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Do Worldviews Matter for Implementation-Relevant Responses to Mindfulness-Based Interventions? An Empirical Investigation of Existential and Religious Perspectives

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Abstract

Objectives

Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) touch on concepts deemed spiritual or religious in the popular imagination, which may interact with participants’ own religious beliefs to influence implementation-relevant outcomes.

Methods

Four studies examined how interactions between different (a) religious framings of MBIs and participants’ religious and existential characteristics are related to participant responses to the MBIs. Two cross-sectional studies (N = 480 MTurk participants and N = 266 undergraduates) examined associations between individual differences in religious/existential characteristics (scriptural literalism and existential flexibility) and participants’ willingness to try mindfulness described as (a) secular, (b) spiritual, (c) Buddhist, (d) from one’s own religion, or (e) from an unspecified background. Next, two experiments (N = 677 MTurk participants and N = 157 undergraduates) randomized participants to brief MBIs framed as either “secular,” “spiritual,” or “Buddhist,” and examined acceptability of the MBI post-intervention.

Results

Both cross-sectional studies revealed interactions of participant characteristics and MBI labels on willingness to try the MBI. Existential flexibility was positively associated with willingness to try mindfulness overall, and willingness to try “secular” and “Buddhist” mindfulness. Scriptural literalism was positively associated with greater willingness to try mindfulness labeled as “spiritual” or “from your own religious tradition,” and negatively with “Buddhist” or “secular” mindfulness. In the experimental studies, condition moderated the association between existential flexibility and acceptability ratings of the MBI, with only a positive simple effect of existential flexibility on acceptability of the Buddhist condition observed in both studies.

Conclusions

MBI framing, as well as participants’ religious and existential perspectives, may influence MBI acceptability and implementation.

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Data Availability

Study data are available on Figshare repository: https://figshare.com/s/36f1a4485806fc061267. Individuals interested in these data are encouraged to contact the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Harrison Blum, Marcus McCullough, Cormac Levenson, Blake Ashley, Bonnie Colby, and Leslie Langbert for providing feedback on the scripts used in studies 2a and 2b, as well as members of the Arizona Meditation Research Interest Group for providing instrumental feedback on data presented in this manuscript. The authors would also like to thank Drs. Fran and Tim Orrok for their support of this research.

Funding

This research received funding support through a donation provided by Drs. Fran and Tim Orrok. Data collection was supported in part by a contribution from Drs. Fran and Tim Orrok. The preparation of this manuscript was additionally supported by the National Institutes of Health through grant 1F32HL154751 (Kaplan).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University, Providence, RI, 02912, USA

    Roman Palitsky & Deanna M. Kaplan

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA

    Susan A. Brener

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA

    Roman Palitsky, Deanna M. Kaplan & Jennifer S. Mascaro

  4. Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Deanna M. Kaplan, Matthias R. Mehl & Daniel Sullivan

  5. Woodruff Health Sciences Center, Spiritual Health, Emory University, Atlanta, USA

    Roman Palitsky & Deanna M. Kaplan

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Contributions

RP: co-designed the study, conducted the data analyses, and co-wrote paper drafts. DMK: co-designed the study and co-wrote paper drafts. SAB: conducted preliminary analyses, contributed to study development and execution, and provided feedback on paper drafts. JSM: provided expertise on MBIs in religiously affiliated populations and revised drafts. MRM: provided methodological, quantitative, and design guidance, and contributed to revisions of the manuscript. DS: provided methodological, quantitative, and design guidance, facilitated the execution of the study in his lab, and contributed to revisions of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Roman Palitsky.

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Palitsky, R., Kaplan, D.M., Brener, S.A. et al. Do Worldviews Matter for Implementation-Relevant Responses to Mindfulness-Based Interventions? An Empirical Investigation of Existential and Religious Perspectives. Mindfulness 13, 2952–2967 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-022-02010-6

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