV), Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale 21(DASS-21), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). After finishing the 4-week long on-site sessions, semi-structured interviews (N = 13) were conducted, and a thematic analysis (TA) was utilized to analyze qualitative data. Participants’ experiential avoidance significantly increased after four weeks of on-site training compared to the baseline (d = 0.55, 95% CI for = (0.01, 0.51)). There were no significant changes to the other variables. The qualitative results explained these significant and insignificant results into 2 core themes, the Enhancements and effects and the Attitude towards the practice.