Mindfulness meditation is a self-regulatory practice premised on sustaining non-reactive awareness of arising sensory events that reliably reduces pain. Yet, the specific analgesic mechanisms supporting mindfulness have not been comprehensively disentangled from the potential non-specific factors supporting this technique.

This article overviews the systematic review and the meta-analysis. These tools provide a comprehensive picture of current research. What follows is an abridged explanation of each of these techniques. This approach is intended to provide a fundamental overview for social work practitioners, so that they may more readily access important research while minimizing the time spent doing so.

The primary aims of this Stage I pilot randomized controlled trial were to establish the feasibility of integrating exercise and nutrition counseling with Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE), a novel intervention that unites training in mindfulness, reappraisal, and savoring skills to target mechanisms underpinning appetitive dysregulation a pathogenic process that contributes to obesity among cancer survivors; to identify potential therapeutic mechanisms of the MORE intervention; and to obtain effect sizes to power a subsequent Stage II trial.

Evidence suggests that mindfulness influences posttraumatic reactions; however, it may also be that experiencing a potentially traumatic event impacts mindfulness. Trauma exposure is believed to disrupt an individual’s assumptive world and alter attentional, cognitive, and affective qualities that have also been linked to mindfulness. Thus, posttraumatic reconstruction of an assumptive world may influence mindfulness.

Poor adherence to AET for early-stage breast cancer is associated with increased recurrence and mortality. Interventions to improve adherence have been minimally effective. Mindfulness is paying attention on purpose in the present moment with an attitude of openness and acceptance. In this cross-sectional study, we examined clinicopathologic, and psychosocial factors, including dispositional mindfulness, associated with increased concerns about medication.