The Effects of Mindfulness Training on Student Counselors’ Case Conceptualization

The purpose of this longitudinal, quantitative, quasi-experimental study was to explore the effects of a standardized bipartite workshop on counselor trainees’ case conceptualization competency. A secondary purpose was to examine the relationship andeffects of mindfulness, anxiety, personality, and the benefits of the training. Master’s level counselor trainees (N = 121) participated in a two-part workshop (3 hours in length per workshop) designed to teach the integrative case conceptualization model (Sperry, 1989). For each workshop, pre- and post-intervention case conceptualizations were rated by at least two independent raters using the Case Conceptualization Evaluation Form 2.0 (CCEF 2.0). Mindfulness was measured by the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire - Short Form (FFMQ-SF), whereas the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Big Five Inventory (BFI) were utilized to measure anxiety and personality, respectively.
The differences between the experimental and comparison group’s case conceptualization scores were tested using Welch’s Two Sample t-tests. A significant difference was found between the first workshop’s gain scores of the experimental group (M = 28.32, SD = 10.71) and the comparison group (M = 17.88, SD = 10.54), t(66.31) = 4.17, p < 0.001, CI.95 [5.45, 17.88]; d = 0.98. A similar result was found for the second workshop, there was a significant difference between the experimental group (M = 14.07, SD = 14.29) and the comparison group (M = 6.57, SD = 13.01), t(98.39) = 2.78, p = 0.006, CI.95 [2.15, 12.86]; d = 0.55. A combined anxiety and mindfulness multiple regression provided evidence to support substantial links between anxiety, mindfulness, and case conceptualization F(8, 88) = 8.64, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.44, CI.95[.23, .52]. This model accounted for approximately 44% of the variance of the first (pre-test) case conceptualization scores. Additionally, a moderation effect was detected for anxiety and case conceptualization. There was evidence to suggest that the extraversion personality factor moderates the effect of anxiety on case conceptualization. Post-hoc analyses conducted (cluster analysis) found two significant and unique personality clusters in the data, which were consequently confirmed by discriminant analysis, achieving 90% classification accuracy.