Mindfulness Meditation Persistence Motivation: a Case Study at A

MINDFULNESS MEDITATION PERSISTENCE MOTIVATION: A CASE STUDY AT A

WORKPLACE PROGRAM

A doctoral thesis presented by Lesley Travers Pratt

to the

Graduate School of Education In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the field of

Education

College of Professional Studies Northeastern University Boston, Massachusetts March 2020 2

Abstract

Unhappiness at work is an unfortunate phenomenon. Mindfulness meditation has been posited as an antidote. If true, then presumably the “worker” would need to persist in the mindfulness-based practices in order to benefit from them. The specific research question to be explored is: How and why do workers consider, embrace, persist in, or fall away from mindfulness practices offered through a program at work?

This qualitative case study, set in two workplaces offering an eight-week mindfulness- meditation program to employees, aims to explore factors related to mindfulness meditation persistence. Because of a research gap in this area, a corollary framework in widespread use with exercise motivation, Pender et al.’s (2014) Health Promotion Model (HPM), was used to construct open-ended interview questions designed to elicit information about the six study participants’ thoughts, feelings, and actions with respect to meditating regularly. Thematic coding was derived from an examination of the interview transcripts.

The results suggest that it is helpful to adopt the mindset of “beginning again,” a distinctive form of self-efficacy. The desire for benefits is motivating. It is advantageous to have a plan of action, to perceive options in an approach, and to experience positive affect in relation to the practices. A formal community was not sought by participants to support their practices, although this is recommended by others. Past involvement with health-promoting behaviors was only weakly tied to “habit formation.”

On this basis, it is recommended that further research is needed to identify other factors that could elucidate the role of community, moral underpinnings, characteristics of non- enrollees, and online versus in-person training. 4

Keywords: Health Promotion Model, Mindfulness Meditation, Self-efficacy, Workplace wellness; Beginning Again, Persistence, Case Study

Dedication

To my spouse, Sally.

Acknowledgements

I want to thank my Dissertation Committee: Wendy Crocker, PhD (chair); Joan Giblin, PhD; and

Margot Abels, PhD for their time, encouragement, and rigor. I hope you agree that the countless hours you have invested in me have paid off!

Profound thanks to my six study participants: “Andy,” “Bonnie,” “Charlie,” “Ellie,” “Finley,” and “Gail.” There would be no study without their generosity of spirit and candor.

And, to the many people who accompanied me a little or long way on this journey:

Amy Bronson; Arria Coburn and Staff; Bob Levy; Brenda Fingold; Bridget McGuiness; Chris

Unger, EdD; Craig Stevens; Dawn Oden Mackiewicz, EdD; Elisabeth Eleanor Bennett, PhD;

Harrison Blum; Heather Moore; Jay Williams; Jeanne Bonney; Joe Donnelly; Joe McDonald;

Jane Renner; Karen Harbeck, PhD; Kileen Gilroy; Kirsten Bilas, EdD; Kristen Lee, EdD; Lauren

Sanchez Gilbert, EdD; Lisa McCalla; M. Billye Sankofa-Waters, PhD; Meghan Hallock; Mielle

Marquis; Molly Weis; Mounira Morris, EdD; Nancy Sloan Dr.PH; Nic Billey; Pratt Family— extended; Raisha Prince; Renee Houle; Ricardo Valdez, EdD; Richard Sime; Sharon Salzberg;

Shawn Cote; Stephen Sokoler; Ted Benford; Tova Olson Sanders, EdD; and Tracy Fredrickson

Table of Contents

Contents

Abstract ...... 3

Dedication ...... 5

Acknowledgements ...... 6

Table of Contents ...... 7

Chapter One: Introduction to the Study ...... 16

Context and Background ...... 16

Assumptions ...... 19

Rationale and Significance ...... 20

Study Significance ...... 21

Beneficiaries ...... 22

Deficiencies in Evidence ...... 22

Research Problem and Research Question ...... 23

Definition of Key Terminology ...... 24

Selection of Theoretical Framework ...... 31

Health Promotion as Background ...... 32

More About the Revised Health Promotion Model ...... 33

Individual Characteristics and Experiences ...... 34

Behavior-Specific Cognitions and Affect ...... 35

Actual Behavioral Outcomes ...... 35

Critiques of Health Promotion Perspective ...... 36

Social Cognitive Theory ...... 37

Critiques of Social Cognitive Theory ...... 37

Summary ...... 38

Dissertation Overview ...... 39

Chapter Two: Literature Review ...... 40

History of Mindfulness-Based Practices’ Coming to the West ...... 40

The Pervasiveness of Meditation and Mindfulness (including McDonaldization) ...... 45

Happy and Unhappy Workplaces ...... 47

Types of Meditation ...... 49

Mindfulness ...... 50

The Benefits of Being Mindful ...... 53

Mindfulness Programs in the Workplace ...... 55

Target Populations ...... 55

Mindfulness Belongs in the Workplace ...... 56

How Mindfulness Affects Workers ...... 56

Summary: Mindfulness Programs in the Workplace ...... 59

Human Motivation ...... 59

Early Researchers ...... 60

Aspects of Motivation ...... 60

Role of Emotion in Motivation ...... 61

Motivation to Do Things That Benefit Us ...... 63

Summation: Motivation to Do Things That Benefit Us ...... 67

Barriers to Doing Things That Benefit Us ...... 68

Summation: Barriers to Doing Things That Benefit Us ...... 70

Motivation to Meditate or Not ...... 71

Summation: Motivation to Meditate or Not ...... 73

Summation: What is Motivation? ...... 74

Exercise Motivation as a Theoretical Framework ...... 74

Narrowing the Choices of Exercise Motivation Frameworks ...... 74

Chapter Two Conclusion ...... 77

A Word about Competing or Oppositional Viewpoints ...... 78

Chapter Three: Research Design and Methodology ...... 80

Paradigms of Inquiry ...... 80

Positivism/Post-Positivism ...... 80

Potential Adoption of Positivism/Post-Positivism as an Approach ...... 81

Constructivism-Interpretivism ...... 82

Potential Adoption of Constructivism-Interpretivism as an Approach ...... 82

Critical-Ideological Theory ...... 83

Potential Adoption of Critical-Ideological Theory as an Approach ...... 84

Conclusion—Paradigms of Inquiry ...... 85

The Qualitative Research Tradition ...... 86

Case Study Methodology ...... 86

Key Scholars ...... 87

Scholarly Debate ...... 88

Case Study Subtype ...... 88

Alignment ...... 89

Research Sites ...... 89

Case Selection / Participant Demographics / Access ...... 90

Procedures ...... 91

Participant Demographics ...... 93

Data Collection ...... 94

Data Storage ...... 95

Data Analysis ...... 96

Multiple Reviews ...... 96

Validity/Reliability/Trustworthiness ...... 97

Ethical Considerations as a Scholar-Practitioner ...... 98

Positionality ...... 98

Scholar Practitioner’s Code of Ethics ...... 101

Chapter Four: Findings and Analysis ...... 103

Overview of the Analysis Process ...... 103

Theme 1: Internal Aspects of Persistence ...... 105

Sub Theme: Perceived Benefits of Action ...... 106

Sub Theme: Commitment to a Plan of Action ...... 108

Sub Theme: Options ...... 110

Sub Theme: Perceived Barriers ...... 111

Sub Theme: Activity-Related Affect ...... 112

Conclusions Related to the Theme of Internal Aspects of Persistence ...... 113

Theme 2: External Influences (Current and Prior) ...... 114

Sub Theme: Past Exposure to Mindfulness-Based Practices ...... 115

Sub Theme: Other Health Promotion ...... 117

Sub Theme: Situational Influences ...... 120

Conclusions Related to the Theme of External Influences ...... 122

Theme 3: The Role of Community ...... 123

Sub Theme: Peer Influences ...... 124

Sub Theme: Introversion and Extroversion ...... 125

Sub Theme: Sociocultural Factors ...... 128

Conclusions Related to the Theme of The Role of Community ...... 131

Key Findings ...... 131

Conclusion: Chapter Four ...... 134

Chapter Five: Discussion and Implications for Practice ...... 136

Section One: Explication of Major Findings ...... 136

Finding One: “Beginning Again” as a Unique Form of Self-Efficacy ...... 137

Conclusion: Finding One ...... 140

Finding Two: Perceived Benefits of Action ...... 140

Examples from the Participants—Benefits ...... 142

Religion/Spirituality—Barrier, Benefit, or Neither? ...... 142

Examples from the Participants—Religion and Spirituality ...... 143

A Word about McMindfulness ...... 144

Conclusion: Finding Two ...... 144

Finding Three: Commitment to a Plan of Action ...... 145

Examples from the Participants ...... 147

Conclusion: Finding Three ...... 148

Finding Four: Options ...... 149

Examples from the Participants ...... 150

Conclusion: Finding Four ...... 150

Finding Five: Positive Activity-Related Affect ...... 150

Potential for Negative Affect ...... 151

Examples from the Participants ...... 152

Conclusion: Finding Five ...... 152

Finding Six: The Role of Community ...... 153

Friends as a Form of Community ...... 154

The Influence of Peers ...... 155

Introversion and Extroversion ...... 156

The Role of the Tribe ...... 156

Conclusion: Finding Six ...... 157

Finding Seven: External Influences (Current and Prior) ...... 157

Prior-related Behavior ...... 158

Other Health Promotion ...... 159

Situational Influences ...... 160

Conclusion: Finding Seven ...... 160

Major Findings—Conclusion ...... 161

Section Two: Recommendations for Practice ...... 163

Section Three: Recommendations for Future Research ...... 165

Study Limitations ...... 166

References ...... 167

Appendices A–G ...... 184

Appendix A: Interview Guide ...... 185

Appendix B: IRB Approval ...... 189

Appendix C: Recruitment Material ...... 195

Appendix D: Introduction Letters ...... 200

Appendix E: Correspondence with Participants ...... 202

Appendix F: Benefits Listed by the Program Provider ...... 205

List of Tables

TABLE 1: TIMELINE: HISTORY OF MEDITATION’S COMING TO THE WEST ...... 45

TABLE 2: A SAMPLING OF DEFINITIONS OF MINDFULNESS ...... 52

TABLE 3: BENEFITS OF MINDFULNESS (HELPGUIDE, 2020) ...... 54

TABLE 4: DEMOGRAPHICS OF STUDY PARTICIPANTS ...... 93

TABLE 5: THE RELATIONSHIP AMONG THEMES AND CODES ...... 104

TABLE 6: TALLY OF PERCEIVED BENEFITS OF ACTION BY PARTICIPANT ...... 107

TABLE 7: TALLY OF PAST EXPOSURE TO MINDFULNESS-BASED PRACTICES BY TYPE ...... 117

TABLE 8: TALLY OF OTHER TYPES OF HEALTH PROMOTION/LIFE IMPROVEMENT ...... 118

TABLE 9: PARTICIPANT BY GENDER BY SELF-DESCRIBED INTROVERSION OR EXTROVERSION .... 126

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE 1: TAKING A BROAD TOPIC AND NARROWING IT TO RESEARCH QUESTIONS ...... 21

FIGURE 2: SELECTION OF HPM FRAMEWORK’S COMPONENT THEORY ...... 33

FIGURE 3: HEALTH PROMOTION MODEL (REVISED) (PENDER ET AL., 2014) ...... 34

FIGURE 4: INTEGRATIVE FRAMEWORK RELATING TO MINDFULNESS TO WORKPLACE OUTCOMES

(GOOD ET AL., 2015) ...... 58

FIGURE 5: HEALTH PROMOTION MODEL (REVISED) (PENDER ET AL., 2014) WITH ANNOTATIONS BY

PRATT SHOWING TIES TO SCT ...... 76

FIGURE 6: INFORMATION POWER—ITEMS AND DIMENSIONS (MALTERUD, SIERSMA, & GUASSORA,

2016; USED WITH PERMISSION) ...... 91

Chapter One: Introduction to the Study

The purpose of this study was to explore the phenomenon of Mindfulness Meditation

Persistence Motivation in the context of a workplace meditation program. Knowledge generated was intended to inform individual non-executive workers, their family members, human resource departments, EAPs (employee assistance programs), and career coaches. This study employed case study methodology to examine the phenomenon under investigation.

This chapter begins with a brief overview of the research related to Mindfulness

Meditation Persistence Motivation to provide context and background to the study. The rationale and significance of the study are discussed next, drawing connections with potential beneficiaries of the work. The problem statement, purpose statement, and research questions are presented to focus and ground the study. Finally, the theoretical framework that serves as a lens for the study is introduced and explained. Key terms are defined later in this chapter.

Context and Background

The main purpose of this study was to explore happiness at work, with mindfulness-based practices as the vehicle. Some might say that happiness at work is unnecessary. The paycheck is the reward, whether or not one is happy doing the work to earn it. At the other extreme (and perhaps this is a bourgeois sentiment), people think one should follow their bliss. The position here is that happiness at work is attainable and worth striving for, even if bliss is far-fetched. So, the thesis—how workers can self-empower through the adoption of mindfulness-based techniques to boost their happiness—is central. Of course, to reap the benefits of mindfulness, the worker must practice in a consistent way. This is the same as knowing physical exercise is good for us versus our actually going to the gym. So, how does one get off the couch and into the

17 meditation chair? This study explored worker’s experiences in a mindfulness-based program offered at their workplace to look for themes related to persistence in meditating.

Meditating may still seem eccentric to large groups of people in the US. But, the convergence of accessible teaching approaches and scientific evidence has facilitated movement of mindfulness-based practices into the mainstream. Between 1970 and now, the practices have become ubiquitous, as evidenced by numerous workplace programs, phone apps, conferences, popular books, and research articles. Consequently, there should be few people in the US unaware of the purported benefits of mindfulness. Moreover, these study participants were told the benefits of mindfulness as part of their workplace-based program.

Unquestionably, there has been a long lead-up to the current prevalence of practices.

Historically, in the late 1950s, people such as Jack Kerouac (Lelyveld, 1997) and the Maharishi

Mahesh Yogi (Perera, 2015) brought news of certain Eastern-based practices to a non- mainstream US audience. Around 1970, the researcher Herbert Benson started to study the effects of Transcendental Meditation, the movement led by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (Perera,

2015). Other researchers followed and have done ground-breaking work on many kinds of mindfulness-based practices and their salutary effects to this day. Around the time that research was commencing in 1970, several young Westerners left the US to go to Thailand, India and other Eastern countries to study meditation. They returned to the US and joined together in the mid-1970s to create meditation teaching centers such as Naropa (Prebish, 2002) and the Insight

Meditation Society (Salzberg, 2018a).

The advent of these practices is timely, because research supports the notion that workplaces can be places of suffering (Burton et al., 2012; Galloway, 2014; Leary, 2013; Long,

1998; Padilla, Hogan & Kaiser, 2007). Clearly, the “problem of practice” of workplace unhappiness is worthy of exploration and, one hopes, amelioration.

Mindfulness-based practices will be discussed below as one answer to the problem of workplace unhappiness. Mindfulness-based practices may include meditation, which itself has numerous varieties (Aldahadha, 2013; MacCoon, et al., 2012; Salzberg, & Kabat-Zinn, 2004).

There is also the concept of mindfulness, which may or may not be practiced via meditation. For example, the form of mindfulness studied by Ellen Langer (2014) does not require meditation.1

Both mindfulness and meditation have been studied extensively. The list of benefits to the adherents are numerous and include a better connection to others; improved sleep; and help with anxiety disorders (HelpGuide, 2020).

Far from being eccentric, “New-Agey” or weird, mindfulness within a workplace setting is now common and has been studied extensively (Burton et al., 2012; Carrington et al., 1980;

Charoensukmongkol, 2013; Gold et al., 2010; Fortney, 2013; Foureur et al., 2013; Keeva, 2004;

Krasner et al., 2009; Long, 1998; Pipe et al., 2009; Sung et al., 2012) as has mindfulness within formal workplace programs (Crane et al., 2010; Glomb et al., 2009; Hyland, P et al., 2015; Reb et al., 2014; Shonin et al., 2014; Vich, 2015; Woods, 2009). Select studies show that positive benefits are many (Good et al., 2015; Harter et al., 2012; Hülsheger, et al., 2013; Hunter et al

2008; Schultz, 2015). Arguably, some sort of benefit is indisputable.

A topic of research since the early 1900s (Carsrud & Brännback, 2011), motivation is perhaps the missing ingredient in why more workers don’t meditate. Otherwise, it really shouldn’t be that hard to sit in a chair. There are numerous theories of motivation, and many are

1 Another branch of research is “mind-wandering” (Mrazek et al., 2012; Randall, 2015; Smallwood & Schooler, 2006) where, if being mindful is a “task,” then “mind-wandering” is its opposite.

19 tied to emotion (Seaton et al., 2015) rather than just to rationality. People can be motivated to do things that benefit themselves, yet many do not persist in salutary activities such as exercise

(Clark,1999; Cole, 2014; Dimmock et al., 2013; Lawton et al. 2006; Newson et al., 2007). And, as will be explained, there has been scant research into Mindfulness Meditation Persistence

Motivation, so the framework of exercise motivation has been adopted as a suitable analog.

There are several frameworks within exercise motivation (Wood, 2008) and the revised Health

Promotion Model designed by Pender, Murdaugh & Parsons (2014) is intriguing because it incorporates Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory, which a central theory explored in this study.

So, given that workplaces can be difficult, if not toxic, and mindfulness-based practices might be the antidote to some of those challenges, this study sought to investigate Mindfulness

Meditation Persistence Motivation so that workers can self-empower by adhering to practices that they have been told benefits them.

Assumptions

Workers could be happier, but it won’t happen in a vacuum. There are countervailing forces. For example, authoritarian leaders have little incentive to change, given that they already possess a sense of well-being (Harms, Wood, Landay, Leslet and Lester, 2018). Capitalistic market economies tend to treat workers as commodities rather than as brothers and sisters

(Nelson, 1995; Taksa and Groutsis, 2010). Even with the advent of workplace mindfulness programs, often the focus is on the enhancement of the business outcomes (Burkeman, 2015,

Goldberg, 2015). Toxic workplaces occur in all sectors, including non-profit (Hitchcock, 2015) and government settings (Williams, 2005). Like the proponents of the attitude that the paycheck is the reward, some cultures are more accepting of power distance wherein the workers may

20 object less to authoritarian supervision (Lian, Ferris & Brown, 2012). The position of this paper is not to overthrow capitalism, but rather to acknowledge its effects. Workers, when able, must self-empower to improve their happiness at work. A workplace program, even in the service of the employer, offers the advantage of ensuring that all participants have been educated on the benefits of mindfulness. This baseline of knowledge undergirds the problem of practice: if workers can perceive workplaces to be more positive through mindfulness practices, why then do the workers not always adopt or persist in using the practices they have been told are good for them?

Rationale and Significance

The rationale for this study is the researcher’s interest in workplace happiness, specifically to mitigate workplace suffering. People spend a great deal of their life at work where they may be worried or unhappy (Burton et al., 2012; Christian et al., 2009; Galloway, 2014;

Krol, 2014; Leary, 2013; Long, 1998; Padilla, Hogan & Kaiser, 2007) Based on a variety of research (Andrews et al., 2014; Charoensukmongkol, 2013; Harter et al., 2012; Hülsheger, et al.,

2013; Hunter et al., 2008; Judge et al., 2001; Schultz, 2015), mindfulness meditation might be an antidote to these negative states. If able to change their responses to workplace stimuli, workers might be able to stay in their jobs, thus avoiding the disruption of turnover (Bothma & Roodt,

2012). The catch is that the worker must be willing to take up a mindfulness practice and perhaps commit to it in the way an athlete commits to physical fitness. The purpose of the study is to identify common motivators and de-motivators to the adoption of meditative practices, with an eye toward policy recommendations to those who offer these programs. If the elements of persistence are identified, they can be incorporated into the mindfulness-based training

21 curriculum. Figure 1 presents a conceptual graphic tying the broader concern to the specificity of this study.

Figure 1: Taking a broad topic and narrowing it to research questions

Study Significance

Since many must work for others rather than being self-employed (Kochhar, 2015), this research has the potential for having a significant impact at local levels for individuals and groups as well as within the larger units of contemporary American society. People who adopt mindfulness-based practices could enhance their own mental and physical health (Brown and

Ryan, 2003) and put less of a burden on their families and society. Workplace leaders could be

22 less reactive and more mindful (Dhiman, 2009). Perhaps even one’s neighbors could be more serene and less combative (Fielden, 2006) These lines of inquiry could add to scholarly research in the field by identifying who is likely to start, persist, or quit meditating/being mindful and why. It could begin to answer the question, “what engendered the resistance to continuation in the first place and what can be done to promote persistence?”

Beneficiaries

There has been so much research into mindfulness it seems there might be nothing to add.

On the contrary, research in this area could help improve the practice of career coaches, human resource professionals, and Employee Assistance Program personnel by deepening their understanding of the motivations, processes, and potential efficacy of meditation groups. It could point the way to whether books, videos and/or live teachers have the greatest impact on the adoption of, and persistence in, using mindfulness practices. Then this line of research could improve policy (e.g., educational, health, and law enforcement) by validating successful approaches and making policy-makers aware of them for implementation in various settings.

Deficiencies in Evidence

While there are many studies on mindfulness-based practices, there is a research gap in determining what barriers prevent people from doing what they have been told is good for them in the adoption of mindfulness practices. This study focused on the workplace; but really, mindfulness is not just applicable to work. There are only a handful of studies that discuss the motivation or lack, thereof, to meditate or adopt any type of mindfulness practice. Carrington et al (1980) examined whether meditating test subjects complied rather than decreasing their effort,

23 plus examining whether their practice was frequent or occasional. McKenzie (2014) explored motivations for people to join a community of meditators. Vnuk (2016) wrote a bachelor’s-level honor thesis entitled “Motivations for Meditating” surveying 401 adults who had practiced any form of meditation to determine why they started and why they continued. Vnuk did not ask why people stopped meditating. None of the above-referenced authors did. Clearly, there is room for scholarly inquiry in this area.

Research Problem and Research Question

Many might point out that workers suffer from harassment, gender bias, low wages, and other injustices. This is not to say these wrongs are irrelevant, but the ability to respond mindfully to them might actually empower the workers to address these issues in an astute way. 2

The research problem is: If workers can perceive workplaces to be more positive through mindfulness practices, why then do the workers not always adopt or persist in using the practices they have been told are good for them? The purpose of this study, with workplace mindfulness program participants from two sites, was to investigate the phenomenon of

Mindfulness Meditation Persistence Motivation. The research question was: How and why do workers consider, embrace, persist in, or fall away from mindfulness practices offered through a program at work? It was expected each of these elements would exist among the sample. This study did not explore workplace unfairness or toxicity as affecting the motivation for persisting in mindfulness meditation; although had those themes emerged, they would have been reported upon. An explanation of some key terminology follows.

2 Ronald E. Purser, in his book McMindfulness, warns that, when misapplied, the promotion of mindfulness-based practices benefits the employers at the expense of the employees because the external causes of societal oppression are glossed over.

Definition of Key Terminology

Benefit—“something that produces good or helpful results or effects or that promotes well-being”

(Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2020a).

Case Study Methodology—a vehicle by which one can explore an issue or a problem. It can be

used in qualitative research (Creswell, 2013).

