A Qualitatative Exploration into the Lived Experience of Adults with Anxiety Using Mindfulness in Everyday Occupational Engagement

Abstract

Mental health is a major public health challenge both globally and nationally. Not only is there significant economic, health and social costs, mental health problems relating to anxiety have an occupational cost too. Consequently there is increasing emphasis on early detection and management. A method for managing these costs is to explore innovative and evidence-based interventions that might address these challenges. An intervention used in clinical and general populations with promising results in healthcare, education, and law enforcement is the use of mindfulness. The review of literature from psychology, nursing, business and occupational therapy, suggests that the regular use of mindfulness practice can enhance quality of life. Enhanced quality of life has been attributed to improved health and well-being resulting from symptom reduction, the development of better coping strategies and enhanced occupational engagement. Yet there is a paucity of research that in occupational therapy that specifically explores how adults with anxiety respond and experience the use of mindfulness in everyday occupational engagement. In order to address this research gap, the following research is proposed. The purpose of this qualitative research pilot study is twofold: 1) to explore the meaning and lived experience of adults with anxiety using mindfulness in everyday occupational engagement and 2) to investigate its feasibility with this novel population. In order to achieve this, participant's perspectives, insights and attitudes will be gained by recruiting four participants who would have attended a mindfulness training group run by occupational therapists. Rich phenomenological data will be obtained through semi-structured interviews at the end of the mindfulness training group (participants will be asked about their overall experience of participating in the training group and how these mindful experiences are being translated into daily life). Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) will be used to discern findings by using literature to aid the interpretation of the significance that participants have ascribed to the structure and essence of their lived experience. The research aims to contribute to the existing occupational therapy research. This dissertation comprises of two sections. The first section will explore the experiences of using mindfulness with adults in relation to anxiety in everyday occupational engagement in a general sense (literature review). The second section will specifically explore the meaning and lived experience of adults with anxiety using mindfulness in everybody occupational engagement (research proposal).