Objectives: This research assesses the effects of the 8-session mindfulness-based strategic awareness training (MBSAT; Young, 2016; 2023). MBSAT follows the 8-session structure of established mindfulness courses such as MBSR and MBCT. However, it is a personal and professional development training for non-clinical contexts geared toward healthy individuals with the aim of improving their broadly defined well-being.
Methods: We conducted an experimental intervention study with a waitlist control group with working adults in Switzerland. The large majority of the 47 participants were randomly assigned to participate either in the MBSAT (n = 26) or a waitlist (n = 21) for subsequent participation in the MBSAT after completion of the data collection.
Results: Compared to the control condition, the MBSAT training group participants scored lower on measures of negative well-being, such as stress, alexithymia, and worry, and higher on measures of positive well-being, such as sleep quality, non-attachment, psychological need satisfaction, flourishing, and work engagement after the intervention. Mediation analyses found that these various well-being outcomes were mediated by greater interoception in the training condition.
Conclusions: The study provides quantitative evidence to validate MBSAT as an effective intervention for increasing well-being in a non-clinical setting with active working adult participants.