Coded Theme / Emergent Subtheme—a category created by the researcher in the midst of

categorizing data from the transcribed interviews of open-end questions. It is emergent

and is created a posteriori. It may or may not overlap with an HPM component.

Community—“a feeling, sense of interconnectedness, and a shared purpose” (Linton, 2009,

p.41).

Factor—either a coded theme or an HPM component that, according to the researcher, has

explanatory logic.

HPM Component—a visible element of Pender et al.’s Health Promotion Model from their

graphic representation of their model of motivation.

Commitment to a Plan of Action—a term particular to this study, operationally defined as

constructing a practicable routine to engage consistently in mindfulness-based practices,

with strategies to return to them in a timely manner when diverted. It relates to the

superordinate theme Internal Aspects of Persistence.

Constructivism-Interpretivism—a research paradigm where the researcher searches for

patterns of meaning, assuming truth is constructed by each person. To the extent that

there is a shared reality, it is intersubjective and is socially constructed (Butin, 2009).

Critical-Ideological Theory—akin to the Constructivist-Interpretivist paradigm, but

additionally placing emphasis on values. The unit of analysis is “category of oppression”

such as race; color; class; gender; etc. “Truth-making” is sought to expose negative

power relations (Butin, 2009).

Deduction—a type of reasoning that works from the top down. One starts with a theory and

narrows it to hypotheses and then engages in data collection to test the hypotheses. It is

often contrasted with induction, with which it can be paired (Trochim, 2006).

Explanatory Case Study—representing a post-positivist/pragmatist stance that seeks answers

that cannot be uncovered quantitatively through surveys or experiments (Baxter & Jack,

2008).

External Influences (Current and Prior)—a particular of this study. It is operationally defined

as self-reported past behavior, such as past exposure to health-promoting practices

generally, or mindfulness-based practices specifically, plus any contemporaneous or past

situational stimuli influential in adopting the practices. It is about factors external to the

participant. It is one of three superordinate themes.

Extroverts—relative to introverts, exhibit more sociable and spontaneous behaviors. They have

larger social networks. They seek out and utilize social support (Swickert et al., 2002).

Flow—feelings, including happiness, that result from complete involvement with a challenging

yet enjoyable task, from which learning and growth result (Csikszentmihalyi, 2014).

Health Promotion Model—the model invented by Nola Pender and colleagues that was revised

over the years. It defined health-promoting behavior as being focused on continuing or

increasing well-being, self-actualization, and personal fulfilment (Kulbok, Baldwin, Cox

& Duffy, 1997). It is the theoretical framework used in this study.

HPM Motif—a component of the Health Promotion Model such as “Prior Related Behavior”

and “commitment to a plan of action.” This definition is specific to this study.

Induction—a type of reasoning that works from the bottom up. It starts with observations in

order to look for patterns from which to make broader generalizations. Often contrasted

with deduction with which it can be paired (Trochim, 2006).

Information Power—a concept related to the estimation of optimal sample size in qualitative

research in which the narrowness and specificity of the study as well as the skills of the

interviewer come into play (Malterud, Siersma, & Guassora, 2016).

Instrumental Case Study—where the “issue” is explored via case study methodology (Baxter &

Jack, 2008).

Internal Aspects of Persistence—a term particular to this study. It is operationally defined as

those emotions, intended actions, thoughts, and perceptions that either contribute to, or

detract from, embracing mindfulness-based practices in a consistent way. It examines

factors interior to the participant. It is one of three superordinate themes.

Introversion and Extroversion—a term particular to this study. It is operationally defined as

being the self-reported responses from the participants. No formal definition was offered

by the interviewer.

Introverts—relative to extroverts, they are more socially reserved, serious, and controlled. They

have smaller social networks. They tend to withdraw from over-stimulating social

interactions (Swickert et al., 2002).

McDonaldization/McMindfulness—when forces of the capitalist marketplace cheapen what

once had value – for example, the spiritual practice of mindfulness. McMindfulness also

discounts the effect of societal inequality on an individual worker thus placing the blame

for stress on an individual (Hyland, T. 2015; Purser, R. 2019; Ritzer, 2005).

Meditation—the act or process of spending time in quiet thought (Merriam-Webster Dictionary,

2020b).

Mindfulness—it has many definitions; a popular one is: “paying attention in a particular way: on

purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally” (Kabat-Zinn, 1994).

Mindfulness Meditation Persistence Motivation—a term created for this study to define a

commitment to a plan of mindfulness meditation and consistent execution on that plan,

despite obstacles.

Mind-Wandering—the opposite of mindfulness, mind-wandering is a sporadic shifting of

“attention away from the task at hand” (Mrazek et al., 2012, p. 1).

Motivation—has many definitions, such as: the “willingness to do something, or something that

causes such willingness” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2018).

Neo-Liberalism—the contemporary usage is as a leftist critique where capitalism is unfettered

and is therefore seen as being damaging. When coined, its original meaning was designed

to be centrist, embracing capitalism as well as social justice, as opposed to either

socialism or fascism (McWhorter, 2017).

Options—this is a special use of a term particular to this study. It is operationally defined as the

perception of the availability and legitimacy of a variety of approaches to practicing

mindfulness, and the freedom to employ them. It relates to the superordinate theme

Internal Aspects of Persistence.

Other Health-Promoting Activities/Behaviors/Practices—a term particular to this study. It is

operationally defined as responses—excluding any related to mindfulness-based

practices—elicited in response to the interview questions: “What other consistent health-

related practices have you tried and how would you describe the outcome?” and “Tell me

about other times you have tried something like this program; how did it turn out?” It

relates to the superordinate theme External Influences (Current and Prior).

Paradigm—an interrelated set of assumptions about the social world that provides a

philosophical and conceptual framework that sets the context for a research study

(Ponterotto, 2005).

Past Exposure—a term particular to this study. It is operationally defined as any response

offered by a participant in the study in response to the question: “Tell me about your past

involvement or exposure to mindfulness-based practices?” or which a participant

otherwise mentioned during the interview. It relates to the superordinate theme External

Influences (Current and Prior).

Peer Influence—a special use of a term particular to this study. It is operationally defined as the

study participant’s report of the effect on their mindfulness-based practice of the

perceived thoughts, actions, or comments of people whom they categorize as peers. It

relates to the superordinate theme The Role of Community.

Perceived Barriers—a term particular to this study. It is operationally defined as any physical,

mental or emotional barriers to the adoption, or growing mastery, of mindfulness. It

relates to the superordinate theme Internal Aspects of Persistence.

Perceived Benefits of Action—a term particular to this study. It is operationally defined as any

physical, mental or emotional benefits, including a growing mastery of mindfulness itself.

It relates to the superordinate theme Internal Aspects of Persistence.

Persistence—the fact of continuing in a course of action despite difficulty (Oxford University

Press).

Plan—creates “a method for achieving an end” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2020c)

Positionality—the point of view of a researcher, their biases, and subjective values (Banks,

2006; Machi & McEvoy, 2012).

Positive Activity-Related Affect—a term particular to this study. It is operationally defined as

positive feelings about mindfulness-based practices before, during, or after practicing, as

well as a broad appreciation of these practices as being generally beneficial to one’s self

and others. It relates to the superordinate theme Internal Aspects of Persistence.

Post-Positivism—a research paradigm using deduction through hypothesizing, variable

identification, and quantitative measurement within controlled experiments or quasi-

controlled experiments (Butin, 2009).

Qualitative Research—uses the tools of interviewing, observation, and text analysis to get at

people’s attitudes, experiences, and beliefs (Pathak, Jena & Kalra, 2013).

Quantitative Research—data is represented as numbers and is studied to be able to predict

outcomes and produce generalizable findings. It attempts to answer the questions of what,

where, and when (Butin, 2009).

Self-Efficacy—Albert Bandura defined perceived self-efficacy as “personal judgments of one’s

capabilities to organize and execute courses of action to attain designated goals.”

(Zimmerman, 2000, p. 2).

Situational Influences—a term particular to this study. It is operationally defined as stimuli that

aid in either the adoption or their eschewing of mindfulness-based practices. They tie to

the actions of others and their effect on the participant. They range from direct

interactions to something as diffuse as incitements from the zeitgeist. They can be

contemporaneous or from the past. It relates to the superordinate theme External

Influences (Current and Prior).

Sociocultural Factors—a term particular to this study. It is operationally defined as the impacts

of one’s community of parents, peers, schooling, religion, and cultural identity on how

one feels about mindfulness-based practices.

Superordinate Theme—is a category created by the researcher, a posteriori, that bundles

together other coded themes [and HPM components] to create a higher order of

classification.

The Role of Community—a term particular to this study. It is operationally defined as the

presence of, influence by, or sharing with, others. It includes a self-reported inclination or

disinclination to join with others rather than be solitary. It is composed of observable and

non-observable factors. It is one of three superordinate themes.

Worker—special use of this mundane term, as opposed to the term “employee,” is intentional. A

worker carries the connotation of a lower-level person while being detached from the

concept of an “employee,” where the organization itself is foregrounded. The working

person, and their choices vis a vis work, is central here. Workers can “self-empower,”

even if the organization is offering the program for its own benefit.

Now that the research context has been given, along with some key terms, the following section of this chapter will include a description and discussion of the theoretical framework that is underpinned by Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (1986).

Selection of Theoretical Framework

Due to the gap in research into Mindfulness Meditation Persistence Motivation (a term created for this study), the theoretical framework that was used by this study is that of exercise motivation, which Wood (2008) differentiates into seven main types. The choices for this study were narrowed from Wood’s seven to three: (1) the Health Promotion Model, because meditating can be shown to be health-promoting; or (2) the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change, where a progression from pre-contemplation to maintenance occurs; or (3) Social Cognitive

Theory, where modeling, persuasion, and mastery are a few of the key components toward positive behavioral change of all kinds. Some may ask whether exercise motivation theories, models and frameworks are always tied to increased well-being; and it is hard to see many alternatives except for enhancing the skill of competitive athletes and for certain types of aesthetic enhancement. Ultimately, it seems a fitting analogy for this study.

The need for a range of choices, as presented by Woods (2008), stemmed from two considerations. One: There are many theories of motivation, but in an earlier iteration, this researcher applied Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow, 2000), but found it to be too limited.

Two: Much of qualitative research starts with a potential theoretical framework, but the researcher must be wary of trying to fit the data to the model rather than finding a model to explain the data. Therefore, a flexibility in the approach is advantageous. In the end, this study is informed by Pender, Murdaugh and Parsons’ (2014) revised Health Promotion Model (HPM) which is wide ranging—creating flexibility—but which is also specific in its use of Social

Cognitive Theory (SCT) as a key underpinning of the HPM. In the end, both the HPM and SCT aid in the initial study design and ultimate sense-making.

Health Promotion as Background

Why reference the Health Promotion Model at all when a single component has been selected that stands alone as a theory? The reason is because if the findings do not align with

Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), then there are still options from the HPM framework to assist with meaning-making. Moreover, Ronis, Hong and Lusk (2006) found that the revised

HPM had more explanatory power than the original HPM in their research with construction workers. There are more than 8,000 citations of Pender et al.’s book Health Promotion in

Nursing Practice (2006), with over 2,000 citations occurring since 2015, according to Google

Scholar. While located in the field of nursing practice, it has been used often in the study of exercise motivation (Wood, 2008) with non-patient populations. Such populations have included firefighters (MacKinnon et al., 2010), healthy youth (Beets et al., 2010; Mohamadian & Arani

2014; Robbins et al., 2013), US military women (Agazio & Buckley, 2010); employees in a milk plant (Vahedian-Shahroodi et al., 2013), and students (Vakili et al., 2011). Since there is a lack of research in Mindfulness Meditation Persistence Motivation, a practical corollary was sought in which to locate this study in the discourses of motivation. Since exercise and mindfulness practices share a vast literature of proven benefits, the application of the revised HPM was chosen in order to leverage its multifaceted structure. That structure includes the effects of the following factors: individual characteristics and experiences; behavior-specific cognitions and affect; and actual behavioral outcomes. Below is a conceptual map of the reasoning behind this decision to apply this model to this research. Its culmination, where Bandura’s Social Cognitive

Theory is highlighted as a key component theory, is presented.

Figure 2: Selection of HPM Framework’s Component Theory

Interestingly, a dissertation by Bronson (2017), entitled Using mindfulness to decrease burnout and stress among nurses working in high intensity areas, is used Pender’s HPM as its theoretical framework. While it used the model to study the utility of mindfulness in a workplace, Bronson chose quantitative methods and did not delve into the persistence in using the practices or the motivation for doing so.

More About the Revised Health Promotion Model

Nola Pender, Professor Emerita at The University of Michigan School of Nursing, started to write about models related to health behavior in 1975 (Pender, 2010). She first published her

Health Promotion Model in 1982, and it was revised in 1996 (Pender, 2011). Along with colleagues, the eighth edition of the textbook Health Promotion in Nursing Practice was

34 published in 2018 (Murdaugh, Parsons & Pender, 2018). Below, the essential features of the model are presented as they relate to Figure 3. They include: individual characteristics and experiences; behavior-specific cognitions; and affect and actual behavioral outcomes.

Figure 3: Health Promotion Model (Revised) (Pender et al., 2014)

Individual Characteristics and Experiences

Pender et al. (2014) incorporate individual characteristics and experiences into their model. Of relevance is prior-related behavior and personal factors which could be biological, psychological, and/or sociocultural in nature. Examples of prior-related behavior could be walks in nature. Personal factors could be fidgetiness. Sociocultural factors could be that, in certain

35 cultures, women may do some activities while men do others. All of these could affect the motivation to engage in health-promoting behaviors. 3

Behavior-Specific Cognitions and Affect

Pender et al. posit that individual characteristics and experiences, in turn, have an impact on behavior-specific cognitions and affect. These “cognitions” have to do with the perceived benefits and barriers to action—whether that action is exercising or, as is even more relevant here, meditating. The feeling that one gets when doing the activity comes into play. Equally, so does the influence of family and peers, as well as situational influences and options. So, other people and the situational characteristics can have an impact on whether the “health-promoting behavior” is carried out. For example, if a spouse is not supportive of the time taken to engage in an activity, this may dampen its appeal.

Actual Behavioral Outcomes

Closing in on the desired behavior, Pender et al.’s model accounts for the person’s commitment to action and then on the effect of competing demands. The competing demands can be overwhelming where the person has little control; or what can be overwhelming can be merely a large range of available preferences to choose from, where there is seemingly more choice involved. In either case, it is here where the final go/no-go decision is made. Will the person engage in the health-promoting behavior – for example, bike riding or meditation – or will all their past experiences and current circumstances militate against it?

3 Interestingly, introversion and extroversion although not called out in the HPM, fit well within the concept of psychological factors as they are tied to levels of sociability, spontaneity, and self- control (Swickert et al., 2002).

Critiques of Health Promotion Perspective

While the HPM seemed to be a good fit for this study, it does have detractors. There are a number of critics of Health Promotion tactics and concepts. For example, Grace (1991), posited that health promotion is controlling rather than empowering, which is a direct contradiction to the goals of this study. Kulbok, Baldwin, Cox and Duffy (1997) stated that the health promotion research literature prior to and including their era lacked conceptual clarity and therefore good measurement. They pointed out the muddle around the concepts of disease prevention, positive health promotion, safety practices, and harmful substance avoidance. The fact that the avoidance of harm, and the practice of positive practices, are lumped into unitary scores is problematic.

Srof & Velsor-Friedrich (2006), indicate that Pender’s model is not a good fit for adolescents.

For example, much of self-efficacy in the model is based on experience which cannot be relied upon due to the developmental transitions undergone by teens. Whitehead (2009) indicates that nursing-related health promotion is not congruent with the practices of the wider health promotion community. In all these ways, the HPM and the concept of health promotion have been criticized. Fortunately, in this study, the issues of empowerment versus the subjugation of workers were surfaced and discussed. Furthermore, due to the qualitative approach, there was no mathematical conflation of affirmative and avoidant behaviors. This study had working adults as its subject, so the fleeting experiences of teens were not a factor. And finally, the criticism by

Whitehead (2009) was taken to heart, as it is a goal of this study to feed into potential policymaking. So, any disconnect between Pender et al.’s model and that of more widespread health promotion in the wider community had to be considered.

Social Cognitive Theory

If the Pender Model is so comprehensive, why foreground one of its component theories?

The answer is that taking into account too many aspects of a model might muddy the waters rather than clarify things. So, the Social Cognitive Theory, which was developed by Albert

Bandura (1986) can be considered a lynchpin. Bandura posited that outcomes (results) affect motivation two ways. They promote or suppress subsequent action. Also important is a sense of one’s own self-perception of efficacy, which relates one’s feeling of being capable to “organize and execute courses of action to attain designated goals” (Zimmerman, 2000, p. 2) and relates to the hope that one can come closer to their own “ideal self” (Boyatzis & Akrivou, 2006). So, people will try harder and longer if they believe they will succeed. Examples of recent studies relying on Social Cognitive Theory include the following: promoting physical activity among college students (Marmo, 2013); predicting exercise behavior in cancer survivors (Basen-

Engquist, Carmack, Li, Brown, Jhingran, Hughes, Perkins, Scruggs, Harrison, Baum, Bodurka &

Waters, 2013), in busy parents (Mailey, Phillips, Dlugonski & Conroy, 2016), and in pre- diabetics (Taylor, Raine, Plotnikoff, Vallance, Sharma, & Spence, 2016); and discerning the mediating effects of mindfulness on self-efficacy in the context of abusive supervision (Zheng, &

Liu, 2017). Most relevant to this study, Birdee, et al. (2018) created a self-efficacy measure specifically for mindfulness meditation practice.

Critiques of Social Cognitive Theory

As can be seen above, Pender’s HPM has its detractors. Likewise, Bandura’s Social

Cognitive Theory (SCT) has been critiqued from a number of angles. Sutton et al (1999) indicated that is has been misapplied to the study of bullying, where it supports the stereotype of

38 an oafish perpetrator but discounts the reality of a skilled manipulator. Perry (2000) indicates that Social Cognitive Theory discounts the role of societal or institutional norms. Therefore, it is too reductive. Young et al (2014), in their meta-analysis of Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) and physical activity studies, found that SCT explained 31% of the variance in physical activity, but that many of the studies were methodologically weak. They also found that outcome expectations, a major component of SCT, had inconsistent influence. Stacey et al. (2014) also did a meta-analysis of numerous SCT studies. Interestingly, they mention that some researchers have been questioning whether the theory has any value at all in designing, executing, and appraising interventions. Prestwich et al. (2015), agrees that using theory to drive intervention design is not a guarantee of success. Carillo (2010), specializes in the area of information technology adoption, in which SCT has often been featured. His critique is that only certain aspects of

SCT—particularly self-efficacy—have been studied consistently. In contrast, outcome expectations, emotional issues, and past outcomes have been overlooked.

In these critiques of SCT, there are charges of misapplication, fragmentation, and poor design. Some of these researchers even question whether theories are useful at all when designing a program. The aspiration of the present study was to be open-ended, applying qualitative techniques with SCT as a potential theory to explain Mindfulness Meditation

Persistence Motivation. If SCT were to turn out to be a poor fit, other aspects of the Health

Promotion Model could be examined for any utility in identifying major themes.

Summary

In Chapter 1, it was explained that the purpose of the study was to explore the phenomenon of Mindfulness Meditation Persistence Motivation in the context of a workplace

39 meditation program. The specific focus stemmed from the realization that workers could be happier in often-unhappy work circumstances if they were to adopt mindfulness-based practices.

The case was made that practices are no longer obscure, since they have fully entered the zeitgeist. So, workers have been told that these practices will help them—but will they commit to them and adopt them faithfully? If yes, what does that look like? If not, what does that look like?

Future chapters will delve into this topic.

Dissertation Overview

The previous chapter introduced the study. Next, Chapter Two reviews literature on happiness in the workplace as well as the history of scholarship on the benefits of mindfulness- based practices. It discusses research on motivation and makes a case for using a framework model—particularly, a component theory often applied to exercise motivation—in the current study on Mindfulness Meditation Persistence Motivation. Chapter Three presents the methodology used to study the phenomenon of interest—a case study in two workplace settings.

Chapter Four presents the highlights of the analysis. Chapter Five presents the results of the study; implications for policy; future research; and limitations. The appendices include evidence of IRB approval; recruitment material; and protocols.

Chapter Two: Literature Review

Some say meditation is ancient; others say it is a contemporary fad. Some think workers should submit to their bosses; others think there should be no bosses. Some people need to get up and move around to be healthy; others need to “sit” to get centered. This literature review is concerned with happiness in the workplace, with a focus on mindfulness practices and workers’ motivation to adopt and persist in using the practices. To set the broadest possible context, first it explores the history of meditation’s coming to the West. Second, it examines the increasing pervasiveness of meditation and mindfulness in the current timeframe, including a potential watering-down of the practices for mainstream use. Third, it establishes that workplaces are often places of suffering. Fourth, it discusses various kinds of meditation. Fifth, it reviews mindfulness practices, both meditation—and non-meditation-based. Sixth, it discusses how mindfulness practices can mitigate unhappiness as well as how such practices offer other well- documented benefits, some of which are directly tied to the workplace. Seventh, it focuses on motivation literature, including studies related to exercise motivation, ending with the recommendation of exploring workers’ motivation to adopt, and persist in, practices which they have been told are good for them.

History of Mindfulness-Based Practices’ Coming to the West

So, is meditation a fad? Well, it has a long history. The more recent history of mindfulness practices’ becoming known and then being utilized in the West in the last hundred years is interesting. Note the timeline presented farther below. One will see that a kind of alchemy was at work to create the widespread dissemination of today. To put it into perspective,

Siddhārtha Gautama, known as the historical Buddha, lived over two millennia ago, around 500

BCE (Who2 Biographies, 2018). This is relevant because one of the main tools of Buddhism is mindfulness practices, which are part of the Buddha’s “Eightfold Path” (Walpola, 2018). Two and a half millennia later, during the first two decades of the twentieth century, important teachers from the East were being born on the Indian subcontinent. They included Dipa Ma, who would later be a key teacher to Westerners (Kornfield, 2018; Lion’s Roar, 2017; Shaheen, 2016;

Salzberg, 2018b) and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (Mason, 1994) who founded Transcendental

Meditation. In the decades of the 1930s–1950s, Americans such as Joseph Goldstein (JewAge,

2018), Jack Kornfield (Famous Birthdays, 2018), and Sharon Salzberg (Salzberg, 2018a), who would eventually bring meditation practices to the West, were being born. The same decades birthed the future researchers Herbert Benson (Horstman et al., 2010), Jon Kabat-Zinn (JewAge,

2015), and Ellen Langer (Langer, 2018), all of whom would later scientifically study the benefits of meditation and/or mindfulness. Meanwhile, throughout this period, the Beat poets became interested in Zen Buddhism, with Gary Snyder, a contemporary of Jack Kerouac, moving to

Japan for 10 years, returning in 1956 to share his knowledge through published writings

(Biography.com, 2014). Subsequently, Kerouac published his novel, The Dharma Bums in 1959

(Lelyveld, 1997), the same year Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of Transcendental Meditation, made his very first visit to the US (Perera, 2015). Clearly, knowledge about ideas and practices from the East were filtering through to a portion of the American public interested in the Beats through their writing, but mainstream adoption would be years away. What was needed was wider circulation and a way to make the practices seem mainstream. That coming together got underway in the middle 1960s when future famous meditation teachers Goldstein (Dharma.org,

2018) and Kornfield (Kornfield, 2018) independently moved to Thailand as part of the Peace

Corps. Meanwhile, the Beatles met Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in England in 1967 (Transcendental

Meditation, 2014), bringing an awareness of meditation to the mainstream in a pop culture sort of way. On the scientific front, practitioners of Transcendental Meditation approached Herbert

Benson in 1968 to do research on them. Benson at first resisted (Perera, 2015). Meanwhile, in

Buffalo NY, Sharon Salzberg was in college, being soon to go to India on independent study in

1970 (Salzberg, 2018a). Benson eventually relented and started to work with Maharishi Mahesh

Yogi to study the healthful effects of Transcendental Meditation around 1970 (Perera, 2015).

