Bengough, Alison (2011) Improving the Mindfulness and Coping Skills Amongst Carers: An Evaluation of "You're Worth It!". Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
Carers are faced with severe impacts of taking on the caring role and experience substantially increased levels of stress, burden, depression, anxiety, and a diminished Quality of Life (QOL). In attempts to overcome the psychological impacts they naturally utilise a variety of coping strategies. Favoured approaches endeavour to avoid or supress painful, internal private experiences, such as thoughts, emotions and physiological sensations. Research on thought suppression indicates that this approach results in an exacerbation and substantial increase in the very experiences one attempts to suppress. Whilst there has been some success with existing interventions that address selected issues, the majority seek to improve the management of care for the recipient as a dual purpose, rather than to prioritise carers’ psychological health. Additionally, no research on available interventions has been conducted in Australia; rather, only international research was found. This project seeks to partially fill these gaps by evaluating a unique Australian counselling intervention that recognises the futility of attempting to suppress painful private experiences. The “You’re Worth It!” program was developed and facilitated at Carers Queensland as part of normal best practice. It utilises Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) processes to assist carers to decrease levels of distress and negative affect, to increase levels of positive affect and mindful acceptance, and to improve problem-solving appraisal. Participants were 23 carers (21 females and 2 males) aged between 30 and 68 years (M = 49.39, SD = 10.07). Participants completed self-reporting questionnaires measuring distress (K6), positive (PA) and negative (NA) affect (PANAS), problem-solving appraisal (PSI-12) and mindful acceptance (AAQ-R), at three time periods: the first day of the program (Time 1), the last day (Time 2) and one to two months following program completion (Time 3). Repeated measures ANOVA analyses were conducted on all measures. Results indicate an overall significant reduction in distress, F (2,44) = 7.47, p = .002, partial η2 = .25, and NA, F (2,44) MINDFULNESS AND COPING SKILLS AMONGST CARERS iv = 10.81, p < .001, partial η2 = .33. For both, the main effect was seen between Times 1 and 2 (p = .02) and Times 1 and 3 (p = .001). Results also indicated a significant increase in PA, F (2,44) = 9.48, p < .001, partial η2 = .30, with the main effects seen between Times 1 and 2 (p = .001) and Times 1 and 3 (p = .012). The overwhelm (OPS) subscale on the PSI-12 revealed a significant reduction in scores, F (2,44) = 9.42, p < .001, partial η2 = .30, with a main effect between Times 1 and 2 (p = .01), and Times 1 and 3 (p = .01). Finally, although no significant increase was found for overall mindful acceptance, F(2,44) = 3.16, p = .052, partial η2 = .13, there was a main effect between Times 1 and 3 (p = .04). These results indicate a possible program effect; however the lack of a control group necessitates the need to interpret the results with caution. Explanations for results are offered and suggestions made for future research. These preliminary findings go some way toward filling the large gap on carer interventions in the Australian literature. Despite the limitations inherent in a small study of this nature, the current results indicate that the “You’re Worth It!” program has potential to assist carers to improve their psychological health.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
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| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Sciences - Department of Psychology (Up to 30 Jun 2013) |
| Supervisors: | Gavin Beccaria |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 19 Aug 2025 01:39 |
| Last Modified: | 19 Aug 2025 01:39 |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52156 |
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