Homeless people’s trait mindfulness and their resilience – a mediation test on the role of inner peace and hope

ABSTRACT

The development of resilience is important for homeless people to maintain health and wellbeing. Personal trait mindfulness has received researchers' burgeoning interest regarding its association with one’s resilience. However, very few studies investigate this relationship among homeless people. The current research initiated this exploration and further examined the cognitive (i.e. hopeful thinking) and emotional (i.e. a feeling of inner peace) factors that were assumed to mediate this relationship. The data were collected based on a sample of 172 homeless individuals from a local homeless shelter located in the south-eastern United States. Participants completed a questionnaire that entailed measures of trait mindfulness, resilience, hope, and inner peace. The result of Pearson bivariate correlation revealed that trait mindfulness of homeless people was highly correlated with their resilience. Moreover, a serial mediation model was tested to examine the effects of hope and inner peace on mediating the relationship between trait mindfulness and resilience. The results supported that trait mindfulness of homeless people, through the mediators of hope and inner peace, is conducive to the development of their resilience. The results have unique implications for social service providers to use mindfulness training to build resilience of homeless people.

KEYWORDS:

• Trait mindfulness
• resilience
• homeless
• inner peace
• hope

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Human and animal rights

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) (IRB #: 16-OR-088-R1) at the University of Alabama.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, Dr. Lu, upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Research Grant Committee (RGC) at the University of Alabama: [Grant Number RGC-2015-41].

Notes on contributors

Junfei Lu

Dr. Lu holds a doctoral degree in Rehabilitation Counselor Education from the University of Iowa and is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Studies in Psychology, Research Methodology and Counseling at the University of Alabama. His research interests include spiritual wellbeing, mindfulness, attitudes toward people with disabilities, and counselor professional identity and cultural competence development.

Courtney A. Potts

Ms. Courtney A. Potts is a doctoral student in Counselor Education and Supervision at the University of Alabama. She holds a Master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from the University of Alabama and is currently pursuing a research focus in qualitative studies. Ms. Potts conducts research in advocacy, spirituality, dementia, new materialism, and social justice issues with LGBTQ+ populations.

Rebecca S. Allen

Dr. Rebecca S. Allen is a professor in the Alabama Research Institute on Aging/Department of Psychology at the University of Alabama. She earned her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology at Washington University in St. Louis. She is currently a Licensed Psychologist and a Board Certified in Geropsychology. Dr. Allen’s research and clinical interests are: (1) interventions to reduce the stress of individuals, family, and professional caregivers within the context of advanced chronic or terminal illness; (2) the cultural dynamics (race/ethnicity; rural/urban) of healthcare decision making; and (3) clinical training issues, particularly ethics, LGBTQ+ issues, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.