Kornfield returned from his travels, now a Buddhist monk in 1972 (Linthicum, 2010). Soon afterwards, Naropa University, which bills itself as the “birthplace of the modern mindfulness movement,” was founded in 1974 in Boulder Colorado (Naropa University, 2018). Naropa is where Kornfield, Salzberg and Goldstein met (Prebish, 2002). Blum (2014) pulls the story together by asserting that the Insight Meditation community in the United States was germinated offshore in the 1960s when three young Americans – Goldstein, Kornfield, and Salzberg – went

East separately and then came back to the US to share what they had learned from the Theravada

Buddhist perspective of South and Southeast Asia. Still in their early ’20s and ’30s, they co- founded the Insight Meditation Society in 1976 in Massachusetts (Salzberg, 2018a). By 1979, the

14th Dalai Lama had made his first visit to the United States (Blakemore, 2015), including a visit to their Insight Meditation Society (Greenslit, 2016). Some might say that a trio of “kids” attracting a visit from the Dalai Lama was stunning. That was the same year Herbert Benson started researching Tibetan monks at the request of the Dalai Lama (Blakemore, 2015). Moving into the 1980s, Jon Kabat-Zinn (1982) published his early work on the benefits of mindfulness meditation on chronic pain; and Ellen Langer (1989) published her early work on mindlessness- mindfulness. The closing of a major chapter occurred when Dipa Ma – a teacher of Goldstein,

Kornfield, and Salzberg (Kornfield, 2018; Shaheen, 2016; Salzberg, 2018b) – died in 1989

(Lion’s Roar, 2017). More recently, the Maharishi died in 2008 (Mason, 1994). However, their legacy lives on through their successors.

One can see from this brief history that Westerners had to go to the East to find the knowledge and bring it back – doing so first through writing, as the Beats did. Then, meditation centers in the US were founded by immigrants such as Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the 1960s and returning ex-pats such as Goldstein, Kornfield, and Salzberg in the 1970s. But it was the mainstream legitimation of mindfulness-based practices by scientists such as Benson, Kabat-

Zinn, and Langer in the 1970s and 1980s who showed that these seemingly esoteric practices could have many practical health benefits. These are the elements that, when combined, are arguably what resulted in the pervasiveness of mindfulness-based practices in use today. Of course, commercialization is also an important, if sometimes cheapening, catalyst that will be discussed as well.

Timeline: History of Meditation’s Coming to the West Event Date Reference Historical Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama’s Circa (Who2 Biographies, 2018) estimated birth and death dates. Born in 563— Nepal. circa 483 BCE Taught the Noble Eightfold Path, which (Walpola, 2018) refers to mindfulness. Dipa Ma, a spiritual teacher, is born in 1911 (Lion’s Roar, 2017) what is now Bangladesh. (Shaheen, 2016) She is one of the main teachers of Kornfield, Salzberg, and Goldstein (Kornfield, 2018)

(Salzberg, 2018b) Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of 1918 (Mason, 1994) Transcendental Meditation, is born in India

Herbert Benson, meditation researcher, is 1935 (Horstman & American, 2010) born in the US The 14th Dalai Lama is born in Tibet 1935 (British Broadcasting Corporation, 2014) Joseph Goldstein, meditation teacher, is 1944 (Jewage, 2018) born in the US Jon Kabat-Zinn, mindfulness researcher, 1944 (JewAge, 2015) is born in the US Jack Kornfield, meditation teacher, born 1945 (Famous Birthdays, 2018) in the US Ellen Langer, mindfulness researcher, is 1947 (Langer, 2018) born in the US Sharon Salzberg, meditation teacher, is 1952 (Salzberg, 2018a) born in the US Gary Snyder, Beat poet (b. 1930 in US)— 1956 (Biography.com, 2014) moves to Kyota Japan to study Zen Buddhism. He is a contemporary of Jack Kerouac Maharishi Mahesh Yogi makes his first 1959 (Perera, 2015) visit to the US Jack Kerouac (1922-1969), Beat Poet, 1959 Lelyveld, J. (1997) publishes the Dharma Bums, a novel Joseph Goldstein goes to Thailand for the 1965 (JewAge, 2018) Peace Corps Jack Kornfield goes to Thailand for the 1967 (Kornfield, 2018) Peace Corps The Beatles meet Maharishi Mahesh Yogi 1967 (Transcendental Meditation, 2014) in England Practitioners of Transcendental 1968 (Perera, 2015) Meditation approach Herbert Benson to do research on them. He resists at first. Gary Snyder returns to the US and 1970 (Biography.com, 2014) spreads knowledge of the Eastern practices through writing. Sharon Salzberg goes to India on 1970 (Salzberg, 2018a) independent study Hebert Benson starts to work with Circa 1970 (Perera, 2015) Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Jack Kornfield comes back to the US as a 1972 Linthicum, K. (2010) Buddhist monk Naropa University is founded in Boulder 1974 Prebish, C. (2002) Colorado; Kornfield, Salzberg and Goldstein meet there (Naropa University, 2018)

Herbert Benson publishes The Relaxation 1975 (Benson, 1976) Response

The Insight Meditation Society at Barre, 1976 (Salzberg, 2018a) MA is founded by Kornfield, Salzberg, and Goldstein Herbert Benson commences researching 1979 (Perera, 2015) Tibetan monks at the request of the 14th Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama visits the US for first 1979 (Blakemore, 2015) time, and visits Kornfield, Salzberg, and Goldstein at the Insight Meditation (Greenslit, 2016) Society. Jon Kabat-Zinn publishes An outpatient 1982 (Kabat-Zinn, 1982) program in behavioral medicine for chronic pain patients based on the practice of mindfulness meditation: Theoretical considerations and preliminary results Dipa Ma dies 1989 (Lion’s Roar, (2017)

Ellen Langer publishes Minding matters: 1989 (Langer, 1989) The consequences of Mindlessness– Mindfulness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi dies 2008 Mason (1994)

Table 1: Timeline: History of Meditation’s Coming to the West

The Pervasiveness of Meditation and Mindfulness (including McDonaldization)

In this second decade of the 21st century, a fascination with meditation and mindfulness is all around us. It has entered the zeitgeist. There are workplace programs, phone apps, conferences, books, popular magazine articles, and blogs, seemingly everywhere. Some might say it is a fad. Only time will tell.

A sample of workplace programs includes corporations such as American Express,

Apple, Comcast, Deutsche Bank, Facebook, Ford, General Mills, Goldman Sachs, Google,

Hughes Aircraft, LinkedIn, Salesforce, and Twitter with sponsored mindfulness programs for employees (Dhiman, 2009; Kim, 2018). Kim (2018) references a 2017 survey by Fidelity

Investments and the National Business Group on Health, stating that over a third of employers already had mindfulness training programming. A quarter of those surveyed might add it in the future. Kim adds that there were over 2,000 meditation studios in the US, as of 2017, plus at least

14 residential meditation retreat centers.

Popular phone apps include: The Mindfulness App; Headspace; Calm; MINDBODY;

Buddhify; Insight Timer; Smiling Mind; Meditation Timer Pro; Sattva; Stop, Breathe & Think;

10% Happier; Breethe; Simply Being; and Omvana (Healthline, 2018).

A Google search on the phrase “conference on mindfulness” on 8-6-2018 retrieved countless offerings for 2018—some domestic, some international, some with a broad focus, and some with a topical focus such as addiction or education (with at least three focusing on the workplace). The list included: the International Conference on Mindfulness in Amsterdam; the

Nation of Learning Excellence’s Mindfulness in Education in Mumbai; the World Summit on

Mindfulness and Stress Management in Boston; Mindfulness in Society in New Hampshire; The

National Conference on Trauma, Addictions, and Mindfulness: Where Freud Meets Buddha in

Chicago; the Mindfulness in America Summit in New York City; the Mindfulness Summit and

InterActive Dialogue in Arizona; the Mindful Workplace Summit in the Bay Area; the online

Mindfulness at Work Summit; and finally, the Mindfulness and Compassion at Work Summit in

Madrid.

A search on 8/6/2018 within Amazon for books published after December 2017 with the exact word “mindfulness” in the title yielded over 1,000 results. Several magazines are published in English on the topic; these include Mindful, Psychology Today, Wellbeing, Breathe, In the

Moment, and Flow (Hello Peaceful Mind, 2018). There are numerous blogs such as: The Blissful

Mind, Embracing Simple Blog, Mind Body Green, Yogi Approved, and Tiny Buddha (Lane,

2016).

Also, mindfulness-based practices have entered, perhaps inundated, the academy. For example, starting in 2000, 1,207 English-language peer-reviewed articles, with the words

“mindful” or “mindfulness” in the title, have been published (Scholar OneSearch query

8/4/2018).

Of course, with the popularization of any interest, the forces of the marketplace come into play; and this can lead to the “McDonaldization” of something that originally had great value

(Ritzer, 2005). In the case of mindfulness practices, there is a risk of de-evolution into

“McMindfulness” in which the goals of the organization, such as profit, are paramount (Hyland,

T, 2015). This amounts to the cheapening of what was a spiritual practice, becoming instead a commodity. Although with the caveat that there may be a potential watering-down of an ancient practice 4, it may be worth examining how it can be applied to some pressing societal problems—workplace unhappiness, for instance.

Happy and Unhappy Workplaces

Some might say that there are more pressing problems than happiness at work. Many people don’t have a job at all. Others are sick, live in war-torn countries, or are refugees. Yet, for those in the US who can work, they spend much of their lives there, with 70% working for others rather than being self-employed (Kochhar, 2015). Some management research places the responsibility for positive workplace functioning with leadership such as the (2013) finding by

4 Beyond a “watering-down,” Purser (2019), a strong critic of workplace programming, holds to the view that mindfulness-based interventions have value for individuals; but if the worker does not use what they learn, in order to resist capitalistic harms through “constructive activism,” then “neo-liberalism” (damaging capitalism) holds the strongest sway.

Kelloway et al. that positive leadership behaviors are correlated with positive affect in employees. Likewise, Sadri et al. (2011) posit that a thoughtful and empathic leader will inspire others with a further finding that empathic bosses are rated as better performers by their own bosses. Jung et al. (2000) found that transformational leaders, in contrast to transactional leaders, correlated with improved follower performance. Also, as found in Petty et al.’s (1984) review of many workplace studies, there was a strong correlation between overall job satisfaction and performance. In these examples, the organization, as well as each worker, benefits. To that end,

Cable et al. (2013) suggest that good onboarding leads to better retention and happier workers.

McClurg (2001) proposes that employees will be happy if there is a good rewards program. What these findings have in common is their top-down nature. All of them are outside the control of the lower-level employee—and that is unfortunate, because workplaces are notoriously stressful

(Galloway, 2014). They have sometimes felt, and can feel, abusive to workers (Burton et al.,

2012), especially lower-status workers (Long, 1998). Leaders who are intimidators or avoiders have subordinates who are less engaged, less satisfied and more burnt-out (Leary, 2013). In addition to the existence of toxic bosses, (Padilla, Hogan & Kaiser, 2007), workers can experience unsafe workplaces (Christian et al., 2009) and uncertain economic futures (Krol,

2014). Consequently, a caring boss sets in motion job satisfaction that, in turn, enhances employee performance. Many might say that the ends of worker happiness justify the means of the corporate promotion of empathy, even if it is just aimed at profit-making. Ronald E. Purser

(2019) would only agree with this if the workers are able to recognize that their “unhappiness” was not of their own making in the first place. So, while interventions at the level of management (or the entire workplace) may be warranted, it might also make sense to start at the individual level where the employee can self-empower by learning to practice mindfulness

49 meditation. Numerous researchers have examined the salutary effects of mindfulness at work, and these are discussed briefly below. But first comes a discussion of meditation, which (further on below) is proposed as a possible antidote to stressful workplaces.

Types of Meditation

Some might say the proliferation of mindfulness-based practices is confusing if not overwhelming. It is true that there are many types of meditation. One is “loving-kindness” meditation, which, per Salzberg and Kabat-Zinn (2004), is a technique used to increase positive feeling toward others. Loving-kindness meditators practice thinking phrases such as: “may you be healthy; may you be happy; may you be safe” in relation to a single person—themselves, groups of people, and then all beings everywhere. Another type of meditation is Transcendental

Meditation (TM), which is practiced sitting comfortably with the eyes closed while thinking of a mantra, described as a word without meaning. There is no attempt to control breathing or to attend to the senses or to the body (Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary, 2012). There are religiously-based meditation practices such as Muslim Praying Meditation. Here, one turns inward to contemplate the divine presence of God. The essence of it is that during prayer, one eschews the superficial world (which is based in time) in favor of that which is timeless

(Aldahadha, 2013).

One might ask how so many approaches can be studied in a coherent way. This has been done by codifying one approach, called mindfulness meditation. It has been standardized as an

“intervention” in many studies. Many research protocols use the highly-structured Mindfulness

Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) as the intervention. MBSR takes place over eight weeks with group meetings once every week for two-and-one-half to three hours plus an all-day session after

50 week six, plus an at-home practice of forty-five minutes for six out of seven days per week. It is comprised of a body scan (e.g. “feel your feet”; etc.), sitting meditation, walking meditation, yoga, light reading, and group discussion and exercises (MacCoon, et al., 2012). Of course, there are other standardizations; but this one is illustrative.

One can see that “meditation,” defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2020b) as being

“the act or process of spending time in quiet thought,” is an umbrella term under which numerous practices can be placed. Next, one homes in on the concept of “mindfulness.”

Mindfulness

Some might think the concept of mindfulness is as big a mixed bag as that of meditation. In a sense, they are right. The study of mindfulness has many facets to it, and mindfulness itself has many definitions (please see Table 2 below).

A Sampling of Definitions of Mindfulness Author (date) Definition Adapted from OED (1530) OED records the use of the English ‘mindfulness’ in the Rupert Gethin sense of “the state or quality of being mindful; attention; (2011) memory (obs.); intention, purpose (obs.),” from 1530 (www.oed.com).

A Sampling of Definitions of Mindfulness Author (date) Definition Adapted from T.W. Rhys Sati (in its Pali form) / Rupert Gethin Davids (1881) Smrti (in it Sanskrit form) (2011) A Buddhist technical term translated as “mindfulness”: “[I]f you consistently “remember” what it is you are doing in any given moment, you will truly see what it is you are doing; and in truly seeing what it is you are doing, those of your deeds, words and thoughts that are motivated by greed, hatred and delusion will become impossible for you.” Nyanaponika “In its elementary manifestation, known under the term Rupert Gethin (1962) [‘attention,’] it is one of the cardinal functions of (2011) consciousness without which there cannot be perception of any object at all.” Jack Kornﬁeld “The most direct way to understand our life situation, Rupert Gethin (1977) who we are and how we operate, is to observe with a (2011) mind that simply notices all events equally. This attitude of non-judgmental, direct observation allows all events to occur in a natural way. By keeping attention in the present moment, we can see more and more clearly the true characteristics of our mind and body process.” Jon Kabat-Zinn “Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: Rupert Gethin (1994) on purpose, in the present moment, and (2011) nonjudgmentally.” Bishop et al “[A] kind of nonelaborative, nonjudgmental, present- Rupert Gethin (2004) centered awareness in which each thought, feeling, or (2011) sensation that arises in the attentional ﬁeld is acknowledged and accepted as it is.”

A Sampling of Definitions of Mindfulness Author (date) Definition Adapted from Rupert Gethlin “[A]ncient Buddhist texts understand the presence of Rupert Gethin (2011) mindfulness as[,] in effect[,] reminding us of who we are (2011) and what our values are.” Georges “[C]urrent deﬁnitions of mindfulness that emphasize only Williams & Dreyfus (2011) one of the themes present in the historical traditions— Kabat-Zinn present-centered non-judgmental awareness—may miss (2011) some of the central features of mindfulness. He explores the implications for [the] current practice of taking fuller account of those Buddhist texts that present mindfulness as being relevant to the past as well as [to] the present, including a capacity for sustained attention that can hold its object[,] whether the ‘object’ is present or not.” Andrew “The practice becomes one of uncovering the originally Williams & Olendzki pure nature of mind rather than of building up wisdom Kabat-Zinn (2011) upon the prepared ground of mindfulness” (2011) Table 2: A Sampling of Definitions of Mindfulness

Cleary, mindfulness has a variety of descriptions. According to Brown & Ryan, (2003), mindfulness can be considered as being a unique attribute of consciousness that has dispositional/trait elements which may be inborn. It also has state elements that can be influenced by teaching and which can vary over time. Both state and trait mindfulness can be measured by the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS). In addition to considerations of state and trait, Schroevers and Brandsma (2010) broke mindfulness into five aspects: being aware of daily experiences and activities; observing and attending to experiences; disengaging from unpleasant experiences; accepting without judgment; and being open and curious towards unpleasant experiences. They asserted that mindfulness is a skill that can be learned. They also

53 remarked that many scales measure “mindlessness” (such as being on automatic pilot) rather than mindfulness. Littman-Ovadia, Zilcha-Mano and Langer (2014) differentiate between two distinct, but related, concepts. One comes from contemplative traditions such as Buddhism. The other is based on scientific literature from the West. The latter has been operationalized as a

“mind-set of openness to novelty in which the individual constructs categories and distinctions.”

Because of these varying perspectives, it is a beneficial that there are some agreed-upon, validated, and widely used scales and interventions. As one will see next, when measured in a standard way, mindfulness is said to be beneficial.

The Benefits of Being Mindful

While some might object to what they think of as an ancient sacred practice being deconstructed, examined and commercialized, it is indisputable that mindfulness is being studied in a variety of ways, as discussed in this literature review. It has fully entered the mainstream, perhaps because its benefits are well-known. For example, in a 2020 HelpGuide article entitled

“Benefits of Mindfulness,” adapted from a 2019 health report published by Harvard Health

Publishing, mindfulness is recognized as having a long list of benefits (see Table 3 below).

HelpGuide.org (2020)—Benefits of Mindfulness Mindfulness improves well-being.

 Increasing your capacity for mindfulness supports many attitudes that contribute to a satisfied life.  Being mindful makes it easier to savor the pleasures in life as they occur, helps you become fully engaged in activities, and creates a greater capacity to deal with adverse events.  By focusing on the here and now, many people who practice mindfulness find that they are o less likely to get caught up in worries about the future or regrets over the past, o are less preoccupied with concerns about success and self-esteem, and

o are better able to form deep connections with others.

Mindfulness improves physical health.

If greater well-being isn’t enough of an incentive, scientists have discovered that mindfulness techniques help improve physical health in a number of ways. Mindfulness can:

 help relieve stress,  treat heart disease,  lower blood pressure,  reduce chronic pain,  improve sleep, and  alleviate gastrointestinal difficulties.

Mindfulness improves mental health.

In recent years, psychotherapists have turned to mindfulness meditation as an important element in the treatment of a number of problems, including:

 depression,  substance abuse,  eating disorders,  couples’ conflicts,  anxiety disorders, and  obsessive-compulsive disorder.

HelpGuide.org (2020), Benefits of mindfulness; adapted (with permission) from Positive

Psychology: Harnessing the Power of Happiness, Personal Strength, and Mindfulness by

Harvard Health Publishing

Table 3: Benefits of Mindfulness (HelpGuide, 2020)

The research literature supports these findings. For example, Loving-kindness meditation has been linked with an increase in positive emotions as compared with a control group who just sat with their eyes closed (Fredrickson & Cohn, et al., 2008). Mindfulness meditation has been associated with many positive effects such as increased immune function (Davidson, Kabat-

Zinn, et al., 2003). Schroevers and Brandsma (2010) found that subjects who were more mindful

55 had increases in positive affect and decreases in negative affect. Evans and Eisenlohr-Moul et al.

(2014) found that mindfulness has been used successfully to treat chronic-pain-related conditions. There are many more examples, but these should suffice. Next, one turns to a discussion of mindfulness-based practices as they relate to a workplace setting. In later sections, the specific workplace benefits will be explored.

Mindfulness Programs in the Workplace

Mindfulness can be viewed as a type of health promotion within a workplace. It is common wisdom that exercising, quitting smoking, and eating healthily are worthy goals.

Perhaps that is why workplace health promotion has taken off in the past few years (Mattke,

2012). It is encouraging to learn that, as Burton et al (2012) tells us, higher levels of exercise by supervisors can lessen otherwise negative effects on their relationships with subordinates.

Clearly, “healthy behavior,” when connected with work, can have wide-ranging effects. This section hones in on the practice of mindfulness and its broad applicability to the workplace as another facet of health promotion which itself is underpinned by Social Cognitive Theory. This will be discussed in the following sections. As mentioned above, numerous workplaces have these programs.

Target Populations

The study of the effects of mindfulness, within the workplace, is wide-ranging. For example there has been research done among Thai employees who were meditators

(Charoensukmongkol, 2013), as well as lawyers (Keeva, 2004), primary care physicians (Fortney

2013; Krasner et al., 2009), midwives and nurses (Foureur et al., 2013; Pipe et al., 2009; Sung et

56 al., 2012), various other healthcare professionals (Shapiro et al., 2005), telephone employees

(Carrington et al., 1980), primary school teachers (Gold et al., 2010), and clerical workers (Long,

1998). Every study cited here suggested some sort of positive benefit.

Mindfulness Belongs in the Workplace

Researchers such as Glomb et al. (2009) make the case for mindfulness programs, which are on the rise in work settings (Hyland, P et al., 2015). Studies are being conducted about mindfulness in the workplace (Reb et al., 2014; Shonin et al., 2014) According to Vich (2015), introducing mindfulness-based interventions into workplaces is more practical than ever before.

But, Vich asserts, it is essential that the program be led by a certified facilitator who also practices and is interested in the well-being of others more than corporate profit. Likewise, Crane et al. (2010) contended that the teacher must “walk the walk” and be a meditator; while Woods,

(2009) agreed that teachers should teach from their own experience as an embodiment of mindfulness. In sum, this is a growing trend that runs the risk of inferior implementation. 5

Stipulating that there are credible critics, for this study one assumes a program can be helpful to a participant, and that it can even be able to contribute to a happy work environment.

How Mindfulness Affects Workers

Earlier in this literature review, the benefits of meditation and mindfulness were discussed. Narrowing the focus to a workplace context, one may wonder: Since mindfulness and job satisfaction are positively correlated, (Andrews et al., 2014), and since job satisfaction and job performance are related, (Judge et al., 2001) shouldn’t it make sense to pursue mindfulness

5 As mentioned earlier, Purser (2019) warns of McMindfulness, which he says has a subtle “victim-blaming” approach in which all personal dissatisfaction is said to be the responsibility of the individual.

