Emotional benefits of mindfulness-based stress reduction in older adults: the moderating roles of age and depressive symptom severity

• Published in: Aging & mental health 2013-09, Vol.17 (7), p.823-829
• Main Authors: Gallegos, Autumn M., Hoerger, Michael, Talbot, Nancy L., Moynihan, Jan A., Duberstein, Paul R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Affect; age; Age Factors; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Awareness; Case-Control Studies; Control groups; Depression; Depression - diagnosis; Depressive Disorder - diagnosis; depressive symptom severity; Elderly people; Emotions; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Mental stress; Mindfulness - education; mindfulness-based stress reduction; Positive affect; Severity; Severity of Illness Index; Stress management training; Stress, Psychological - prevention & control; Stress, Psychological - therapy
• ISSN: 1360-7863; 1364-6915
• DOI: 10.1080/13607863.2013.799118

Objectives: To examine the effects of age and depressive symptom severity on changes in positive affect among older adults randomly assigned to a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program or a Waitlist Control group. Drawing from the Motivational Theory of Life-Span Development, we hypothesized that lower levels of depressive symptom severity and older age would be associated with greater positive affect in response to the MBSR intervention. Methods: Data were collected from a sample of community-dwelling English-speaking adults (n = 200) aged ≥ 65, randomly assigned to an eight-week MBSR program or a Waitlist Control group. Our main outcome variable was a five-item measure of positive affect, which was measured at study entry as well as eight weeks and six months later. Results: At the six-month follow-up, we observed group by baseline depressive symptom severity (β = −.17, p = .02) and group by baseline depressive symptom severity by age (β = −.14, p = .05) interactions. Among MBSR participants, greater baseline depressive symptom severity was also associated with less improvement in positive affect at the six-month follow-up (β = −.30, p = .003). Findings were qualified by a significant depressive symptom severity by age interaction (β = −.25, p = .01), such that MBSR participants who were 70 and over with lower baseline depressive symptom severity having the greatest improvement in positive affect at the six-month follow-up. Conclusion: MBSR improves positive affect for older adults with lower depressive symptom severity, perhaps because it capitalizes on naturalistic changes in control strategies.