Lester, Bronwyn (2011) The Relationship Between Mindfulness Skills and Automatic Negative Thoughts in Predicting Carer Burden. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
It is well referenced that carers self-report burden associated with the caring role. This exploratory study examined the relationship between mindfulness skills (acting with awareness and accepting without judgement) and automatic negative thought frequency in predicting burden. Specifically this study sought to determine (a) the relationships between acting with awareness, accepting without judgement, automatic negative thoughts and levels of burden; (b) the relative contribution of acting with awareness, accepting without judgement, and automatic negative thoughts in predicting burden; and (c) whether acting with awareness or accepting without judgement mediated the relationship between automatic negative thoughts and burden. An on-line survey was completed by 131 carers (103 female, 28 male, mean age of 35 years, SD = 12.2) of which 128 were university students. The Zarit Burden Inventory, the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire, and the Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills were used to assess levels of self-reported burden, automatic negative thought frequency and mindfulness skills of Act With Awareness and Accept Without Judgement, respectively. Results indicated associations between mindfulness skills, automatic negative thoughts and burden (p < .01). All correlations were of a large effect size other than that between burden and acting with awareness that was a small effect size. Regression analysis revealed automatic negative thoughts frequency and accepting without judgment as significant predictors of burden (p < .001) with a large effect size reported. Accepting without judgement made the largest unique contribution to the prediction of burden (β = -.35, p < .01, sr2 = .07). Together these findings suggest that carers with lower levels of automatic negative thoughts and higher levels of skill in accepting without judgement will have lower levels of burden, irrespective of skill in acting with awareness. Although no evidence was found to suggest that mindfulness skills mediate the relationship between automatic negative thoughts and burden, the pattern of relationships support a tentative conclusion that mindfulness skills of accepting without judgement skills may lead to decreased levels of burden by facilitating a different experience with automatic negative thoughts. The findings have implications for both improving therapeutic interventions for the reduction of burden and the extension of current theoretical knowledge pertaining to relationships between components of mindfulness and mindfulness mechanisms in bringing about changes to well-being. The exploratory nature of the study requires these propositions to be regarded as tentative, however these results indicate further work in this area is warranted.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| 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: | Grace Pretty |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 16 Oct 2025 01:49 |
| Last Modified: | 16 Oct 2025 01:49 |
| 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/52503 |
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