57 either in one’s spare time or within a work-sponsored program? The answer is yes, since this can lead to lower burnout than non-meditators (Charoensukmongkol, 2013). Also, while working at a place with engaging conditions is associated with lower cortisol levels (Harter et al., 2012) trait- mindfulness of workers correlated with employee well-being even in lower autonomy support environments. Likewise, Schultz (2015) found that mindfulness was also a protective factor in work environments that were more controlling. Those in a mindfulness intervention group had reduced emotional exhaustion and increased job satisfaction (Hülsheger, et al., 2013), and people who practiced mindfulness outside of a work program coped better and remained calmer in difficult work situations (Hunter et al 2008). Mindfulness-based practices seem to leverage what is good and mitigate what is bad within the workplace. Good et al.’s (2015) Integrative

Framework for Relating Mindfulness to Workplace Outcomes is inserted below (see Figure 4).

Figure 4: Integrative Framework Relating to Mindfulness to Workplace Outcomes (Good et al., 2015)

One can see from Good et al.’s Integrative Framework that mindfulness is tied to workplace outcomes in a complex way. Some is based on evidence, such as psychological well- being; with open questions remaining, such as the role of Mindfulness Leadership Training.

Summary: Mindfulness Programs in the Workplace

In this section, mindfulness-based practices within a work setting were presented as being a corollary to other healthy practices such as healthy eating and exercise. It was shown how major corporations have sponsored mindfulness-based programs. It also showed the ways in which researchers have studied the beneficial effects of mindfulness on many kinds of workers.

The effect of leadership style on employees remains pronounced; but mindfulness-based skills, whether acquired at work or away from it, should provide their own benefit to the workers, corporate benefits notwithstanding.

Next is a discussion of motivation. This is applicable because one must be motivated to adopt and persist in the practice of mindfulness in order to benefit from it.

Human Motivation

One may ask: Why does one do what they do? More importantly, why doesn’t one do what they have been told is good for them? This has to do with human motivation, which has been defined variously as “a force or influence that causes someone to do something” (Merriam-

Webster Learner’s Dictionary, 2018); “[i]nternal and external factors that stimulate desire and energy in people to be continually interested and committed to ... attain a goal” (Business

Dictionary Online, 2018) and the “willingness to do something, or something that causes such

60 willingness” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2018). These modern definitions all agree that external and internal factors are at play when determining why a person does something.

Early Researchers

The study of human motivation started with Sigmund Freud’s work on instincts in the early

1900s (Carsrud & Brännback, 2011). A selection of the main researchers in Human Motivation

Theory from 1900 on include: Sigmund Freud, (1856-1939) who wrote a great deal about what he termed the two primary instincts, one toward life—Eros—and the other toward death—

Thanatos (Blass, 2012); B.F. Skinner (1904-1990), who asserted that the way to motivate human behavior was by external means, through observation and control (Black & Allen, 2018);

Abraham Maslow (1908—1970), who spelled-out a “Needs Hierarchy” that posits humans are driven by innate needs ranging from basic survival, to wanting to belong, to the apex: self- realization (Abulof, 2017); David McClelland (1917–1998), who espoused “Need Theory” in which there is a focus on the needs for affiliation, power, and achievement (Garrin, 2014); and finally, Albert Bandura (b. 1925), whose Social Cognitive Theory contained elements of modeling by others and one’s own mastery experiences as the key to produce a person’s desired outcome (Wood, 2008). These wide-ranging theorists have been foundational in research on human motivation in numerous studies.

Aspects of Motivation

The study of human motivation has continued to be multifaceted. Mayer et al. (2007) point to

1930 as being the start of much of the research into motivation, with the two early major branches consisting of psychodynamics (focused on sex, aggression and death) and behaviorism

(responses to stimuli). Mayer et al. indicates that other researchers went on to study curiosity, intrinsic motivation, and extrinsic motivation. Still others created broad categories such as the need for achievement, power, and affiliation. Maslow (1943) is famous for arranging motives into a hierarchy where the bottom consists of essential needs such as safety, while the upper levels culminate in higher-level needs such as self-actualization. Jang et al. (2015) agree that motivation is not monolithic. They argue that motivation is made up of several components such as attitudes, which are a set of acquired feelings; interests, a positive orientation toward something; self-efficacy, where one feels they can achieve something; self-concept, how one thinks of themselves; goals, which represent an individual’s orientation and intention; and value, an individual’s belief about whether something is important. According to Baumeister (2016), motivation theories have addressed specific motivations rather than producing a general theory of motivation. Baumeister’s proposed general theory would need to encompass cognition, emotion, agency, and other psychological processes along with state (impulses) and trait (basic drives) forms of motivation. Baumeister goes on to state that motivation interacts with the environment by reacting to it, adapting to it, and changing it. Clearly, the field of contemporary motivational studies is highly complex. To honor this complexity, this study relies on a pre- existing multi-faceted framework out of which the most salient theoretical component is embraced.

Role of Emotion in Motivation

Some say feelings aren’t facts. Others say perception is reality. One does know that motivations aren’t just factors or forces. Rather, according to Popa et al. (2013), emotions cause motivation—and vice versa. Emotions trigger and guide behavior. So, while one’s needs as a

62 motivational stimulus are important, the role of emotions, intention, and the available means to satisfy the needs are also critical. Popa et al. indicate that the three aspects of motivation are: cognitive, affective, and volitional motivation. Especially relevant to this paper is the researchers’ finding that a well-balanced emotional climate enhances individual and group motivation at the workplace.

Seaton et al.’s (2015) study found that participants who had positive emotions induced through researcher-manipulation reported signiﬁcantly more personal growth goals. It also found that those that reported positive emotions showed ego-resilience, which is thought to “build” emotional resources. Findings suggest that positive emotions and ego-resilience jointly support well-being. Juergensen and Demaree (2015) took a different tack and prompted subjects to think of a dessert’s negative qualities. When they did so, the subjects took a lower proportion of unhealthy snacks as compared to healthy ones. This study suggested that successful reappraisal

(resulting in a decreased feeling of desire) when presented with dessert images may help participants resist unhealthy food choices. In this case, pairing negative thoughts with behaviors one wants to avoid also harnessed emotion in an effective way.

Some might ask how feelings and emotions can be studied when they are interior to the person. McCrae (2007) stated that a quick way to determine whether someone is open-minded would be to ask if they have ever experienced “aesthetic chills,” which are defined as those fleeting emotional responses one gets to some music or exposure to other forms of subjective beauty. McCrae states that “openness” is when our consciousness is permeable in a deep and broad way, when one wants to expand upon and examine our experiences. Perhaps openness would help with Mindfulness Meditation Persistence Motivation.

Undoubtedly, there is a strong interplay between emotions and motivation;, so relying on logic to motivate people would be inadequate. Next, what motivates positive behavior, specifically, is explored.

Motivation to Do Things That Benefit Us

The Nike sportswear company says, “Just do it!” Yet, one has seen that motivation is a complex topic and that emotions are integral to it. What motivates people to achieve desired goals is discussed next. Besides goals and plans tied specifically to meditation (Dahl et al.,2015;

Galla, et al., 2016; Gawande, et al., 2019; Welch & Edjlali (2018), examples given here range across the fields of diet, exercise, dental health, and aggression.

If one wants to achieve positive goals, Gollwitzer (2014) advises forming if–then plans, which are implementation intentions, since they can greatly improve goal striving and goal attainment. Riegel, et al. (2019) assert that self-care behaviors congruent with individual goals are more likely to become sustained habits. Hagger et al. (2006), in exploring “self-determination theory” (the quality of a person’s motivation in an environmental context) and the “theory of planned behavior” (immediate beliefs), tried to determine how it influenced exercise and dieting behavior. Hagger et al. found that perceived behavioral control (personal volition) was a very strong predictor of behavior. Similarly, Maglio et al. (2014) found that when participants get to plan what, where, and when they will pursue a goal, it increases the likelihood they will reach that goal. Of course, exercise is doing something, while dieting is abstaining from something.

Perhaps the mechanism for motivation differs in these cases. Handley et al. (2006), in the area of primary healthcare, looked at the effectiveness of patients and their doctors in co-creating plans

64 that led to behavioral change. Many did co-create plans; but whether this would be applicable to meditation is unclear.

Interestingly, Hepler et al. (2012a) notes that goals for inaction (refraining from eating unhealthy food) promote self-control; whereas goals for action can promote impulsive behavior, because the goals modulate physiological resources used to behaviorally execute an action.

Likewise, Milyavskaya (2015) studied effortful self-control, temptations, subjective obstacles, and expended effort. Across these domains, “want-to” motivations (as compared to “have-to” motivations) mitigated disruptions and obstacles. Evidently, planning based on one’s personal wishes is predictive of success in goal attainment but may be associated with impulsivity as well.

Some say you cannot teach an old dog new tricks. Yet Kahana et al. (2005), in studying older subjects, found that a “future orientation” was a motivational antecedent of late-life proactivity, including exercise, which in general declines over time but persists for the future- oriented. Kahana et al. posit that future-oriented thinking may have a positive impact on health promotion behavior. In a broader sense, Abuhamdeh et al. (2012) found that the state of “being in the moment” is related to intrinsic motivation where one does an activity for its own sake. It also helps if the balance of challenges and skills (BCS) is appropriate, meaning that the task that is chosen is not too hard or too easy. The fact that it is a good fit makes it enjoyable.

Csikszentmihalyi (2014) suggests that “happiness consists in complete involvement with a challenging task, from which learning and growth result” (p.172). So, regardless of age, it seems pursuit of personal betterment would be enhanced by a good match between the person and the type and difficulty of the goal.

Also, how health advice is marketed to people has importance. Yi et al. (2009) found that how persuasive a message is depends upon whether it is positive or negative, whether the

65 recipient will gain or lose something, and the type of benefit or harm emphasized. They found that gaining something in the end is more persuasive than loss. Positive emphases are more persuasive than negative ones. Security-related beneﬁts outperform achievement-related beneﬁts.

Yi et al. compared the following: (1) If you eat your fruits and vegetables it will boost your immune system and keep your body healthy and safe; versus (2) if you don’t eat your fruits and vegetables you risk lower achievement on mental tasks, along with a feeling of incompetence.

The former message was a much stronger message in the study and is instructive here.

About that old dog and new tricks? Well, Schutzer et al. (2004) found that predicators of exercise adherence in younger adults do not translate to the elderly. But, since older patients respect the advice of their family doctor with whom they have contact, the doctor can play an important role in promoting and maintaining exercise among older people. The authors also mention self-efficacy, the belief one can do something successfully, as being helpful. Here, success derives from a combination of initial expectations (I can do it) and subsequent results

(see, I did do it!).

Additionally, turning to the domain of meditation, Galla, et al. (2016) found that “action plans” that involved spelling-out in advance “when, where, and how” to engage in meditating worked if the individuals had a more overarching goal to be a meditator “in their daily life” (p.

232). So, a situational desire was not enough. The plan had to be long term. Also, Gawande et al.

(2019) found those chronic disease patients enrolled in a formal meditation program were more likely to make actions plans to improve their health (including by meditating) as compared with those who were just encouraged to use available self-directed resources. Of course, a plan can backfire if it does not integrate with one’s life. Welch & Edjlali (2018) offer a potential solution with their concept of “stapling,” where one takes a recurring mundane situation and attaches the

66 mindfulness-based practice to something that one does already, every day, without fail. This could be commuting, walking the dog and the like. In this way, one doesn’t have to add to one’s already busy schedule.

Some people not only want to improve their own health, they want to help others. Some might say, jokingly, that those who can, do; and those who can’t, teach. But, for those who want to motivate others, Woodin et al. (2012) describes a type of interviewing called “motivational interviewing” that is non-confrontational. It increases time for reflection by the interviewees through open-ended questions. In this case, perpetrators of physical aggression reduced their aggression after treatment. Motivational interviewing is thought to be able to overcome resistance, which is something discussed below. To motivate others, one can also turn to the research of Landau et al. (2014) who found that framing one’s identity (in this case, as a student) as one who is “on a journey” increased confidence and academic engagement. One may wonder if this framing would motivate potential meditators. Suggesting that someone have an exercise partner would be the recommendation of Gore et al. (2016), because relationally autonomous reasons in health behavior (RARHs), which can be operationalized as having an exercise partner, were associated with improved reported effort and progress for women in the study. Perhaps group meditating would provide a “relational reason” along the same lines. In fact, this was suggested as an approach by Elisha Goldstein (Goldstein & Edjlali, 2018) who asserted that once a formal meditation program ends, the actual practices of the individual members dissipate over time. The formation of a “tribe” (practice community) can help sustain the practices (p. 9) according to Goldstein.

Dental health is another area of investigation. Halvari et al. (2006) found that dental patients who received biosocial support which is empathic, patient-centered, and sensitive to

67 patients’ psychological and social needs achieved better dental health outcomes. According to

Halvari et al., Self-determination Theory posits that successful contexts are deﬁned as ones in which the patient is offered a choice by a signiﬁcant other, is given a meaningful rationale, receives minimal pressure, and has their feelings and perspectives acknowledged. Again, those wanting to promote meditation might adapt and leverage similar approaches.

Looking further at research that ties even more closely to the topic at hand (mindfulness, motivation, and work), Sheldon et al. (2014) found that intrinsic motivation, as opposed to extrinsic motivation, predicts higher well-being. Those more likely to “walk their talk,” were older, evidenced higher meaning in life, and a lower search for additional meaning. They also experienced more self-alignment at work. Ruffault et al. (2015), working with French students, identified a relationship between a desire to exercise with self-reported mindfulness. Analyses revealed that self-reported high levels of mindfulness boosted and bridged the desire to exercise, along with actual physical activity levels. One might say that knowing that mindfulness may promote exercise could aid interventionists seeking to promote exercise and mindfulness-based techniques.

Summation: Motivation to Do Things That Benefit Us

In this section, what motivated people to achieve healthy goals was explored. In the domain of meditation, action plans and “stapling” were discussed. Because of the scarcity of literature on pursuing mindfulness as the health-related goal, this literature review also included examples from the domains of healthy eating; exercise; and the like. One learned that making plans figures heavily into achievement with “want-to” motivation being superior to “have-to” motivation. One looked at populations of older and younger people, the perceived level of

68 difficulty of tasks, and how health behavior was marketed. The advice of doctors was posited to help some, including co-creating plans; while the belief one can succeed might help others. An approach called “motivational interviewing” was thought to overcome resistance, while framing an effort as a “journey” was beneficial, at least for students. Finally, having an exercise partner seemed to help because it provided a “relational reason” for engaging in the behavior; and meditation practice communities were recommended to assist in its maintenance. In all these ways, mindfulness, motivation, and work can be unpacked and examined in relation to each other.

Next, in consideration of the flip side of the coin, the following section will address potential barriers to health-promoting behavior.

Barriers to Doing Things That Benefit Us

Nancy Reagan famously said, “Just say no” to drugs. In this case, she wanted her advice to be a barrier to a bad behavior. But there are also barriers to doing what is good for us. Cole

(2014) proposed that if activities are appraised as difﬁcult, then task disengagement may follow.

Perceptual experiences that lead people to appraise a physical task as being extremely difﬁcult may lead to withheld action. Making a task seem less arduous should increase action. In this context, one may wonder if offering “sitting-mindfully classes” at the same time as exercise classes and letting people choose which to attend might highlight the relative ease of sitting— thereby stimulating “task engagement” (to borrow a concept from Cole).

Some may wonder if certain barriers to action may be universal. Lawton et al. (2006) studied British South Asians (Pakistani and Indian participants) who had a high incidence of diabetes to see if they could be motivated to increase their physical activity. The subjects knew it

69 would be good for them, but they felt they lacked time. The researchers suggest that everyday activities that people already do be promoted, rather than trying to introduce new activities.

Newson et al. (2007) studied older Australians to determine what motivates or promotes exercise. They found health concerns to be the strongest motivators, while physical ailments were the most common barriers. The researchers indicated that the lack of an “exercise culture” among older adults, or the presence of lifelong inactivity, could be explanatory. High-level exercisers reported being motivated by the challenge of exercise more than their low-level peers.

Those who value “fitness” reported higher intentions to exercise over the next 4 months. So, overcoming some sort of inertia is key.

Demographics can play a role in refraining from healthy exertion, as discovered by Clark

(1999) in a study with those aged 55 –70 who were under-exercisers per the Centers for Disease

Control recommendations. Black and White under-exercisers were similar, in most respects, but differentiation was found by gender. Regardless of characteristics, most preferred walking. With respect to walking as exercise, environmental barriers such as sidewalk conditions and weather were not mentioned as much as physiological barriers (such as shortness of breath or pain) and psychological barriers (such as social discomfort or lack of motivation) were mentioned. Women said they would be willing to exercise with “like” individuals. The authors think an “exercise prescription” that assures some initial success appears to be the most promising facilitator due to its relationship to motivation and self-efficacy. In short, it is best to start out easy.

Some may wonder if barriers greatly outnumber positive motivators. For example, another psychological barrier was identified by Dimmock et al. (2013) who showed that unless there is an anticipation of variety with respect to types of exercise tasks, there will be less interest and enjoyment in the class. This effect was especially true for those who usually had a lower

70 internal motivation to exercise. Likewise, Hepler et al. (2012b) found that when subjects were exposed to environmental action/nonaction cues, this predicted the amount of time they then chose to exercise. In addition, their past behavior was a moderator, so that individuals who had just engaged in an active task (they had played a videogame) resisted general action (exercising).

The implication of this is that the effectiveness of suggesting that people ‘‘just do it’’ is greatly influenced by the past behavior of the individuals receiving the encouragement. Finally, Gore

(2013) observed that some goals are pursued for oneself (autonomous) and some are imposed upon one. Within the category of autonomous goals, one may do them for personal reasons (e.g., to have fun) and others for relational reasons (e.g., to help others). In the case of relationally autonomous goals, one may be more likely to attain them if one possesses high trait- agreeableness and is highly relational, meaning wanting to help others. So, having goals imposed on them stimulates a person’s resistance; and for those who are less trait-agreeable and relational, goals like finding “exercise buddies” are not motivating.

Summation: Barriers to Doing Things That Benefit Us

In this section, barriers—including thinking a task was too hard or not varied enough— were explored. Some preceding activities could discourage subsequent tasks. Doing something unfamiliar or being told to do something was resisted. Physical ailments, as well as there being a lack of “exercise culture,” were common barriers. Demographic factors were reviewed. For example, most people liked to walk, which might present an opportunity to promote walking meditation. Also, being offered variety could stimulate participation. Having a trusted health care provider prescribe healthy activity, such as meditating, might motivate people. In all these ways, it may be that barriers to adopting or persisting in the practice of meditating could be overcome.

Next, there will be an examination of factors related to the motivation to meditate, which contrasts with the barriers discussed above.

Motivation to Meditate or Not

Some might say that the motivation to exercise and the motivation to meditate are probably not related because one requires moving and the other (in their view) involves being still. That may be true; but there is a dearth of literature on meditation / persistence motivation.

For example, in a literature search to find studies related to motivation and meditation, Google

Scholar and the article databases of Northeastern University were searched in the Fall of 2019 with a combination of “*motivat* *meditation*.” Most of the literature discussed mindfulness’ and meditation’s impact on motivation rather than on the motivation of people to meditate or not.

The few articles found are discussed below.

Shapiro’s (1992) research emphasized the self-regulation and self-exploration aspects of meditation. She indicates that she intentionally divorced the content of the meditation technique from its original spiritual context. In response to the question, “What do you say to yourself when you do not meditate on a given day?” Answers included: “no time,” “too high stress or pain in my life,” “lazy,” “make sure I do it tomorrow,” “I want to break the rules,” and “[I’ll try to] observe the source of the resistance.” Shapiro observed that adherence and compliance in meditation is interesting in that it appears that longer-time meditators are more likely to see their own periodic noncompliance as self-educational rather than as something that requires the blaming of self and/or others. Likewise, Salzberg (2015) counsels against berating oneself for being distracted.

Pepping et al. (2016) found that the main reason for beginning and continuing mindfulness meditation was to lessen emotional distress and increase emotional balance. Many also wished to enhance well-being. In Pepping, very few started or continued for spiritual or religious reasons. Carmody et al. (2009) stated that the primary self-reported intentions for engaging in meditation practice included self-regulation (9.34 out of 10), self-exploration

(8.25/10), and self-liberation (8.26) (wisdom; spirituality; compassion; peace of mind).

McKenzie (2014), in a study in Scotland of a group of people at a Buddhist community, sought out reasons why some people might seek out formal Buddhist organizations and found out such reasons include the following: wanting to learn about Buddhism and/or meditation; for community; to deal with personal, social, health or mental health issues; and to enrich their life.

McKenzie thought that motivation for initial contact versus continuing attendance may differ and evolve. 6 And finally, Vnuk (2016) in a bachelor’s level thesis and qualitative study supported the previous work of Shapiro, (1992) demonstrating that motivations for practicing meditation move along a continuum of self-regulation to self-exploration to self-liberation over time.

Clearly, given this small body of work, there is room for continued research into the motivation to meditate.

Also, what might meditation achieve in a workplace? Harter (2012) found that workers in non-engaging circumstances have less momentary happiness, more stress, and more sadness; and that they excrete more cortisol. To Harter, this suggests that the work situation is correlated with moment-to-moment affective and physiological states. Perhaps mindfulness-based practices could mitigate this negative ongoing experience. Also, Achtziger et al. (2013) found that

6 Regarding the concept of “community”, according to Linton, (2009) Peter Block defined community as a feeling, a sense of interconnectedness, and a shared purpose (p.41). So, the “community” did not have to be as formal as the one experienced by the Buddhists in Scotland.

73 perfectionistic concerns are positively correlated with stress, whereas holding high standards for oneself is negatively correlated with stress. There may be ways to overcome maladaptive perfectionism through increasing self-control, which Achtziger et al. posit is an important general psychological resource associated with controlling thoughts, emotions, impulses, and performance. In sum, self-control helps people adapt to stressful circumstances. Then again, perhaps mindfulness-based practices could help. In both studies, there is evidence that workers can be less stressed at work; and there is evidence, stated elsewhere in this paper, that this is achievable.

Summation: Motivation to Meditate or Not

The gaps in the literature with respect to motivation and meditation were presented above. When reasons for not meditating were found, they consisted of answers such as having

“no time” or being “lazy”; but for those who did persist, one main reason was to lessen emotional distress. Often, religion was not a factor whereas self-regulation was. For those who actively set out to find a formal community, the reasons were quite varied and included wanting to learn about Buddhism; to seek community; and to deal with health issues. Regarding workplace settings, the case was made that those in non-engaging circumstances suffered because they were not oriented moment-to-moment. Perfectionism was also seen as harmful. The good news is that there may be a way to reduce stress through mindfulness-based practices.

Summation: What is Motivation?

Motivation was shown to be a very broad topic, with emotions playing a strong role. The goal was to focus in on what motivates, or prevents, people from engaging in beneficial behavior such as healthy eating and exercise, not to mention mindfulness-based practices.

One can see that there are gaps in understanding about what might motivate people. In the next section, the best path forward is explored.

Exercise Motivation as a Theoretical Framework

The current study was concerned with Mindfulness Meditation Persistence Motivation; but, as stated above, research on it has been scarce. Since exercising is a kind of salutary practice in the way that meditating can be, it was chosen as a suitable proxy through which to seek meaning.

