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    Mobile mindfulness : a comparative study of mindfulness and relaxation apps, and the impact on employee wellbeing in the workplace : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Buckman, Antonia
    Organisations are looking for effective interventions to improve employee wellbeing in order to counteract high work demands. Mindfulness has recently gained in popularity as a readily available tool that can be utilised for a variety of self-improvement and wellbeing effects. Technological advances in the mobile health space have placed mindfulness interventions onto smartphone devices allowing anyone, anywhere, to access such tools. However, there remains a number of limitations on current research. This investigation explored the effectiveness of a mindfulness app within the workplace and its impact on employee wellbeing using both an active and waitlist control. A randomised semi-blind control trial was conducted with a diverse self-selecting sample, randomly assigned to one of three groups: mindfulness intervention, relaxation app active control, or passive waitlist control. Apps were used for three to five days per week over a four week period. Participants completed a baseline questionnaire (n = 95) measuring personality, mindfulness, and a range of wellbeing measures. Questionnaire was repeated at the end of the four week intervention (n = 67), and again four weeks post intervention (n = 52). The study explored impact of mindfulness on employee wellbeing, sustained benefits four weeks post intervention, effect of expectancy on intervention, impact on longer usage of intervention app, and impact of personality type in continuing the study and effect of the intervention. Results of repeated measure ANOVAs showed no significant effect of mindfulness on employee wellbeing, therefore no analysis was conducted of sustained results. Expectancy of the effectiveness of the trial positively correlated with self-rated perceived positive impact of the mindfulness intervention, but not for either control group. Length of time the app was used was not significant. There was a positive correlation between the intervention and the Positive subscale of Positive and Negative Affects Scale and negative correlations with the Autonomy and Self-Actualisation subscales of Ryff's Wellbeing Scales for the mindfulness intervention group, this differed to the active control group. There were no statistically significant changes in the waitlist passive control condition. Findings do not support the viability of smartphone-based mindfulness interventions to significantly improve employee wellbeing.
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    Teaching basic relaxation procedures to psychiatric patients receiving electronconvulsive therapy : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1982) Simons, Bruce Francis
    There has been no research on psychiatric patients examining the ability to remember relaxation skills whilst receiving electroconvulsive therapy. This thesis addressed itself to the question of whether the patients could remember the relaxation procedures that were taught immediately before, during, or immediately after the ECT series. Fourteen patients were assigned to three different groups. The first group received the relaxation training (RT) prior to beginning the ECT series, the second group received the RT during the ECT series and the third group received the RT immediately after the ECT series. Assessment was made of the verbal instructions taught to the patients using a checklist devised by the author. Comparisons were made between patients on their performance according to several different independent variables, diagnosis, frequency of ECT, response to treatment and order of presentation effects. Eleven of the fourteen subjects learnt the RT procedures within three training sessions. The remaining subjects failed to learn the RT procedures in six sessions but this study did not confirm that ECT was a precipitant in their failure to learn. No significant effect was associated with diagnosis, frequency of ECT or response to treatment. It was concluded that it is possible to teach RT procedures to the majority of psychiatric patients at the institution where this study was completed. This study produced no evidence to suggest that it is preferable to teach RT to patients at any particular point in ECT treatment sequence and in addition there was no evidence of any anterograde or retrograde amnesic effects associated with ECT sufficient to interfere with the learning of verbal instructions associated with RT.