Mindfulness with Aloha among Mixed-Ethnic/Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Incarcerated Youth
Speaker: Thao Le, PhD, MPH; Jeffrey Proulx, MA; Sreang Heak, PhD
Format: Audio & Slides

Objective: A mindfulness-based intervention with cultural elements of "aloha" was conducted with 50 incarcerated youth to examine whether mindfulness would decrease youth's level of stress, impulsivity, and mind wandering, and increase present awareness, self-regulation, and flourishing.

Methods: The design was a pre/post-test, and included measures for salivary cortisol, secretary IgA, cognitive tests (Flanker, Stroop, Sustained Attention), present awareness, impulsivity, perceived stress, self-regulation, and flourishing. Data from personal reflection journals were also available and submitted to content coding.

Results: For cortisol and IgA, area under the curve (AUC) of baseline vs. termination was conducted, and revealed no differences in overall cortisol (AUC) between the two conditions; however, recovery after the stressful condition (administration of cognitive tests), was significantly improved during termination, t(13)=2.25, p < .05. For IgA, there was a significant effect for overall IgA increases at termination compared to baseline, t(19)=-3.44, p<.01. With respect to the survey measures, perceived stress was statistically significantly lower at termination vs. baseline, t(64)=2.31, p<.05. Content coding of the reflection journals for the boys revealed themes of positive emotions, mindfulness, knowledge of life, positive self-image, positive thoughts, and connection to others. For the girls, positive emotions and knowledge of self were most prominent.

Conclusions: Limitations of the study included small sample and lack of generalizability, while strengths included extreme receptivity by youth and correctional institution to the intervention, a strong community-research partnership, key outcomes in the expected directions, and resonance of mindfulness with aloha.