Above, it could be seen that general motivation research is multifaceted. Likewise, exercise motivation has been studied from many vantage points. According to Wood (2008), who was interested in breast cancer reduction, there are seven theoretical frameworks that have been applied to exercise motivation. Those seven are: Self-Determination Theory; Social Cognitive

Theory; Health Belief Model; Transtheoretical Model; Theory of Planned Behavior; Protection

Motivation Theory; and the Heath Promotion Model. For this study, the most applicable one had to be selected.

Narrowing the Choices of Exercise Motivation Frameworks

Some might say the choices are overwhelming. Starting with those shared by Wood (2008), who provided so many choices of frameworks applicable to exercise motivation, narrowing them to a single choice was required. Initially, from among the initial seven, three looked promising.

The first was the Transtheoretical Model of behavioral change, championed by Prochaska &

Velicer (1997) where a progression from pre-contemplation to maintenance occurs. Prochaska et al.’s idea of “maintenance” or persistence in the behavior would be central to this study’s thesis.

The second was the Social Cognitive Theory espoused by Bandura (1986), where modeling, persuasion, and mastery are a few of the key components toward competence. Bandura’s idea of

“mastery” could relate to persistence in meditation practice. Third, the revised Health Promotion

Model designed by Pender, Murdaugh & Parsons (2014), has as a component of perceived benefits of action to promote one’s health. The fact that meditating has been shown to be of benefit to one’s health in numerous ways can plug directly into Pender’s model. Furthermore,

Pender’s model incorporates many of the components of prior models, with special reliance on

Expectancy Value Theory and Social Cognitive Theory which itself contains Bandura’s core tenet of perceived self-efficacy. So, for this study, Pender’s (2015) Revised Health Promotion

Model was chosen as being the most applicable. However, as mentioned above, an initial reliance on Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) as a component of Pender’s Model meant that if SCT fits, it would be a manageable scope within which to report findings. Or, if the Social Cognitive

Theory would prove to be a bad or an incomplete fit with the data, there would be other pathways to pursue within the Health Promotion Model in interpreting the results. The graphic below is annotated to show how Pender ties together the components of SCT (see Figure 5 below).

Figure 5: Health Promotion Model (Revised) (Pender et al., 2014) with annotations by Pratt showing ties to SCT

Now, turning to next steps, since there is strong evidence that mindfulness-based practices can be beneficial to workers, more research is needed to determine what would promote that self- empowering behavior. The following are potential qualitative research questions:

• If a worker has been educated in the positive benefits of mindfulness practices in the

workplace, and believes those benefits to be true, why do the workers not adopt or persist

in using the practices?

• Specifically, what are the experiences of participants in a mindfulness-based

program sponsored by their employer?

• The entire set of questions is in Appendix A.

Chapter Two Conclusion

This literature review presented a brief history of the introduction of meditative practices to the West, leading through to today, when the practices are broadly accepted. Then, it discussed worker happiness in relation to often-stressful workplaces. Then, it presented an overview of varieties of meditation. Then definitions of mindfulness and the benefits of mindfulness-based practices followed. Motivation was covered at length with an eye toward applying the concepts and current research on motivation to adopting mindfulness-based practices as a beneficial behavior in the context of work. The Pender et al. (2014) Health

Promotion Model (HPM) was put forth as the best fit for theoretical framework, due to its applicability to exercise motivation research (a postulated corollary to Mindfulness Meditation

Persistence Motivation, a nascent field of study). However, Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory

(SCT) was also called out as an important element of HPM. The review ended with a recommendation to pursue qualitative research to address a perceived gap in knowledge regarding why people resist engaging in, or subsequently abandon doing, mindfulness-based practices that they have been told are good for them.

A Word about Competing or Oppositional Viewpoints

Rigorous research acknowledges contrary points of view. Decades ago, Greg Bogart

(1991) called out the incompatibility of a philosophy whereby the “self” is illusory but “self- improvement” is offered by therapy. He also criticized the idea that differing forms of meditation constitute a “unitary phenomenon” that produces like outcomes such as relaxation. Hickey

(2010) critiques the idea that a central practice of Buddhism is meditation. Rather, it had always been restricted to monks and nuns until 50–150 years ago. The idea about universal, and therefore generalizable, meditative practices, to Hickey, is really just a form of colonialism in which something that is time- and place-bound has been homogenized into purported essential truths. More importantly to Hickey, as discussed above in the context of “McMindfulness,” the moral foundations have been dumbed-down or removed altogether.

If one accepts the practices despite these reservations, one will also see that mindfulness- based practices are not the cure-all for every malady. For example, Moss, Monti, Amsterdam and

Newberg (2011), review a number of complementary and alternative medicine therapies. With respect to mindfulness-based interventions, the efficacy in the case of mood-disorders was not shown, although work in the area of chronic disease was promising. Similarly, Toneatto and

Nguyen (2007), in a meta-analysis of 15 rigorous studies on mindfulness-based stress reduction

(MBSR) that used control groups, found that the effects on reduction of depression and anxiety were not consistent. Gallant (2016), looked at aspects of executive functioning affected by mindfulness meditation and found it helped with the inhibitory improvement but not as consistently with updating and shifting domains.

Not all studies are methodologically sound. For example, Chiesa, Calati, and Serretti

(2011) looked at whether mindfulness improved cognitive abilities and found, among twenty-

79 three studies, that many of the studies suffered from methodological limitations. A number also reported negative results. Similarly, Goyal, Singh, Sibinga, Gould, Rowland-Seymour, Sharma, and Ranasinghe (2014), reviewed forty-seven meditation program randomized clinical trials, with controls for placebo effects, and their meta-analysis found positive impact on anxiety, depression, and pain up to a few months out; but found insufficient evidence for positive effects on mood, attention, or mental-health-related quality of life. Then, Goyal et al., in the aforementioned study, were criticized by Rutledge, Mills, and Schneider (2014) for their selection criteria. Davidson and Kaszniak (2015) point out conceptual and methodological challenges to measuring mindfulness, practice time, and the cultural appropriateness of measures. They are concerned when controls are not used.

On the level of everyday society, Adam Grant (2015) in The New York Times asks, “Can

We End the Meditation Madness?” citing some of the above studies and pointing out that Ellen

Langer puts forth an approach to mindfulness that does not require the practice of meditation.

Grant also mentions studies showing meditation experiences can backfire and have deleterious effects. So, it is fair to say that the research on the benefits of mindfulness vary in quality. Its usefulness is not applicable in all cases. Perhaps the mainstreaming of meditation necessarily degrades its connection to history and moral principles, while overstating its applicability to life’s ills. These oppositional viewpoints noted, it is the position of this current research that there is still value in examining the reason why people are motivated to persist in meditating, as some of its positive effects have been demonstrated.

Chapter Three: Research Design and Methodology

In this study, one explored the question: If a worker has been told about the positive benefits of mindfulness practices in the workplace, why do the workers not adopt or persist in using the practices? Specifically, what are workers’ views, thoughts, feelings, and experiences in considering, embracing, or avoiding mindfulness practices offered through a program at work?

Below, it is discussed which research design and methodology, among many, is concluded as best fitting this study.

Paradigms of Inquiry

Some might say research is all pretty much the same. However, researchers have many traditions at their disposal when deciding how to explore a research question. There are at least three overarching paradigms of inquiry that could have been applied to this problem of practice.

Ponterotto’s (2005) definition of a paradigm is that of an interrelated set of assumptions about the social world that provides a philosophical and conceptual framework that sets the context for a research study. The three broad categories addressed below are: Post-positivism,

Constructivism-Interpretivism, and Critical-Ideological Theory, all of which were potentially applicable. There is also a brief mention of Transcendental Pragmatism, which is not otherwise discussed.

Positivism/Post-Positivism

Post-positivism is a refinement of positivism. Positivism, according to Butin (2009) was developed in the middle 1800s. In the age of industrialization, it supported what became the commonsense belief that scientific method could figure everything out (i.e., 100%). Post-

81 positivism added some room for doubt by using probability. The updated version represented by post-positivism speaks in degrees of certainty rather than in absolutes. Today, one can recognize post-positivism when one hears that a scientist is 95% or 50% or 80%, etc. sure about something.

In a research paper, one sees p-values and knows that the authors have adopted the scientific method of Post-positivism to get at the “truth” or a close approximation of it.

Post-positivism’s aim is to explain via quantitative methods. It controls, or holds constant, some variables in order to see the effect of those that differ. For example, the researcher might do a study in which everything is the same except the gender of the participants. Differences in outcomes might then be ascribed to gender. The knowledge obtained is purportedly objective, measurable, and value free. The researcher is expected to be an expert who is independent and often unknown to the study subjects. A high value is placed on being able to predict and control outcomes via the manipulation of variables.

Potential Adoption of Positivism/Post-Positivism as an Approach

If Post-positivism requires deduction through hypothesizing, variable identification, and quantitative measurement within controlled experiments or quasi-controlled experiments, one would need to use its tools to be able to predict outcomes and produce generalizable findings. To do this in the context of this study, all subjects could be exposed to the same treatment (such as a workplace program). Then there would be a search for statistically significant relationships between persistence in meditating and some independent (that is causal) variables such as work/life balance (by degree), gender, and age. If any were found, then the null hypothesis that there is no significant difference between persistent meditators and non-persistent meditators with respect to work life balance, gender and age could be rejected.

Constructivism-Interpretivism

In contrast with Post-positivism, Constructivism-Interpretivism is concerned with gaining a subjective understanding of a given phenomenon. Constructivism-Interpretivism embraces subjectivity and deems it essential. Context and values are seen as adding to the researcher’s understanding rather than detracting from it. The researcher may be a participant and is certainly known to the subjects as part of a case study. The researcher searches for patterns of meaning, assuming truth is constructed by each person. To the extent that there is a shared reality, it is intersubjective and is socially constructed (Butin, 2009). In this sense, one’s meaning is influenced by one’s social group. For example, a group of college-educated agnostic North

Americans might view Transcendental Meditation as a form of self-help, while a group from the so-called Bible Belt might find it to be unacceptable due to its foreign origins. Within each person’s mind, there will be a personal reaction—meaning-making—but that reaction will be influenced by the cultural context. This is in keeping with the viewpoint advanced by social psychology. A person’s thinking, while individual, is very much influenced by their place within a group (DeAngelis, 2015).

Potential Adoption of Constructivism-Interpretivism as an Approach

If Constructivism-Interpretivism theorizes that true knowledge is subjective, constructed, and composed of elements shared by members of a culture, then, as a proponent, a researcher would have to presume that there are multiple realities—a different one for each person—that is also influenced by their cultural circumstances. For this reason, one would focus on—collect data about—the way people make sense of their experiences, all under the influence of their

83 social environments. To do this with this problem of practice, one would do interviews with working individuals who meditate. They would not need to be homogenous in race, age, gender, or national origin. One could ask them to talk about why they joined a meditation program at work. One could ask about spiritual beliefs. One could ask about perceived benefits of the program. One could ask them about their practice of meditation and their persistence in doing the practices. After collecting the interview data, the researcher would look for themes and try to discover if any patterns emerge that lead to a better understanding of meditating workers, along with new paths of inquiry to pursue, and potential policy recommendations to suggest.

Critical-Ideological Theory

The Critical-Ideological paradigm of inquiry shares some features of Constructivism-

Interpretivism in that it posits true knowledge is subjective and must be viewed in context.

Beyond that, it is highly value dependent. The unit of analysis is “category of oppression”

(Butin, 2009) such as race, color, class, gender, sexual preference, gender identity, religion, language, and/or country of origin. Critical-Ideologists engage in “truth-making” where they expose negative power relations. They are embedded in the research group. Critical-Ideologists are the opposite of cultural relativists (for whom, if something is congruent with societal norms, then it must be viewed as acceptable). Critical-Ideologists disagree with this notion. For example, the commodification of what originally were spiritual practices might be seen as being covert capitalism rather than as being something beneficial and liberating. Interestingly, the

Critical-Ideological paradigm might be said to circle back to a kind of absolutism championed by the Positivists in the sense that there is a belief that “what is right is right” and that it can be discovered.

To understand the Critical-Ideological paradigm of inquiry, one could imagine doing a study of people and their patterns of exercise. Let’s suppose that past studies find that men are better adherents to an exercise regimen than women. Let’s add that these previous studies posit that the reason for the worse outcomes for women is because they are biologically and emotionally more predisposed to nurturing children than to engage in physical fitness. The discussion would cite biological and psychological studies to support these conclusions. In contrast to this approach, a Critical-Ideologist would focus on the historical roles and the attendant oppression of women. They would try to determine if unfavorable power dynamics contributed to the difference in outcomes for female exercisers. Through observation, interviews, and case studies, they would hear from the women themselves. They might find that the intervention resembles a boot camp to which men respond positively but which women find ego- battering and destructive. It may be that in two-parent families, with a mother and father, time is not carved out for the mother to have time to herself. To understand the gender differences in relation to exercising, one needs to consider the oppression of women—or else one will fail to ask the right questions. Moreover, the right questions may lead to policy recommendations that account for that history of oppression. For example, a recommendation might be made for exercise programs where the children can be participants along with the parents, if the children are old enough.

Potential Adoption of Critical-Ideological Theory as an Approach

If Critical-Ideological Theory focuses on categories of oppression with the aim of emancipating the oppressed, then the researcher would need to be embedded within the research group as a kind of comrade to gain trust and to educate participants toward liberation. To do that

85 in this study, one would do interviews—collect data—but would be extra mindful of oppressive dynamics such as sexism, classism, capitalism, consumerism, and authoritarian hierarchy. One would respect the participants and seek their trust. Ultimately, one would enrich the analysis of their reported thoughts, feelings, and experiences with personal knowledge of oppression. One would go on to describe the dysfunctional dynamics’ impact on them. The phrase “the enslaved don’t know they are enslaved” comes to mind. Also, there are caste systems and apartheid as oppressive systems that benefit some and harm others. Through conversations to collect data, and then as a result of analysis, one could endeavor to educate the participants to see their own oppression. For example, while meditating a perhaps beneficial practice, a female’s asking to be paid the same as the males in the company might also be suggested. The fact that capitalism’s view of the worker as a fungible resource is dehumanizing might be pointed out. Consumerism, in the sense of excessive or needless consumption, could be exposed as the underpinning of the need to stay in a stressful job that no amount of meditation can fix.

Conclusion—Paradigms of Inquiry

As Merriam (1991) points out, the “knowledge” that comes from research is inextricably linked to the questions that are asked and the tools that are used to answer those questions. As one can see from examining three paradigms of inquiry, each methodology is bound up with differing views of ontology (the nature of reality), epistemology (justified belief vs. opinion), and axiology (the role of values); as is discussed in Ponterotto (2005). Alexander (2006) also discusses these concepts but offers the alternative of Transcendental Pragmatism. Transcendental

Pragmatism is pluralistic in that it recognizes the value of both qualitative and quantitative approaches. It allows different methods to coexist under a moral umbrella that would be

86 approved by the Critical-Ideologists. According to Alexander, this approach, which is much informed by “visions of the good,” resembles the practice of law where there are prescriptions of norms/values and people are expected to adhere to them based on proper reasoning. People have choices. They are not controlled by statistical laws (Alexander, 2006). Of course, laws can change, and what one predicts can change. Therefore, being wedded to producing generalizations may lead one very far astray from the very thing that one wanted to address in the first place—a problem of practice. It is one’s duty to step back from specific and competing paradigms long enough to contemplate whether one’s chosen approach is calibrated correctly enough to explore the matter at hand and contribute to addressing some of society’s ills.

The Qualitative Research Tradition

Considering all the choices discussed above, this study is done in the qualitative research tradition which uses the tools of interviewing, observation, and text analysis to get at people’s attitudes, experiences, and beliefs (Pathak, Jena & Kalra, 2013). This approach fits with an exploration of motivation. In the constructivist-interpretivist paradigm, the approach is necessarily subjective, with an eye toward understanding a given phenomenon. The reason why this aligns with this study is because a person’s understanding of their motivation to persist in meditating cannot be observed directly.

Case Study Methodology

In this study, the chosen methodology is the case study. Creswell (2013) describes a case study as a vehicle by which one can explore an issue or a problem. He contrasts this with

“ethnography,” another qualitative method, which is geared toward understanding a culture. This

87 is a multiple case study, consisting of six meditators recruited from two formal workplace meditation programs led by a paid instructor from a company that provides meditation training.

Analysis is focused at the individual level. Additional information about the program and workplace will provide context.

Key Scholars

From among many practitioners who use case study methodology, Yazan (2015) compared the approaches of three seminal researchers: Robert Yin, Robert Stake, and Sharan

Merriam. From an epistemological perspective, Yin is a positivist. He adheres to the idea that pattern-matching and explanation-building are legitimate even when using qualitative methods.

In contrast, Stake, according to Yazan, falls into the constructivist camp, where the qualitative data are analyzed through first impressions, and data collection is concurrent with analysis. Thus, for Stake, the resulting aggregations are something that could never be pre-supposed a priori.

Like Stake, Merriam is also a constructivist, but according to Yazan (2015), Merriam is in favor of identifying a theoretical framework beforehand. She is also in favor of “thick description” and/or multi-site designs to enhance external validity. The selected research approach for this study falls between Stake (blank slate) and Merriam (some pre-thought) in that this researcher was wary of choosing a rigid framework ahead of time but does agree it can be useful in situating the problem of practice within scholarly discourses. The process, therefore, is iterative.

In the end, the best fit is with Yin (2017). He points out that a case study is good for

“how” and “why” questions which can employ pattern-matching. Yin’s warning to analyze at the level of an individual, but also to circle back to the broader issue of interest, will be heeded.

Scholarly Debate

Creswell (2013) points out that Stake (1995) described a case study not as methodology per se but rather as a bounded set of circumstances that must tie to a time and place, as did this proposed research. Others, like Yin (2017), accept case study as a legitimate approach but points out that numerous researchers have “distain” for it. Concerns about rigor, sloppiness, and biases abound. Of course, bias can affect any research, including experiments, according to Yin.

Another criticism is that of generalizability. One cannot generalize from a single “case,” but neither can one generalize from a single experiment. Yin addresses other objections such as that case studies are time-consuming (he says they don’t have to be) and sprawling and hard to read

(ditto—this is avoidable). The most problematic criticism comes from Yin himself. He warns that unlike a talent for music, math, or the study of law (which can be tested), the ability to do a good case study and/or understand a case study has not been codified—and that therefore, there is no quality control. Despite these warnings, in the end, the advantages of a case study were persuasive.

Case Study Subtype

Just as there are choices with respect to research paradigms and approaches within them, case studies themselves have a number of subtypes. According to Baxter and Jack (2008), there are seven. The subtype of case study employed here was that of an Explanatory Case Study

(Baxter & Jack, 2008) representing a post-positivist/pragmatist stance that seeks answers that cannot be uncovered quantitatively through surveys or experiments. To inform policy decisions and interventions, one must look for patterns. Based on findings, a pivot could have been made to an Instrumental Case Study, (Baxter & Jack, 2008) where the “issue” is: Why don’t people

89 persist in meditating when they have been told it is good for them? In the end, the broader

Explanatory Case Study was the best fit, since patterns were sought in order to inform policy.

Alignment

The case study approach aligns to this research, because empirical data about motivation culled by qualitative means is more appropriate than quantitative data captured by a close-ended survey or experiment. To get at the needed data concerning their motivation, people were interviewed with open-ended questions. This multiple case study design aimed to discern patterns or themes. The subtype of Explanatory Case Study was best served by being an individual level of analysis, rather than having the meditation program or worksite be analyzed as a “case.” The six individual meditators studied aided in the exploration of patterns that may inform policy recommendations.

Research Sites

This study was conducted in the United States, an advanced capitalist economy (Swank

& Steinmo, 2002), in the greater Boston area. The settings were two worksites that offered a mindfulness-based program for employees. Further details about the worksites are suppressed to protect their privacy. Access to the sites was gained through the study author’s connections, and was amplified by the greater Boston area’s history as a site for ground-breaking research on meditation and mindfulness research since the late 1970s (Benson, 1976; Kabat-Zinn, 1982;

Langer, 1989). The selected worksite, necessarily, was open to, and supportive of, research of its employees who are part of their workplace-sponsored meditation programs.

Case Selection / Participant Demographics / Access

Participants were recruited from two workplace-sponsored meditation training programs so that all got exposed to the idea that “meditation is good for you” because that was part of the curriculum. This was purposive sampling. It was a non-probability sample driven by the objective of the study, which was to interview participants in a workplace program. For this reason, recruitment from yoga centers or of individual meditators would not have guaranteed exposure to the same messaging. Aspects of snowball sampling might also have been at work, because one workshop participant might have encouraged another to join the study. Because only six employees volunteered, diversity in gender, age, culture, and ethnicity were not considered when arriving at the final sample of six. As this is exploratory qualitative research, with a necessarily small sample size, there was no plan to control explicitly for gender, age, culture, and ethnicity as potentially determinative variables. Regarding sample size, saturation—or, as

Malterud, Siersma, and Guassora (2016) call it, “information power”—is influenced by a study’s aim (narrow versus broad), specificity (dense versus sparse), theory (applied versus none), dialog

(strong versus weak), and analysis (case versus cross case). Applying Malterud et al.’s model, the information power of this study’s sample is enhanced due to the narrow aim of understanding workers’ motivations for persisting in meditation practices. Its information power is enhanced further by dense description to capture specificity via open-ended interviewing. It is located within the framework of exercise motivation—a theory with application (another favorable attribute with respect to information power). Not being certain, one hoped that the research approach would involve “strong dialog[ue],” which Malterud et al. state stems from the researcher’s being an experienced interviewer who is well-versed on the topic and is not shy.7

7 This researcher is not an especially experienced interviewer.

Finally, the fact that this research was conducted at two sites, using the same meditation training provider, contributes to the acceptability of a smaller sample size, since it is the meaning-making of the participants who have been exposed to the same program, rather than the effects of a specific site or program, that are being studied. Figure 6 is a diagram of Malterud, Siersma, and

Guassora’s (2016) aspects of “information power.”

Figure 6: Information power—Items and dimensions (Malterud, Siersma, & Guassora, 2016; used with permission)

Procedures

Northeastern University’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) granted project approval on

June 11, 2019 (see Appendix B). After that, numerous types of outreach were used to identify

92 potential worksites as study sites. These approaches included posts on LinkedIn, Twitter, and

Facebook. The researcher also looked through lists of non-profits with more than 100 employees and wrote to a number of them to describe the study and gage interest (see Appendix C for recruitment material). In the end, Study Sites One and Two were approached through connections known to this researcher (see Appendix D for introduction letters). Both worksites agreed to retain the services of a specific meditation provider for a fee, for an eight week course, once a week for 30 minutes, and to provide access to study participants and allow the recruitment of individuals. No incentives were offered to individual participants beyond an opportunity to debrief about the findings of the study. The chief executives of the study sites agreed that all participation by their employees had to be voluntary and that it would be anonymized. They would never learn the identity of the participants. The pseudonyms were assigned in the order of sign-up, starting with the letter A (Andy), B (Bonnie), and so on. The fourth person to inquire about joining, “Debbie,” turned out to be not enrolled in the meditation program, so she was not enrolled as a participant in the study. One workplace-sponsored mindfulness program was offered onsite with an in-person teacher. The other was offered by online video link at a set time, led by a meditation teacher (see Appendix F for more material from the program). The second site is disbursed across the country, so in-person sessions would have been impractical. Ethical considerations were addressed in the IRB approval, in the participant agreement, and in verbal communication during each interview. The company name and the names of participants were given pseudonyms prior to publication.

