Luis Armando Oblitas Guadalupe’s research while affiliated with Autonomous University of Peru and other places

The purpose of this study is to report evidence of construct validity and reliability of a new self-report instrument that measures mindfulness and equanimity in a Spanish speaking population. An initial pool of 26 items was evaluated by 17 experts from Spain and Latin America and modified on the basis of their comments. The resulting list of 21 items was administered to 746 university students in Mexico and Peru. Their responses were analyzed using Unweighted Least Squares (ULS) with promin rotations. Two factors were identified, mindless and mindful, with factor loadings ranging from .36 to .65. The reliability coefficients for the first and second factors were .78, and .82 respectively. The inter-factors correlation was -.51. The results indicate clear evidence of convergent and discriminative validity.

Objetivo: Evaluar el impacto de un programa de mindfulness en el estrés fisiológico, distrés emocional, estrés percibido y estrés laboral en un grupo de trabajadores. Materiales y métodos: Participaron 28 trabajadores universitarios (empleados y docentes), quienes habían registrado niveles altos de estrés laboral en una evaluación institucional previa. El programa consistió en seis sesiones de entrenamiento en mindfulness una vez por semana y con dos horas por sesión (12 horas en total), con las técnicas de la atención plena en la respiración, en el cuerpo, pensamiento, emociones y descanso. Se utilizaron mediciones de Biofeedback para evaluar cinco indicadores de estrés fisiológico (temperatura, respiración, pulso, volumen sanguíneo en la piel y presión arterial) y tres pruebas para medir estrés: Inventario de Distrés Emocional Percibido (a = .85), Inventario de Estrés Percibido a = .86), Escala de Estrés Laboral (a = .90), como medidas de pretest y postest. Resultados: Volumen sanguíneo en la piel (d = 0.8), pulso sanguíneo (d = 0.8) y frecuencia de la respiración abdominal (d = 0.9), distrés emocional (d = 0.9), el estrés percibido (d = 0.7) y el estrés laboral (d = 0.6). Conclusión: El mindfulness tuvo un impacto significativo en la reducción del estrés en trabajadores universitarios.

Objective: Mindfulness or the full attention state is a factor that contributes to the successful process of aging. This study aims to evaluate the evidence of validity, on the basis of the internal structure, convergent and discriminant validity, reliability and factorial invariance across gender, for the five items Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS-5) within a sample of older adults. Methods: The participants were 323 Peruvian older adults, consisting of 160 women and 163 men, whose average ages were 68.58 (S.D = 7.23) and 68.91 years (S.D = 7.12), respectively. In addition to the MAAS-5, the Satisfaction with Life Scale and the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 were administered. Results: The Confirmatory Factor Analysis indicates that the one-factor structure of the MAAS-5 presents adequate fit for the total sample (χ² = 11.24, df = 5, χ²/df = 2.25, CFI = .99, RMSEA = .06 [90%CI: .01, .11]; and SRMR = .025), as well as for the sub-samples of men and women. This one-factor solution presents adequate internal consistency (ω = 80 [95%CI: .76 - .82]) and it is invariant across gender. Regarding convergent validity, high scores in the MAAS are associated with a greater satisfaction with life (r = .88, p< .01 [95%CI: .85, .95]) and less depression (r = −.56, p< .01 [95%CI: −.48, −.77]) in older adults. Conclusions: The preliminary results back the use of the MAAS-5 as a self-report measure of mindfulness that has an adequate unifactorial structure that is reliable and invariant across gender for measuring the full attention state in elderly Peruvians.

Mindfulness is a cognitive method that consists of giving full attention to the body, breathing, thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, which is used to reduce stress, pain, anxiety and depression, which has some clinical evidence. Recently, its applications in the university field are being evaluated, with results that are not yet conclusive. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the incidence of an eight-week program of mindfulness in reducing academic stress in a group of 54 university students, with a randomized control group, and with pre-post-test measures using the CISCO Academic Stress Inventory. It was found that there are no statistically significant differences in the stress levels of the group that received the der mindfulnes program compared to those who did not receive the training. The result is congruent with some findings that do not attribute efficiency of mindfulness in the management of academic stress.