Teaching mindfulness meditation to adults with severe speech and physical impairments: An exploratory study

Abstract

People with severe speech and physical impairments may benefit from mindfulness meditation training because it has the potential to enhance their ability to cope with anxiety, depression and pain and improve their attentional capacity to use brain-computer interface systems. Seven adults with severe speech and physical impairments (SSPI) – defined as speech that is understood less than 25% of the time and/or severely reduced hand function for writing/typing – participated in this exploratory, uncontrolled intervention study. The objectives were to describe the development and implementation of a six-week mindfulness meditation intervention and to identify feasible outcome measures in this population. The weekly intervention was delivered by an instructor in the participant's home, and participants were encouraged to practise daily using audio recordings. The objective adherence to home practice was 10.2 minutes per day. Exploratory outcome measures were an n-back working memory task, the Attention Process Training-II Attention Questionnaire, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Perceived Stress Scale, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, and a qualitative feedback survey. There were no statistically significant pre–post results in this small sample, yet administration of the measures proved feasible, and qualitative reports were overall positive. Obstacles to teaching mindfulness meditation to persons with SSPI are reported, and solutions are proposed.

Keywords:

• Mindfulness meditation
• Communication difficulties
• Psychological factors
• Quadriplegia
• Quality of life

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by US National Institutes of Health grants [AT005121 and DC009834].