Participant Demographics

Six people met the criteria for participation in the study. A seventh person inquired, but had not enrolled in the meditation program offered at work, and so was ineligible. The remaining six participants were split evenly between men and women. All were full-time employees. To protect anonymity, the site employing each is not reported out. In the end, despite the offer of an in-person interview, all interviews were done remotely. A bit about each person is provided below in Table 4.

Study Alias Gender Self- Practiced on Tenure at job Supervised description own time? Others? Andy Male Introvert Yes Over a year Yes Bonnie Female Introvert Yes Over a year Yes Charlie Male extrovert not much Under a year Yes Debbie Not eligible for the study Ellie Female Extrovert Not much Over a year Yes Finley Male Combination Yes— Over a year Yes informally Gail Female “In the yes Over a year no middle” Table 4: Demographics of Study Participants

Andy, a self-described introvert, had experimented with various contemplative practices over the years. He expressed positive feelings about the workplace program and how it could benefit others as well as himself. He had been at this job a number of years; and supervised others.

Bonnie, a self-described introvert, shared that she liked to meditate alone. She also had hobbies and would spend time learning a foreign language. She had been at this job a number of years. He supervised others.

Charlie, a self-described extrovert, did not practice on his own time very often. He ascribed some of this to family responsibilities. He had not engaged in the practices in the past, though he enjoyed coming together for the eight weeks of the program. He was new to the job

(having been in it less than a year). He supervised others.

Ellie, a self-described extrovert, did not practice on her own time very often. She had had some exposure to related practices, such as yoga, in the past. She enjoyed the classes and enjoyed “being social.” She had been at this job a number of years. She supervised others.

Finley said he was a combination of an introvert and an extrovert. His practice consisted mostly of taking moments when he found himself waiting. Then, he would do an on-the-spot centering. An athlete, he had been at this job a number of years. He supervised others.

Gail rejected the labels of introvert or extrovert, saying she was “in the middle.” Among this group, she had the most developed practice outside of the program sessions. She very much enjoyed using the app that was supplied by the program. She had been at this job for over a year.

She did not supervise others.

Data Collection

Primary data collection was through audio-recorded interviews using open-ended questions (see Appendix A for study questions). Each enrolled participant was offered the chance for an in-person interview, but all opted for one done over the phone or by video conference.

Each also agreed to a follow-up interview after the program had ended.8 The need for distant recall by participants was avoided, since one presumes the program was relatively fresh in their minds. Program material was also reviewed from materials on the provider’s website. All data

8 Except for “member checking,” where a participant is asked to review their transcribed interview in order to offer edits, no additional contact was made during the study.

95 collection, coding, analysis, and write-ups were done by this researcher. The audio recordings were captured using both a digital recorder and the recording feature of GoToMeeting® online conference software. The recordings in MP3 (audio-only) format were transmitted to a secure site to be professionally transcribed by REV.com.

Data Storage

Data storage consisted of multiple aspects. All were done with an eye toward strict confidentiality. Only the researcher had access to written materials containing identifiers. These were stored consistently under password protection. Names were anonymized immediately for any second or subsequent drafts. Paper drafts were shredded. Necessarily, the transcription company was given access to audio files. Per their website, the files are securely stored and transmitted using 128-bit SSL encryption, the highest level of security available. The files containing personal information were never shared with anyone outside of Rev.com. Files were only visible to the professionals who have signed strict confidentiality agreements. Rev.com deletes files upon request, which was made after the files were reviewed by the researcher. The researcher also deleted local copies of audio files at the end of the study. All study data was password protected and stored in a private Dropbox.com® account in the cloud. The laptop used to write the manuscript and do analyses was password protected with up-to-date security software installed. At the end of the study, after acceptance for degree completion, all audio data and any additional data with personally identifiable information was destroyed.

Data Analysis

Data analysis was done based on a review of audio recordings, written materials, and member-checking. Regarding the audio recordings, the resulting transcripts were then reviewed by the researcher by re-listening to each audio file while making corrections to MIA-captured words and phrases. The researcher also inserted notations of emotion [e.g., sounds angry] and first impressions [e.g., surprising; was I implying something that made subject defensive?] and broad themes. This set the stage for a kind of “choreographed approach”—one that, according to

Creswell (2013), forms what he calls the “data analysis spiral.” This analogy makes it clear that data analysis is not in a straight line.

Written materials included information publicly available on the program website and were examined to offer triangulation to the audio-recorded and transcribed data. In considering these materials the researcher confirmed that the mindfulness program emphasized benefits to both the participants and their employer(s). Deeper analysis related to the curriculum was not conducted because the materials were not publicly available.

Multiple Reviews

Creswell (2013) also cites Agar (1980) whose advice is to read through each transcript multiple times. One important piece of advice is to try to understand the interview as a gestalt before trying to break it up into pieces. This can be done through margin notes and short memos.

Then Creswell (2013) suggests starting to code/categorize words, phrases, and paragraphs into

“chunks.” He cites Wolcott, (1994) who was willing to discard or winnow data that seem to be non-relevant. But, to this researcher, winnowing might have been too reductive early in the process. The issue of a priori categorization versus completely emergent coding is discussed by

Crabtree & Miller (1992), according to Creswell. As discussed above, a combination of both was employed because an a priori framework was used, which will always inform some early coding choices. But, room must be made for unexpected findings. Lincoln & Guba (1985) are cited by

Creswell as touching upon “lessons learned” within data as the ultimate form of interpretation.

This sentiment is applicable to this study because themes and patterns were being sought to inform policy. In keeping with Creswell’s suggestion to read, memo, code, classify, interpret, and create propositions, the corrected transcripts—minus interviewer questions and annotations—were also loaded into Nvivo® software for preliminary word counts and synonym clusters that pointed to themes as well. According to Creswell, this computer-aided categorization is in keeping with the suggestions of Huberman and Miles (1994). In the end, meditator meaning-making and situational context was sought through a variety of methods.

Validity/Reliability/Trustworthiness

The trustworthiness of this qualitative research—meaning the study’s credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability—are discussed next based on the advice of

Creswell (2015). Credibility, according to Creswell, can be achieved if multiple approaches that buttress the author’s ultimate assertions are employed. In this study that was sought by engaging in discussions (audits) with experts in the field and in “member-checking” where participants own anonymized transcripts were shared with them prior to coding. Four out of the six responded with feedback, with three out of four indicating “no change needed” and one other making a minor tweak. Transferability, where other researchers could build upon or replicate the research was pursued by giving a detailed account of how this research was conducted.

Dependability, a type of reliability, would require additional overlapping methods, such as

98 surveys, to strengthen that aspect; and this line of research may be too new for that.

Confirmability, where the findings can be traced to the participants rather than being unduly influenced by the researcher, was aspired to through an admission of potential biases, assumptions, the positionality of the researcher, and the stated limitations of the research, as well as an audit trail, field notes, and analytic memos.

Ethical Considerations as a Scholar-Practitioner

Scholar-practitioners should write from within practice as opposed to only writing about practice—since they are, as Short & Shindell (2009) assert, the bridge to the outer world, which includes the larger stakeholder community and the media. To become a scholar-practitioner, one must attend a sound professional doctorate program. It must be a hybrid of theory and experience that results in a mutually reinforcing pattern of practice and analysis (Labaree 2003). The tension between theory and practice must be reconciled along with the societal, emotional, and philosophical barriers that surround these credentials. Fortunately, the very thing that caused the adult student to enroll in an Ed.D. program is what they eventually come to embrace: validation as a scholar, new tools to apply to seemingly intractable problems, and a community of like- minded scholar-practitioners.

Positionality

It is important to acknowledge that one brings a point of view, or positionality, to their research (Machi and McEvoy, 2012). Furthermore, to be a responsible scholar-practitioner, one needs to reveal their positionality to others and work to account for it in their research. Yvette

Franklin (2014) would call this unpacking one’s “virtual backpack,” while J. A. Banks (2006)

99 would say one needs to make one’s subjective values explicit. I am middle-aged, so that may surprise participants who might wonder as to why I would pursue a doctorate. I am third- generation upper- middle-class person, so I may not have the same worry about job security as certain “workers.” I am an American white woman of European extraction, so an interest in meditation could be seen as a form of exoticism. In fact, I took a course in Transcendental

Meditation for my 18th birthday, which was viewed in my home town as eccentric. I am an East

Coast urban dweller, who again may be insensitive to the reservations of more rural people who do not want to try anything too “far-out.” I am a cultural Episcopalian, which for me means that I have a working knowledge of Christianity, but not an objection to learning more about other religions such as Buddhism. Also, I have my own imperfect personal practice, more on than off since 2015. So my “positionality” with respect to this study is informed by all these aspects of my personal biography. Yet, I am ethically bound to try to isolate my personal bias, opinions, feelings, and intuition to be an effective researcher whose work benefits others. Specifically, I need to consider the fact that those being observed may engage in participant self-censorship

(Briscoe, 2005) wherein subjects do not freely admit how they feel in interviews or surveys because they do not trust a researcher who is unlike them in a variety of ways. I need to accept that their responses may be misleading—and the validity of the research may be tainted because of this possibility, in addition to any biases or blind spots I have.

To mitigate the effects of positionality, it is my duty to review and reference literature that addresses gender-based, cultural, religious, and psychological difference that may influence a person’s perception of, and reaction to, my subject of study. This is necessary context for me in my program of study, as I focus on the potential for self-empowerment of working individuals through the practice of meditation and mindfulness to increase their happiness in the workplace.

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As with any scholar, I bring conscious and unconscious beliefs, biases, and opinions to my research. For example, I believe it is difficult to change the behavior of authoritarian leaders.

Therefore, I believe workers should “self-empower” in ways that lead to a measure of tranquility.

I believe that capitalistic market economies view workers as “inputs” rather than as important members of the human family. Therefore, incentives for change by the business world are minimal, even when, as Ledford (1999) points out, worker happiness has been widely postulated as affecting productivity. For this reason, I believe a worker must self-empower to gain happiness. I believe that capitalism should be regulated, but that it should not be replaced with a communist government; so, worker empowerment here does not imply the need for revolution. I believe that the problems of the workplace and its stressed-out workers extend to government and nonprofit settings even though there is no profit motive in these organizations. In this sense,

I believe workers across sectors suffer from many of the same stressors. Certainly, all may employ authoritarian managers who make the workplace a challenge to endure. In sum, my work may be applicable across work settings.

On a more global scale, I must be open to the idea that certain cultures may pass along an aspect of social inheritance (Parsons, 2008) that would predispose an individual from one background to react differently to an authoritarian boss than would those from other backgrounds. For this reason, my findings may be subject to ethnocentrism. I must accept that my viewpoint that difficult bosses and harsh workplaces are something other than a normal fact of life is tied to my positionality. Even thoughts like “all girls should have access to education,” which appears to me to be self-evident, may show insufficient regard to contexts and meanings in other regions of the world (Fennell and Arnot, 2008).

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My experience with a variety of supervisors, along with success in reducing the stress I feel when difficult circumstances occur at work, informs all my inquiry. The personal experiences that influence me most in this context involve the suicide of a friend who felt abused and trapped at his job; the experience of managing and being managed by several people in a variety of settings; and an exposure to meditation practices. The confluence of these experiences results in my search for tools that may make an average person’s work-life more tolerable, if not joyful.

Scholar Practitioner’s Code of Ethics

It is important to have a code of ethics to guide one’s research. Kimmel (1988) warns that one can start out with good intentions and then harm one’s participants anyway. Bowtell el al.

(2013) warn that there is a kind of “ethical mindfulness” that one should employ as researchers in order to ensure that one enhances the “emotional safety” of oneself and one’s subjects when conducting qualitative research. Cassidy (2013) advises that one needs to admit preconceived notions, at least to oneself, upfront. That is, one needs to explore reflexively one’s own hubris as it relates to qualitative research. One needs to admit that “over-exuberant assumptions,” while attempting to construct meaning from data, can hamper conceptual development. So, while one may wish to study mindfulness, one must be mindful that even a seemingly innocuous subject such as the potential for worker self-empowerment through the practice of meditation and mindfulness in the workplace could be fraught with challenge for those involved. Much like the

Hippocratic Oath in medicine, one needs to define for oneself an evolving understanding of a professional identity as a scholar-practitioner. Taking a page out of González-López (2011) who examined “mindful ethics” through the lens of a feminist engaged in sexuality research, one can

102 address ethical dilemmas that may otherwise result in harm to informants. With all this in mind, one should:

1. Always get IRB approval

2. Preserve anonymity

3. Keep documents and files secure

4. Be honest rather than manipulative

5. Examine and reveal one’s own positionality

6. Get feedback from participants to confirm meaning

7. Get feedback from peers rather than being defensive about feedback

8. Stop the process if it appears that harm is happening to anyone

9. (In summary) be ethically mindful in all that one does

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Chapter Four: Findings and Analysis

The purpose of this study was to explore the phenomenon of Mindfulness Meditation

Persistence Motivation in the context of a workplace meditation program. While the a priori framework chosen for this work was Pender et al.’s (2014) Health Promotion Model (HPM), it was chosen chiefly to provide “scaffolding” in support of the construction of open-ended questions that would tie to well-established discourses. Use of the HPM was not meant to constrain the emergence of the themes explicated here in Chapter 4 nor the subsequent findings discussed in Chapter 5. In fact, phrases such as “situational influences” could mean one thing in the HPM and another in emergent coding. That is, the phrases were open to interpretation by the participants. That said, any evident ties to the HPM will indeed be noted here and discussed in the final chapter.

Overview of the Analysis Process

One will now discuss what was induced from the data in response to the research question guiding this study, “How and why do workers consider, embrace, persist in, or fall away from mindfulness practices offered through a program at work?” Here, the responses by the six participants to 27 open-ended interview questions were examined for themes that emerged from coding done in Nvivo 11 software. Coding revealed seventeen emergent themes.

Some overlapped with components of the HPM while others did not. These codes are previewed immediately below in Table 5, along with additional explanation of how they tie to emergent themes and superordinate themes.

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Superordinate Themes

Theme One: Internal Theme Two: External Theme Three: The Role of Aspects of Persistence Influences (Current and Community Prior) Subthemes: 1. Perceived Benefits of 1. Past Exposure to 1. Peer Influences Action Mindfulness-based Practices 2. Commitment to a Plan of 2. Other Health Promotion 2. Introversion and Action Extroversion

3. Options 3. Situational Influences 3. Sociocultural Factors

4. Perceived Barriers 5. Activity-Related Affect Examples of Related Emergent Codes:

Aids/Motivators; Barriers to Aids/Motivators; Barriers to Community; Introversion and Action; Consistency / Action; Other Health Extroversion; Peer Influence; Persistence; Current Practice; Promotion; Past Exposure; Sociocultural Factors Skepticism Situational Influence Table 5: The Relationship among Themes and Codes

In the above graphic, entitled “The Relationship among Themes and Codes,” one can begin at the bottom of the chart to see examples of the codes that were derived from Nvivo coding. One can see, for example, that “aids/motivators” is in both the left-most and middle columns, under “Theme One: Internal Aspects of Persistence” and “Theme Two: External

Influences (Current and Prior).” This is because, in further analysis, some aids/motivators are internal to the participant and some are external, which affected their subsequent categorization.

Going up a level on Table 5, one can see the “subthemes.” For example, the rightmost column includes: “1. Peer Influences”; “2. Introversion and Extroversion”; and “3. Sociocultural

Factors.” This subtheme ties both to the emergent codes below it in its column and to the superordinate “Theme Three: The Role of Community” above it. In sum, the most salient of the

105 emergent codes were categorized into subthemes and then further associated to form three superordinate themes with three to five subthemes apiece, as listed above. All themes will be discussed below in detail, beginning with the first superordinate theme.

Theme 1: Internal Aspects of Persistence

The theme of persistence, can be defined as “the fact of continuing in a course of action despite difficulty” (Oxford University Press). During the analysis, Persistence as a superordinate theme, was refined to become Internal Aspects of Persistence, operationally defined as those emotions, intended actions, thoughts, and perceptions that either contribute to, or detract from, embracing mindfulness-based practices in a consistent way. It examines factors interior to the participant.

The fact that persistence as a coded theme, and that Internal Aspects of Persistence as a superordinate theme arose, is not unexpected, since the purpose of the study was shared with the participants. That is, the title of the study, the phrasing of the questions, and the comments by the interviewer contributed to a shared understanding among the participants that themes related to the motivation to persist in mindfulness meditation would be explored.

From the data, Internal Aspects of Persistence with respect to mindfulness-based practices, was associated with the emergent subthemes of Perceived Benefits of Action (six out of six participants); Perceived Barrier—mitigation (three out of six participants); and the HPM- tied components of: Commitment to a Plan of Action (four out of six participants); Activity

Related Affect—positive (three participants); and Options/Individualized Experience (four out of six participants).

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It is not surprising that Perceived/Experienced Benefits of Action would be a top motivator

(six out of six). This has face validity, since it is logical to assume that people seek benefits for themselves. Likewise, being a planner, making a commitment, and the like (four out of six) were also expected motivators. A more subtle tie to persisting was having options, with four out of six mentioning it. Being presented with choices turned out to be not confusing. Rather, it meant being able to explore, finding what is right for one, and hearing “you are not doing it wrong.” All this was motivating. Having private time to do the practice and enjoying the training were both motivators for three out of six participants. Phone apps, a kind of option, were helpful to two out of six. Below, each subtheme tied to Internal Aspects of Persistence is explored in more detail including direct quotes from across the six participants.

Sub Theme: Perceived Benefits of Action

The top factor in Internal Aspects of Persistence was related to Perceived Benefits of

Action. The standard program material, supplied by the meditation provider, stated there could be a reduction in stress, a calmed mind, an enhanced ability to focus, a boosted immune system, an improved mood and being more in touch with what one loved about their jobs. The subtheme,

Perceived Benefits of Action, in this study is defined as any positive physical, mental or emotional outcomes, including growing mastery of mindfulness itself.

In response to open-ended interview questions, each participant articulated at least two benefits, as is displayed in Table 6 below. Gail enumerated the greatest variety of benefits of mindfulness practices including slowing down, better focus, and “getting perspective.” Bonnie shared the fewest (two). Hers were tied to being “more present/aware of thoughts” and “physical

/ health benefits / de-stress.”

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Perceived Benefits of Action by Participant Slowing More Satisfaction/ Better Physical Other Row down present/ happiness Performance/ / health Total aware Enhanced benefits of concentration/focus / de- thoughts stress Andy x x x x 4 Bonnie x x 2 Charlie x x x, x 4 Ellie x x x 3 Finley x x x 3 Gail x x x x x 5 Column 3 4 2 3 4 5 21 Total Table 6: Tally of Perceived Benefits of Action by Participant

Andy, sharing four categories of perceived benefits, said:

It’s not about denial or even, uh, discipline as much as just kind of being aware of what the benefits are of doing it and the in-, uh, not inspiration, but just the motivation to make myself feel better, uh, is a much more powerful, um, motivator-slash, uh, incentive to, to be consistent. [emphasis added]

Here, Andy is saying the role of perceived benefits is to help him stay “consistent.” He is not being disciplined for discipline’s sake. He wants to “feel better.” Also, this motivation is internally generated, rather than externally imposed, making it an Internal Aspect of Persistence for the purposes of this study.

Finley, with three categories of perceived benefits, answered:

I mean, for-for me uh, it’s just a nice reset … a great way to sort of reset and just to clear your head, and start on a fresh note. Um, you know, afterwards, walking out, you know, a

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little bit more energy, heads a little bit clearer, it’s to kinda, you know, get on with the rest of the day and the rest of the week. Uh, I think the benefits in the long term would be an ability to increase focus and concentration, and um ... you know, be more mindful, both in uh, you know meditation practice, but also throughout the day, and the throughout the week, and throughout life.

Finley finds a mental “reset” to be beneficial. He appreciates extra energy and looks forward to the hoped-for benefits of increased mastery, focus, and concentration stemming from his practice. Finley expects positive mental outcomes over the long term. These perceptions, as

Internal Aspects of Persistence, could contribute to his embracing mindfulness-based practices in a consistent way.

Clearly, there are many benefits articulated by the program participants including that referenced in the standard program material. Predictably, perceived benefits weighed strongly.

Of course contemplating benefits is helpful, but taking action to realize them is also necessary, as is discussed below.

Sub Theme: Commitment to a Plan of Action

A plan of action wherein the would-be meditator consciously commits to engaging in the practice was tied to persistence. In this study, a commitment to a plan of action (an HPM component) is defined as constructing a practicable routine to engage consistently in mindfulness-based practices, with strategies to return to them in a timely manner when diverted from them. When asked what enables them to make time to meditate, Charlie and Ellie talked about making plans and sticking to them. Charlie said:

I, uh, I made the commitment to myself and verbalized it, uh, `openly to my wife, so therefore everybody knew what I was doing and where I was going and, uh, you know, it sorta just, I made the commitment that “hey, this is what I’m doing.”

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Here, Charlie “made a commitment” to himself. He buttressed it by telling others. He also indicated that he has family responsibilities that can get in the way. But Charlie did not necessarily have a strategy to engage consistently in mindfulness-based practices. It is not clear that if his wife had objected that he would have found the time soon after. Charlie may lack an

Internal Aspect of Persistence—a Commitment to a Plan of Action—that contributes to embracing mindfulness-based practices in a consistent way.

Likewise, Ellie perceives that she will benefit from making a plan. She said:

(laughs), um, a day going as planned or you, or, or perhaps starting the day by doing that before, before the schedule of the day gets carried away … I think it comes down kind of to personality. You know there’s people who, uh, you know, uh, personalities that are good at, um, sticking with routine and have it and others who struggle with that and don't get distracted, find something new…

Here, Ellie mentioned distractions, which could be seen as another word for diversions.

She did not discuss recovering from them. She said that, for some people, the “day gets carried away.” She attributed “sticking with routine” as an aspect of someone’s personality. As an

Internal Aspect of Persistence, constructing and committing to a plan is not articulated here.

In sum, neither Charlie nor Ellie were consistent meditators at the time of the interview.

In contrast, Andy started his day with the practice and Bonnie set alarms on her phone. They had practicable routines and strategies to return to them in a timely manner when diverted. One would expect that Andy and Bonnie would persist in the practices taught in their workplace

110 program (although the design of this study is not longitudinal; so whether they would is a question which remains unanswered at this time).

Next comes a discussion of the role of “Options,” the perception of which can also aid in embracing mindfulness-based practices.

Sub Theme: Options

Internal Aspects of Persistence included perceived options in the approach to practice.

“Options” are a component of the HPM under Behavior-Specific Cognitions and Affect. In this study, options are defined as the perception of the availability and legitimacy of a variety of approaches to practicing mindfulness, and the freedom to employ them.

Four out of six participants referred to having options/individualized experience as a positive aspect of this program. As evidence of the proliferation of modern tools, Options included the use of a smart phone with an app as an aid to meditating. Other Options had to do with posture and breathing techniques. Bonnie said:

Um, hmm, well I guess one of the things is, is, um, [the instructor] presents a lot of options, which I like, um, and sort of makes it feel like a, it’s not a one-size-fits-all environment, like I mentioned before, I’m sitting in a ... you can sit in a chair, you can sit on a yoga ball, you can sit on a mat on the floor. Um, and so sort of having the space to be able to try a couple of different things, and not just guess one and stick with it, because I don’t know what else I could try.

Here, Bonnie appreciates that it is not “one-size-fits-all.” She has the “space” to try a variety of approaches. Because she does not come in knowing all the options, she likes learning about legitimate ways to practice. These perceptions of choice could contribute to her embrace of the practices that best suit her.

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Gail said:

…nobody’s saying that this is the way to do it. It’s not a super strict by any means. It’s a loose and relaxed, um, method which helps me. I don’t like super strict and, “Sit this way and breathe this way.”

Like, Bonnie, Gail appreciates Options. Gail is clear that she does not want the teacher to be “super strict.” She wants the freedom to find what works best for her. Her perception that there are different legitimate approaches—Options—seems to fit as an Internal Aspect of

Persistence.

While one might think, in some situations, that Options might be off-putting or confusing, especially for beginners. Yet, for the four participants who spoke positively about the freedom to decide how to practice, this latitude was welcome. Next, the discussion turns to things that are unhelpful, unless they are overcome.

Sub Theme: Perceived Barriers

Perceived Barriers to Action are a component of the HPM under Behavior-Specific

Cognitions and Affect. They also emerged under the coded subtheme “Barriers to Practice.”

They are members of the superordinate theme Internal Aspects of Persistence in that they detract from embracing mindfulness-based practices in a consistent way based on one’s perception.

Perceived barriers are defined here as any physical, mental or emotional barriers to the adoption, or growing mastery, of mindfulness. Interestingly, most barriers were discussed in the context of overcoming them. Of course, the removal of a barrier can be as much of a boon as outright aids to practice. Not surprisingly, removing distractions and finding quiet time is helpful. Finley said:

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Uh ... it’s always a lot easier to start the practice or get into a practice when there are less distractions, … if I can remind myself to take my cell phone out of my pocket and put it where I can’t hear it, or feel it, or see it, uh ... it’s a little bit easier to kind of get into the- into the zone and-and um ... begin the practice.

Here Finley, describes distractions as being a barrier to his practice. He has to work to mitigate these distractions to “get into the zone.” If he could not stand to turn off his phone when preparing to meditate, this would constitute an emotional barrier. It would detract from his embracing mindfulness-based practices in a consistent way. In fact, three of the six participants shared about ways they had mitigated barriers. Finding private, interruption-free time is paramount to persistence for many. Of course, feeling positive when doing the practices is also useful. A discussion of that comes next.

Sub Theme: Activity-Related Affect

If something is enjoyable to do, it makes sense to continue doing it. It can be that it invokes a sense of peace, or a feeling of fellowship. In this study, Activity-related Affect is a component of the HPM. Here, positive Activity-related Affect is defined as positive feelings about mindfulness-based practices, before, during or after practicing as well as a broad appreciation of these practices as generally beneficial to one’s self and others. Having experienced positive affect in conjunction with practicing, the continuation of practice could be viewed as a self-reinforcing. Ellie, when asked if anything in her mind about the practices had touched an aesthetic nerve (aesthetics being a component of the HPM), said:

Well just that I think it, uh, just, just that it’s a peaceful thing. You know like I mean I, um, when my nephew was last visiting here … I must have been out of the house in the

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morning for some reason. I came back and I came in and he was in my sort of sunny l— living room area, m—you know just finishing up his meditation and I just, you know, I looked o—on at that as like, “Wow, that was such a beautiful thing” (laughs).

Here, Ellie has an appreciation of the practices as she witnesses her nephew meditating.

Certainly, her recollection of the feeling it evoked was positive. That being said, it is unclear if this feeling of appreciation would translate to her embracing mindfulness-based practices in a consistent way. Andy, who had self-reported as being more consistent than Ellie, said:

Uh, I’ve, I’ve enjoyed [the program] quite a bit … it’s been satisfying to see people be part of it. Um, I’ve enjoyed, uh, taking a little time out of my day. I think, uh, I think that’s a, a new one for me. I usually meditate in the morning, um, so, um, uh, it’s been beneficial to, to, to participate [in the formal program].

Here, at least a part of Andy’s enjoyment appears to be relational. While his usual practice is alone “in the morning” he found it “beneficial” to be in the formal program as well.

One can infer that Andy sees the practices as generally beneficial to himself and others. These positive activity-related associations might be an Internal Aspect of Persistence in mindfulness- based practices.

Three of the six participants referred to some sort of positive Activity-related Affect.

Fortunately, none seemed to have experienced negative affect evoked by the practice. If they had, that would presumably pose a threat to persistence.

Conclusions Related to the Theme of Internal Aspects of Persistence

The theme of persistence, defined as “the fact of continuing in a course of action despite difficulty” (Oxford University Press), was operationalized as the superordinate theme Internal

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Aspects of Persistence. In the preceding text it was unpacked. Participants embraced the belief they would benefit in myriad ways from mindfulness-based practices. On top of belief, some made an explicit commitment to action, others only mused about it. More than half appreciated the flexibility in the recommended approach. Those that spoke about barriers did so in the context of overcoming them. Half experienced positive affect in relation to the practice. Also, two used their phones (which could be considered an option) as an aid to persisting, or as aiding commitment, due to the flexibility of their phone apps.

It is clear that different things motivate people. Some people want better performance, others want to slow down. Some gravitate to planning, some do not. Some insist on options, others are silent about that. An effective training program would do well to take this variability into account in an attempt to ensure that they are meeting the needs of the participants. In the subsequent sections, other factors are explored that might affect someone’s practice. They include External Influences—Current and Prior, as well as The Role of Community. In contrast to the Internal Aspects of Persistence discussed above, External Influences are explored next.

Theme 2: External Influences (Current and Prior)

External Influences which are either current or prior are the antecedents to the participants’ current situation. One may be familiar with the quote the “past is prologue” (from

Shakespeare’s play The Tempest), which implies that the past has an evident relationship to the present. In contrast, there are marketing documents for investment opportunities stating that

“past performance is no guarantee of future results.” In the latter case, one is instructed to refrain from relying on what has gone before. In this section, “Prior Related Behavior” is explored, with the subthemes of Past Exposure, Other Health Promotion activities, and Situational Influences.

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The operational definition of External Influences—Current and Prior includes self-reported past behavior, such as past exposure to health-promoting practices generally, or mindfulness-based practices, specifically, plus any contemporaneous or past situational stimuli influential in adopting the practices. It is focused on factors external to the participant.

Sub Theme: Past Exposure to Mindfulness-Based Practices

Past Exposure to Mindfulness-based Practices is defined as: any response offered by a participant in the study in response to the question: “Tell me about your past involvement or exposure to mindfulness-based practices”; or as otherwise mentioned during the interview. So, if for example, the response includes “therapy,” then that inclusion is honored. Past Exposure to

Mindfulness-based Practices relates both to the HPM component “Prior Related Behavior” and the emergent subtheme “Past Exposure.” Phrasing the question that way intentionally left open the definition of mindfulness-based practices in order to elicit the broadest possible recollections.

In response to this question, everyone had some sort of Past Exposure to share based on their own understanding. The responses ranged from trying yoga, to going to retreat centers, to trying a phone app. A chart further below provides more detail. Charlie stated:

Uh, prior to [current company] I was familiar with the concept. Um, I also, you know, I—I worked in corporate wellness, uh, space a little bit in the past and W-E would share information or build sessions for people to, uh, participate, ah, in mindfulness training. However, ah, I myself, in a structured environment, uh, probably did not, ah, yeah, I generally did not participate myself.

One can see that Charlie’s past exposure was peripheral, even though he was “familiar with the concept.” He worked in corporate wellness, but he did not directly experience the practices. Yet, when it was offered to him at the current site, he did avail himself of it. Perhaps

116 being the intended audience aided Charlie in trying the practices. In contrast, Gail had lots of prior exposure, and she had practiced it before its being offered here, at her job. Gail shared:

… I’ve been trying different things over the years and then I’ll stop. You know, it started with, um, um, some talk therapy. It depends on where, where you think mindfulness starts and ends, but I’ll just generally tell you my background. Um, I started with some talk therapy off and on … once I even participated with a friend, with a focus group study to, um, when, when the notion of sort of identifying all your internal voices was kind of newer, so that kind of mindfulness … I’ve gone to [a well-known yoga and health center] in [location] three times now. Um, and I, uh, I usually do a session there related to, um, some kind of mindfulness practice. I’ve spent ... Uh, I, I met a woman slash coach, I call her my guru, that I met at [the yoga center] over a year ago … I ended up, um, meeting with her virtually for almost a year every couple weeks. Um, so we did a lot of meditations through that, um, and becoming aware of what’s going in, on inside…

Clearly, Gail is at the other end of the spectrum from Charlie. She has repeatedly gone on retreats and has been working with her “guru” for almost a year. Her long description of past exposure to mindfulness-based practices included “talk therapy” and trying to identify “internal voices” in a focus group. For Gail, the exposure to practices are actively sought-after and they meld together as she strives to become “aware of what’s going [on] inside.” Her definition of past exposure to mindfulness-based practices is indeed broad.

All six participants reported some sort of exposure when asked “Tell me about your past involvement or exposure to mindfulness-based practices?” As mentioned above, the term

“exposure” was included in the interview question so that the broadest number of recollections would be shared. The responses included awareness of what others were doing as well as dabbling in what they perceived to be a related practice (e.g., yoga) to active engagement by way of formal retreats with mindfulness as the stated content. The types of exposure are listed in

Table 7 below.

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Past Exposure Unique Participants (n=6)

Family/friends 5 Yoga 4 Retreat Center 2 Other (books, heard about at other job, 2 purchased an app) Table 7: Tally of Past Exposure to Mindfulness-based Practices by Type

In descending order, the types of exposure were: family and friends practicing (5/6), yoga

(4/6), retreats (2/6), and other (2/6). Only two of the participants had years of prior exposure. At the other extreme, one had only an awareness of the practices. He did not access them before this program. Interestingly, this question shows that the participants were heterogeneous in the amount of past exposure they had had to related practices.

In summary, past exposure to what a participant would define as mindfulness-based practices may simply mean that it has entered the zeitgeist. If that is the case, then it would be surprising if someone who volunteered for this study claimed no prior exposure. It remains to be seen if active-prior-exposure (seeking experiences like yoga) differs from passive-prior-exposure

(my friends mentioned it) in the way it connects with and reinforces current practice. Of course, there are other types of salutary behaviors that share the fact that they are External Influences. A number of them are discussed in the next section.

Sub Theme: Other Health Promotion

Above, the participants reported upon their involvement with practices they themselves categorized as related to mindfulness. The next area of exploration involves seeing if the participants had engaged in other types of beneficial practices that could be said to be “health promoting” that do not relate explicitly to mindfulness. The operational definition of Other

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Health Promotion includes responses—excluding any related to mindfulness-based practices— elicited in response to the interview questions: “What other consistent health-related practices have you tried and how would you describe the outcome?” and “Tell me about other times you have tried something like this program, how did it turn out?” The concept of Other Health

Promotion relates directly to the HPM component “Prior Related Behavior” just as Past

Exposure to Mindfulness-based Practices did. In this case, a different coded subtheme emerged entitled “Other Health Promotion.” Again, questions intentionally left open the definition of

“health-related practices” in order to elicit the broadest recollections from the participants. Of course, the idea was to see if they were generally seeking health improvement.

To a person, the answer is “yes.” All tried at least some ways to improve their lives. Their self-reported practices ranged from trying to get more sleep, to improving diet, to engaging in physical activity. There were miscellaneous ones, as well, ranging from trying to read more books to learning other languages. It is debatable whether “learning another language” or

“reading more” is “health promoting,” but these responses provide evidence of actions taken as a form of self-improvement. Whether this is generalizable to persisting in mindfulness-based practices remains to be seen. The tally of Other Types of Health Promotion are displayed in

Table 8 below.

Other Types of Health Promotion / Life Unique Participant Count (n= 6) Improvement Exercises/is an athlete 4 Improve diet 3 Misc (reading more; flossing; learn other 3 languages; spa treatments) Attempts to improve sleep 2 Table 8: Tally of Other Types of Health Promotion/Life Improvement

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Specifically, four out of the six were athletes and/or exercisers, three paid attention to their diet, and two worked to improve their sleep. While mindfulness has been marketed as offering improvement in these areas, these responses were given in response to questions about other healthy activities outside of meditating and the like. Each person stated a least one example, so one can conclude that among this group there may be general motivation to improve their lives. Ellie said:

Um, you know, um, nothing really jumps out at me (laughs). I mean exercising ’cause you feel, uh, stronger if you exercise and you know maybe your blood pressure is better or something. Um, I’m not a big dieter. I don’t really like to follow diets ... Um, you know like I used to take spin classes…

At first Ellie doesn’t identify with the idea of health-related practices, it does not seem to be part of her conscious self-identity. It actually seems contrary to her identity, for example when she states she says she does not “diet.” With prompting, she mentions “spin classes,” a type of exercise. The same was true for Finley, although he is an athlete who spoke about fitness routines and training schedules. When asked “And, have you ever been um, part of anything else that in your mind resembles this program?” Finley replied:” Um, no.” In contrast, Bonnie reported engaging in all kinds of self-improvement:

…well there’s flossing, (laughs), um, I also have been trying to get better about taking a multivitamin, uh, which, you know, most, most days I remember them, but if I don’t I, I just go to the next day. … in terms of spending a little bit of time on it each day, um, like language learning programs, um, I’ve spent some time with, [a] language learning app. … I would sort of go on this sort of run and then I would stop and then I would pick it up again, two or three months later. You’re like, “Oh, yeah I, I should try and speak a little more French.”

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Here, it is clear Bonnie is very active in her pursuit of self-improvement (such as by learning French) and health (such as by taking a vitamin). She admits to being inconsistent in her quest; but one gets a sense of someone who, when motivated to improve, does so through action.

On the one hand, it seems all study participants took some sort of action to improve their lives outside of this class. Most noticeably, all had signed up for this class, which almost certainly signals a wish to reap the perceived benefits. On the other hand, there was variability in the amount of health-promoting or more broadly, life-improving activities that were reported. It remains to be seen whether levels of general health-promoting activity have any relationship to mindfulness-based practices, specifically. In addition to that, one wonders what other external influences, current and prior, may be at play.

Next, situational influences, another type of external influence, are discussed.

Sub Theme: Situational Influences

Mindfulness meditation persistence involves what can be termed Situational Influences, a component of the HPM under the motif Behavior-Specific Cognitions and Affect. Situational

Influences also emerged as a subtheme from Nvivo coding. In this study, Situational Influences are defined as: stimuli that aid in either the adoption or eschewing of mindfulness-based practices. They tie to the actions of others and their effect on the participant. They range from direct interactions to something as diffuse as incitements from the zeitgeist. They can be contemporaneous or from the past. In keeping with this definition, Situational Influences go beyond the past exposure to mindfulness-based practices and Other Health Promotion activities, discussed above. The Situational Influences that emerged when coding themes ranged from an

121 acupuncturist recommending mindfulness-based practices, to the fact that a program was offered in conjunction with work, to admiration of peers doing the practices. The interview question was:

“Tell me about any situational influences that might affect your practice?” Findley reported:

…the fact that it was, you know, sort of organized and arranged by my employer, um ... as a benefit, uh ... we were encouraged to take advantage of it, uh, was a thing, but it didn’t have any effect on whether I decided to do it or not. It just sounded like a good idea … [Also,] like I mentioned, other colleagues using it to coach their athletes, uh, and using it in-in practice on a fairly regular basis … seeing the benefits in sports performance from the practice of being mindful … [The group setting was also] enjoyable, in the fact that you get to sort of share the practice with other people you work with…

Here, Finley found the provision of a program at work to stimulate his involvement. It was “arranged by [his] employer” which “sounded like a good idea.” Interestingly, being

“encouraged to take advantage of it” “didn’t have any effect on whether [he] decided to do it or not.” He was cued by the availability, but not by any of what could be termed ‘peer pressure.’

Yet, some peers did have an influence in the sense that “other colleagues [used mindfulness- based practices] to coach their athletes”; and he could see “the benefits in sports performance.”

Clearly, there are External Influences that might affect Finley’s practice.

Bonnie, Gail, and Charlie also mentioned the fact that the program was offered in the workplace as being an influence on them. Another Situational Influence involved recommendations by others. Andy got a recommendation from an acupuncturist; and Charlie got one from his brother-in-law, who recommended a tool. Andy shared:

Um, I had used, um, acupuncture, uh, for a number of years, and my acu—acupuncturist recommended meditation, um, along with a slew of other Chinese herbs and, uh, all kinds of stuff. Uh, uh, it was part of a conversation that she and I had, but, but really around

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sleep more than, uh, performance, um, and, uh, so I’d say it was sort of a light touch as opposed to a strong discussion.

While Andy could have characterized acupuncture as a type of past exposure with respect to mindfulness, he was responding to a question about recommendations from providers. So, in that context, Andy is describing a stimulus (a doctor’s recommendation) that might have aided in his eventual adoption of mindfulness-based practices. This was an action by another (a doctor) that could have affected the participant (Andy). This was also a direct interaction rather than something diffuse from the zeitgeist. Interestingly, Andy said it was “sort of a light touch as opposed to a strong discussion,” so whether he would credit it with getting him to adopt or persist in mindfulness-based practices, something he did before the program started, is unclear.

One can see that Finley and Andy called these examples to mind, but they also emphasized that these were not significant factors. Finley said the program “sounded like a good idea.” Andy said the recommendation he received from long ago “was sort of a light touch.” The

Situational Influences that seemed the most salient were those having to do with the program being offered at work.

Conclusions Related to the Theme of External Influences

The superordinate theme of External Influences (Current and Prior), which encompasses

Past Exposure to Mindfulness-based Practices; Other Health Promotion; and Situational

Influences, shows that for these participants, the past is prologue. Everyone had some Past

Exposure to practices they linked to mindfulness-based practices. It was very little exposure in the case of Charlie, and very great exposure in the case of Gail. All have engaged in what they thought of as Other Health-promoting Behavior such as Bonnie who committed to flossing

123 regularly and Andy who tried to improve the quality of his sleep. And, all reported Situational

Influences that had an impact, the most common being that the program was offered at work.

Next, The Role of Community, the third and final superordinate theme, is explored. Its subthemes are: Peer Influence; Introversion and Extroversion; and Sociocultural Factors. Below, each is discussed in depth.

Theme 3: The Role of Community

In the HPM, “community” is not listed explicitly as an element of the model, but one can argue the essentials are there in this study, as identified through emergent coding. The operational definition of “The Role of Community” is the presence of, influence by, or sharing with others, including a self-reported inclination or disinclination to join with others rather than be solitary. It is composed of observable and non-observable factors.

Here, one explores instances where participants shared aspects of their mindfulness-based practices with others rather than acting in isolation. The subtheme of Introversion and

Extroversion and its effect on wanting “to be in community” is explored. Peer Influences, an explicit element of the HPM, where the community presumably exerts influence on the participant, are examined. Finally, Sociocultural Factors (another overt aspect of the HPM, as well as an emergent subtheme) are discussed. This is where being part of a community can dictate what one believes is appropriate. Thus, each factor ties to one’s place in, or feeling about, their community in some form or fashion. All are examined in detail, in the following sections.

The sub theme of Peer Influences is addressed first.

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Sub Theme: Peer Influences

The influence of peers was mapped to the superordinate theme of The Role of

Community, since it involves other people. The operational definition of Peer Influences is the study participant’s report of the effect on their mindfulness-based practice of the perceived thoughts, actions or comments of people they categorize as peers.

As a factor of superordinate theme The Role of Community, Peer Influences was broadly applicable, with each participant having something to say in response to the question: “Tell me about [to] what [extent] the actions, thoughts, or comments of peers might affect your practice?”

Charlie remarked:

…if your household is doing it, or if there’s other folks around you that are, uh, regularly, uh, meditating or practicing, uh, similar techniques, then it’s gonna be easier for you to, uh, stay consistent, uh, you know, with the practice … there is a value of, at least from the introductory point to have some … peer pressure to the idea, uh, that perhaps allows people to first initially get comfortable with the idea of meditation.

Here Charlie, who had earlier spoken about having a plan and family members’ having derailed it, refers to peers’ engaging in the practice and their actions’ creating both space in which to practice, and peer pressure to practice. In this instance, Charlie is crediting those around him with helping him make time for practice. If his “household” did it, it would help. “Peer pressure” would help according to Charlie, at least as a way to “get comfortable with the idea of meditation.” One can see that these influences are external to Charlie; but, of course he needs to be open to them for them to have an effect. In contrast, Gail’s sense of peer influence was a bit more expansive. She shared the following:

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I do live in a liberal area…I go to [the] Unitarian Universalist [Church]…which is the most left side, the most liberal, um, type of church you could walk into… I do surround myself with very liberal people … women who … like to meditate or do yoga, [who] would love to go to [my well-known yoga center].

For Gail, she chooses to surround herself with those who are supportive of, and interested in, mindfulness-based practices. Her church is supportive. Her friends are supportive. She seeks relations with people who “would love to go to” her yoga center. Clearly, she is more immersed in a compatible atmosphere than Charlie. She has strong and positive Peer Influence.

Regarding other study participants, Andy had close friends who meditated. Bonnie had a friend who recommended an app. Ellie spoke earlier about a nephew who meditated and how beautiful the practice appeared to be. Finley also had family members with applicable experiences. He said he wasn’t “sure” if it was specifically mindfulness meditation, but “they had good success at it.” In each instance, the study participant’s report of the influence of others on their mindfulness-based practice was evident—if in varying degrees—as they shared the perceived thoughts, actions, or comments of people they categorized as peers. Of course, those who spoke of Peer Influences did not necessarily stick with the mindfulness-based practices.

Having discussed Peer Influences, one may wonder if one’s level of Extroversion or

Introversion plays a role in seeking out community. That is, people can have peers, but do they want to spend time with them in such a way as to affect their practice? This subtheme is explored below, followed by the last topic, sociocultural factors.

Sub Theme: Introversion and Extroversion

Perhaps one’s sense of community is tied to one’s interest in, or aversion to, group interactions. While Introversion and Extroversion are not specifically called out in the HPM

126 graphic, the “personal factors” of biological, psychological and sociocultural factors are included. These personal factors fall under the HPM’s overarching Individual Characteristics and

Experiences rubric; and a discussion of Introversion fits well there. The operational definition of the coded subtheme Introversion and Extroversion in this study ties to the self-reported responses from the participants. No formal definition was offered by the interviewer. But, for the sake of clarity, a formal definition for extroverts is that relative to introverts, extroverts exhibit more sociable and spontaneous behaviors. They have larger social networks. They seek out and utilize social support (Swickert et al., 2002). By contrast, introverts, relative to extroverts, are more socially reserved, serious, and controlled. They have smaller social networks. They tend to withdraw from over-stimulating social interactions (Swickert et al., 2002). Clearly, there is a tie between being an introvert or extrovert and the desire for community.

When asked “Would you describe yourself as an introvert or extrovert and why?” the heterogeneity of the group was evidenced as set forth in Table 9 below.

Male Female Introvert Andy Bonnie Neither/both Finley Gail Extrovert Charlie Ellie Table 9: Participant by Gender by Self-Described Introversion or Extroversion

Here, one can see Andy and Bonnie described themselves as introverts. Charlie and Ellie described themselves as extroverts. Interestingly, Finley and Gail rejected the binary labels of introvert and extrovert. Since the operational definition of the applicable superordinate theme

The Role of Community includes the “self-reported inclination or disinclination to join with others rather than be solitary,” one might presume that the more extroverted would seek

127 community. In each case, one man and one woman shared each category. Finley, who rejected the binary choice, said:

Uh ... I would describe myself as a combination of the two. Um ... uh, a lot of times for my job, I ... it helps to be an extrovert. Uh, but, there are times in the day and uh, during the week, when I enjoy being an introvert.

Here, one could surmise that Finley might seek out community because of some degree of extroversion. In fact, he responded, elsewhere in the study, that if he were to see familiar neighbors meditating, he might join in because he would “see value in it.” Here he is asserting that prior acquaintance is key. Gail also rejected either label. She said that she “definitely get[s] energy from socializing with friends” and that she sought “a balance of [her] own time.” So, Gail articulated elements of both extroversion and introversion. One could surmise that, at times, Gail might seek community, but not to the exclusion of “me-time.”

In contrast to Finley and Gail, Ellie was more forceful. The self-described extrovert shared: “Uh, an extrovert ‘cause I’m very social. I love to be around people, um, I’m friendly and curious, so yeah, definitely an extrovert.” Yet, Ellie was not seemingly seeking additional community to help her prioritize her practice. And Bonnie, an introvert, said:

Uh, introvert, all the way. (laughs) … my recharging happens when I have time to myself, um, and it’s quiet and I do, uh, sort of more solo activities. Uh, the, the sort of, social side, is something that I certainly like to do, but it’s not something that if I were tired I would pick to do, so that’s sort of how … I would classify myself as definitely more, more introverted … I’m still a very private person, and so, like when I’m meditating at home, or on the park bench, or something like that, I don’t really like to do it around other people.

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Here Bonnie is an “introvert, all the way.” She is “a very private person.” She doesn’t want to meditate “around other people.” It seems she was willing to attend the workplace-offered meditation class as an educational, rather than communal, experience. And yet, she is one of the more consistent meditators.

A varying interest in, or tolerance to, group interactions was evident in keeping with the superordinate theme “The Role of Community.” Here, one discussed the self-reported inclination or disinclination to join with others rather than be solitary, a definition closely tied to that of

Introversion and Extroversion. As an inferred subset of the HPM’s Individual Characteristics and

Experiences, the degree of Introversion or Extroversion could conceivably affect the participant’s relationship to community. Some, like the introverts Bonnie and Andy, might choose less exposure. The extroverts, Charlie and Ellie, might seek the chance to be more engaged with others. And, the “in-betweens,” Finley and Gail, might be more selective than the most extroverted, in choosing the right circumstances to join with others in meditative practices.

This matters if community aids in persistence (which, at this point, is not clear at all).

Next, a pivot is made from psychological factors, such as degree of introversion, to

Sociocultural Factors. The latter influences people by creating a sense of what is normal and natural.

Sub Theme: Sociocultural Factors

In this study, Sociocultural Factors are defined as the impacts of one’s community of parents, peers, schooling, religion and cultural identity on how one feels about mindfulness- based practices. When asked: “Tell me about what sociocultural factors, if any, might affect your practice?” [sub-prompt: religious upbringing?], each participant shared that they had no

129 conflict with pursuing mindfulness from either a cultural or a religious standpoint. Two out of the six even said it was an extension of their beliefs and that therefore, they were very comfortable with it. Andy, more neutrally, said:

… I’ve sort of decoupled this from, um, re—religion, for me. Um, I know that’s a pathway. I, uh, I was raised, um, uh, Presbyterian, and I was particularly involved in my church through high school, and even into college a little bit … I feel like.. my feelings about God and … my religious beliefs, in my case, are, are separate from this. Um, I, I looked into some, some aspects of Buddhism … for me, it’s been m—more comfortable and, and at some levels, more appropriate, in my own thinking, to just have them be separate … there’s no conflict there ... there could be a religious elements to it, but, uh, so far I haven’t explored that.

Andy, a Christian, acknowledges the fact that many mindfulness-based practices have ties to Eastern religions. He has even looked into “some aspects of Buddhism.” But, he goes on to say that he has consciously “decoupled” it in a way that makes it a non-issue. So, in Andy’s case, his cultural identity does not seem to impact his practice in a negative way. Gail also felt no conflict. She said:

Um, not in the negative. I mean, I, I do recall my mother sort of ... telling me, “I’m trying to meditate,” but it wasn’t like she walked around ta—talking about meditation or anything. But, um, there was no … religious reason that I would feel guilty about it or anything like that or think it wasn’t helpful.

Here Gail recalls her mother saying about herself, “I’m trying to meditate.” So there is evidence Gail’s parent might have had an influence on Gail’s practice. Furthermore, there was no contrary influence where Gail would be made to “feel guilty” or “think it wasn’t helpful.” Like

Andy, her cultural identity does not seem to impact her practice in a negative way; and it may have even encouraged it.

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Like Andy and Gail, Bonnie had no issues related to religion or culture. Ellie said that with her upbringing, it “would never be frowned upon.” And, Finley saw a connection between his own religion and mindfulness. Interestingly, Charlie still felt it was okay to pursue mindfulness-based practices, despite the fact that his wife didn’t “necessarily see the value [of] or … appreciate meditation.” Her influence on Charlie’s practice was situational rather than sociocultural.

The HPM model posits that the motivation to engage in health-promoting activities could be subject to Sociocultural Factors. Sociocultural Factors are defined in this study as the impacts of one’s community of parents, peers, schooling, religion and cultural identity on how one feels about mindfulness-based practices. “The Role of Community” is the related superordinate theme. As such, it includes Sociocultural Factors in the sense of influence by others. It is composed of observable (e.g., evident religious affiliation) aspects and non-observable (e.g., feelings of guilt) aspects.

Sociocultural Factors discussed here differ from Situational Influences discussed earlier in that Sociocultural Factors are related to identity and “what feels right.” Situational Influences are more traceable as specific situational stimuli. They could include a suggestion by a doctor, modelling by respected personages, objections from a spouse, and/or persuasion by peers to try something new. Situational Influences are less central to one’s identity than are Sociocultural

Factors.

In the end, these six participants did not identify any Sociocultural Factors that would serve as barriers to their adoption of mindfulness-based practices. Perhaps it is because this particular program did not emphasize the religious provenance of mindfulness-based practices so there would be nothing to object to. Or, maybe those who would object to a non-Judeo-Christian

131 practice did not enroll. In actual fact, two study participants presented positive connotations, which is its own kind of Sociocultural Factor. The overall effect, though, is inconclusive.

Conclusions Related to the Theme of The Role of Community

In this section, The Role of Community was the superordinate theme. Peer Influences, the first subtheme, suggested that the influence of peers—such as Charlie’s idea of peer-pressure and

Gail’s talk of supportive friends—is potentially relevant. Introversion and Extroversion were the second subtheme, evenly spread across genders in this group of six. Bonnie, the self-described introvert, was “a very private person.” Ellie, the self-described extrovert, “love[s] to be around people.” Finley said he was “a combination of the two.” In this case, the most extroverted participants were the least adherent to the practice. Sociocultural Factors were the third subtheme, with Andy consciously “decoupl[ing]” his religion, Gail recalling her mother meditated, and Finley seeing a connection between his own religion and mindfulness. Here, each participant was either neutral or supportive of engagement in mindfulness-based practices, offering no differentiation among the group. In sum, The Role of Community—defined here as the presence of, influence by, or sharing with others, including a self-reported inclination or disinclination to join with others rather than be solitary—did not seem to be strongly tied to mindfulness meditation persistence.

Key Findings

This study explored Mindfulness Meditation Persistence Motivation in the context of two unrelated sites carrying out the same workplace meditation program. The researcher conducted individual interviews with a total six participants. The recorded qualitative interviews were

132 subsequently transcribed and coded using Nvivo software. Much of the emergent coding could be tied back explicitly to the Health Promotion Model (HPM). Other emergent themes were more tacitly tied to the model. The three overarching themes that emerged were: Internal Aspects of Persistence; External Influences (Current and Prior), and The Role of the Community. Each overarching theme had three to five subthemes.

The study question was: “How and why do workers consider, embrace, persist in, or fall away from mindfulness practices offered through a program at work?” The point of it all is to explore why people who went to the trouble of taking a meditation training at work, and who believed that there were benefits in meditating, stayed as a consistent meditator or not.

One main theme related to what “inside of” a person would help them stick with meditating. This is the first high-level theme, “Internal Aspects of Persistence.” This major theme looked at the participant thinking meditation would be beneficial (Perceived Benefits of

Action). It looked at how much the person committed to meditating (Commitment to a Plan of

Action). It looked at whether they felt a sense of freedom and choice (Options). It also explored which of their own thoughts might hinder their meditating (Perceived Barriers). Finally, it explored how they actually felt about meditating (Activity-related Affect). One saw the participants did try to stick with mindfulness practices, although to varying degrees. There is no question that each participant could call to mind numerous benefits that tied to the practices. But, to keep going (persist), they would have to make a strong commitment to do so. Even those participants who were not doing the practices regularly knew this to be true. Interestingly, many talked about how having options helped their practice. Those who spoke about barriers (such as worry about family obligations) also talked about overcoming those barriers. There were more challenging barriers, of course, in the form of distractions, a lack of family support, and the

133 disruption of travelling for work. One wonders if these will ever be overcome if there is no commitment to action. On the encouraging side, a number of participants shared about good feelings during their practice; and one would expect that such feelings would help them stick with the practice.

The second high-level theme, External Influences (Current and Prior), tied together three subthemes such as trying something like meditation in the past (Past Exposure to Mindfulness- based Practices). It also looked at any other type of self-improvement activities (Other Health

Promotion). Finally, it looked at how other people encouraged or discouraged them in meditating

(Situational Influences). The idea was to explore the connection between what participants said they did in past mindfulness-based practices, and whether that would make it more likely they would stick with the program and with meditating afterward. Even if they had no past experience with similar practices (or maybe even additional to such prior experience), one wonders if they tried other types of self-improvement activities (Health-Promoting Behaviors) as they saw them.

That is, were they interested in improving themselves in some form or fashion? Finally, were there other people whom they said encouraged or discouraged them in meditating (Situational

Influences), even if this was not the sole reason for their sticking with it? It turns out all six participants had some Past Exposure to mindfulness-based practices, although the amount varied greatly. All had tried other self-improvement strategies (other Health-Promoting Behaviors), so it seems that was also true. And, all participants reported that other people, in general, (Situational

Influences) had had an impact on them, such as the recommendation of health care provider or that the program was offered at work. In all these ways, one was able to conclude that what had happened in the past (the past is indeed prologue) has an impact on sticking with mindfulness meditation.

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The third high-level theme, The Role of Community, tied together three subthemes. They include the impact that specific friends, family, and work colleagues have on the participant’s sticking with meditating (Peer Influence); how “social” a person is (Introversion and

Extroversion); and how their religious and cultural background (Sociocultural Factors) relates to their sticking with the mindfulness practices. Peer influences (e.g., the other coaches do it) did exist, although how much varied by participant. The group had equal numbers of Introverts,

Extroverts, and those who were in between. Those who were more extroverted appeared to be more seeking of community and were the least consistent in their practice. With regard to the last subtheme, one looked at Sociocultural Factors (e.g. is a Christian) and saw that such factors seemed to be uniformly not at issue among this group, with only weak evidence of it making a difference (a positive influence). If Community means joining with others, being influenced by them, or even sharing with them, then this theme did not seem strongly tied to Mindfulness

Meditation Persistence Motivation.

Conclusion: Chapter Four

So, how does one weigh the trustworthiness of qualitative research? It turns out that there are a number of ways one can do so. For example, in this chapter, one experienced participants’ speaking “in their own words” through selected excerpts and direct quotes. This was done so that the reader could experience the material first-hand to see if it “feels right.” The participants’ willingness to share came about after a long process of introduction with lots of informational material. Each participant had to reach out individually to the researcher to sign up. They were repeatedly told that their employer would not know who decided to participate or not. They were told they could drop out at any time. Furthermore, their names were disguised and they were

135 each sent their own transcribed interview to review and make edits on, if they wished. They were reassured that all identifiers (name, title, workplace, physical characteristics, family configuration, and places visited) would be kept separate from the materials to be published.

Moreover, the purpose of the study was transparent in the title and in the questions. That is, there were no “tricks” or subterfuge. In the end, all these elements helped establish mutual trust— which, in turn, led to below-the-surface-level sharing in the form of thoughtful answers to open- ended questions. This chapter is a result of that dialog.

In the next chapter, how these study findings are situated in the extant literature is discussed, along with the implications they have for practice.

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Chapter Five: Discussion and Implications for Practice

This study explored the phenomenon of Mindfulness Meditation Persistence Motivation in the context of a workplace meditation program. A case study methodology was used to respond to the research question: “How and why do workers consider, embrace, persist in, or fall away from mindfulness practices offered through a program at work?”

To discuss the findings of this study, this chapter is organized into three sections. The opening section explores how the study’s seven major findings are situated within the extant literature. The next section examines the implications of these findings for the wider community, including specific examples of how they can be used in a practice setting. Finally, this chapter concludes with suggestions for further investigation.

The objective of this chapter is to get to the heart of the inquiry: If workers can perceive workplaces to be more positive through mindfulness practices, why then do the workers not always adopt or persist in using the practices they have been told are good for them?

Just what external and internal factors are at play in determining whether a person embraces these practices?

Section One: Explication of Major Findings

In this section, the seven major findings are discussed in relation to extant literature. They are composed of: “beginning again,” the desire for benefits, plans of action, perceptions of options, positive affect, the desire for community, and participants’ past behavior. Each of the seven are situated among applicable discourses. The first is the finding of “beginning again” as it relates to self-efficacy in this context.

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Finding One: “Beginning Again” as a Unique Form of Self-Efficacy

The first finding of this study is that mindfulness meditation persistence is tied to

“beginning again” and that meditation teachers can teach this skill. Beginning again relates to the phenomenon of “mind-wandering” whereby one returns to the practice after being distracted.

Beginning again also ties to self-efficacy in mindfulness meditation as explored below.

Albert Bandura defined perceived self-efficacy as “personal judgments of one’s capabilities to organize and execute courses of action to attain designated goals” (Zimmerman, 2000, p. 2).

This means that one feels they can achieve success through action. Pender et al. (2014) agree, proposing that a sense of one’s own efficacy could have, at the very least, an indirect influence on one’s attainment of healthy behavior. Again, there is a feeling of being capable that supports one’s actions. And Boyatzis & Akrivou (2006) tie self-efficacy to “hope,” which ties to the

“ideal self” which one strives to be. In all these ways, self-efficacy enables positive change.

Focusing on self-efficacy in the domain of mindfulness meditation, Birdee, et al. (2018) created a self-efficacy measure for mindfulness meditation practice that contained “sub-aspects” of attention, self-kindness, and emotion. It posited that feelings of competence and/or confidence about engaging in mindfulness meditation practices would help someone initiate and maintain their practice. So, at first glance, it mirrors Bandura’s (1986) broader definition of self-efficacy.

However, Birdee et al.’s scale contains items such as: “I am able to notice thoughts as they arise,” plus “I am able to be compassionate with myself when my mind wanders” (p. 15). So the efficacy of Birdee et al., at least partially, has to so with noticing one is not doing the practice

(e.g, the mind wanders away from meditating) and being kind to oneself when distractions are noticed.

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Mrazek et al. (2012) assert that mind-wandering is the opposite of mindfulness, indicating mindfulness is “nondistraction” while mind-wandering is a sporadic shifting of “attention away from the task at hand” (p.1). There is an onset phase when the mind wanders, followed by a phase of being off track (Randall, 2015). Smallwood & Schooler, (2006), who study “restless minds,” indicate that other researchers have conceptualized mind-wandering as thoughts and mental images not related to a task, thoughts with no known stimulus, “mind-pops,” “zone-outs,” and memories (p.1). In all these cases, they would be contrary to the “task” of meditating.

So, the paradox is that self-efficacy with respect to mindfulness meditation involves doing it; then, not doing it (when the mind wanders); and then beginning again. This is in contrast to

Bandura’s (1986) more general concept of self-efficacy where there is a relationship between knowledge and action, mediated by self-judgment and self-perception. An analogy would be that

Bandura evokes images of zig-zagging forward as on a wobbly bike, perhaps to get steadier over time. In contrast, Birdee, et al. evoke images of a kind of perpetual loop of doing/not doing, all of which is an inescapable part of the meditative process, requiring that one begin again and again without self-reproach.

Renowned meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg (2015) characterizes “beginning again” as being a “fractal moment” (p. 2) when the persistence in returning to the meditative practice replicates the beginning again in all aspects of life. She counsels that instead of berating oneself for failure (having had a wandering mind), one should let go of the distraction and start over again with kindness. This, she indicates, is actually more effective in the long run in because it strengthens both one’s practice and one’s mind by averting feelings of depression and demoralization.

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Examples from the Participants

Examples of “beginning again” and self-efficacy in mindfulness meditating were found across interviewees. Bonnie found some days were “easier than others, to … get into the more … focused mindset.” She had been “expecting the progress to feel more linear.” Here, Bonnie is talking about the ability to handle distractions. Charlie became “more aware” of his “inability to

… be calm or relaxed.” His said this was “interesting.” By using a neutral word like

“interesting,” it suggests Charlie is being non-blaming toward himself despite any unsettled feelings while meditating. Ellie said the instructor encouraged the new meditators “to be patient with” themselves; quoting the instructor as saying, “don’t be driven off by feeling you don’t do it well because that’s exactly what it is, is it’s a practice and you’re practicing.” Clearly, Ellie is learning self-compassion as modelled by the teacher. Andy said he thought, at first, that meditating was “the art of not thinking” but he later learned that “being aware of thinking” was very much a part of the process. This framing of “thinking” as acceptable would presumably make it easier for Andy to persist. Gail remarked that when she inquired if others in her company were going to join the meditation training they said “I can’t. No, I can’t. I can’t sit still. There’s just no way.” This is an example of a lack of self-efficacy on the part of others, who would not even try a program offered at work. Fortunately, Gail was one of the more persistent participants in this study. And, Finley did not talk about distractions so much as losing “track of time” and feeling that “time tends to sort of fly by without flying by.” It is not clear from this answer if he was able to stay focused or if the time flew by because his mind was elsewhere. He did not express any self-judgment. Either way, one suspects that if he persisted in trying the practices he would gain skill over time. In each case, except Finley’s, the ability to handle distractions was

140 referenced, making it clear that they are very much a part of the process of meditating, as explained in the literature discussed above.

Role of the Teacher

Since this study involved people in a formal program, there was a teacher. The teacher was referenced explicitly, in the quote above, with Ellie mentioning the teacher helping Ellie to be not “driven off” by self-judgment. In the research literature, the importance of a certified teacher (Vich 2015), who is themselves a meditator (Crane et al., 2010) who teaches from their own experience (Woods, 2009) is essential. With experience to rely upon, they can model beginning again and thus promote self-efficacy.

Conclusion: Finding One

In this section, the ties between mindfulness meditation persistence, self-efficacy, beginning again, and the skill of the teacher were discussed. Beginning again was discussed in the context of mind-wandering, which was posited by some researchers as being the opposite of mindfulness. The paradox of needing to embrace beginning again without self-judgment was presented as being a unique aspect of this kind of self-efficacy.

Finding Two: Perceived Benefits of Action

The second finding of this study relates to perceived benefits of action. Perceived

Benefits of Action is a term particular to this study. It is operationally defined as: any physical, mental or emotional benefits, including growing mastery of mindfulness itself. Questions such as

“What would you say are the benefits of meditating?” elicited what participants thought would

141 help them. According to Merriam-Webster, a benefit is “something that produces good or helpful results or effects or that promotes well-being” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2020a). So, any reason that is given for why someone would want to do mindfulness meditation can be considered to be a “benefit” because it is the “helpful result” they are seeking. In addition to physical, mental and emotional benefits, the role of spiritual benefits is touched upon below.

The purported benefits of mindfulness-based practices and meditation are numerous. It is said to improve well-being, physical health, and mental health (HelpGuide, 2020). It increases positive emotions (Fredrickson & Cohn, et al., 2008; Schroevers & Brandsma, 2010) and immune function (Davidson, Kabat-Zinn, et al., 2003); and addresses chronic pain conditions

(Evans & Eisenlohr-Moul, et al., 2014). The benefits marketed by this study’s meditation provider are in Appendix E. They include: increased clarity, calm, and resilience; improved mood; and reduced stress.

In studying meditators, Pepping et al. (2016) found that the main reason for beginning and continuing mindfulness meditation was to lessen emotional distress and increase emotional balance. Furthermore, many wished to enhance well-being. In Pepping et al., “very few commenced or continued meditation practice for spiritual or religious reasons” (p. 1). So, the pursuit of spirituality could not be said to be a stated “benefit” in their study.

Similar to Pepping et al., the participants in the present study wanted to “slow down” and

“de-stress.” They also sought satisfaction and happiness. And likewise, they refrained from mentioning religious or spiritual reasons as a reason to meditate. So spirituality was not a sought- after benefit in either study. In the present study, one can also assert that concerns about a practice originating in the East were not a barrier either, as discussed further below.

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Examples from the Participants—Benefits

Each of participants mentioned at least two benefits. For example, Andy said he wanted to “make [himself] feel better.” Bonnie appreciated being “less anxious about a situation.”

Charlie wanted to “relax his mind,” and he had heard of its having the benefits of “heart health and a reduction in … cancer.” Ellie liked the idea of “slowing down and calming [herself].”

Finley wanted to “increase focus and concentration.” Gail appreciated “slowing down, and then having perspective.” Each had a number of reasons to start meditation and persist in the practice in order to get the benefits that would lead to “helpful results” and “promote well-being.”

Religion/Spirituality—Barrier, Benefit, or Neither?

None of the participants of this study had a conflict with pursuing mindfulness from a cultural or religious standpoint. Nor did they embrace it as a form of religion. This is in contrast to McKenzie (2014), whose study participants were already part of a Buddhist community. In that study, the motivation to participate ranged from learning about Buddhism and/or meditation to desiring community; to dealing with personal, social, health, or mental health issues; to enriching their lives. So the benefits to participants overlapped with this study when it came to personal and mental issues and diverged when tied to an exploration of Buddhism.

Another example of both worldly and spiritual benefits is in Carmody et al.’s 2009 study, where the primary self-reported intentions for engaging in meditation practice included three aspects. The first, “self-regulation” involves better coping with stress, pain, or emotions, plus feeling better both physically and emotionally (p.616). The second is “self-exploration,” including increased self-awareness and self-understanding (p. 616). The third, tied to spiritual concerns, is “self-liberation,” which relates to gains in spirituality, wisdom, and/or insight (p.

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616). Of these three more abstracted concepts, it appears that “self-regulation” in the form of slowing down, and “self-exploration” in the form of being “more present and aware of thoughts,” maps most closely with the present study’s emergent themes; whereas “self-liberation” and the related concepts of wisdom, spirituality, and insight were not expressed much at all in the current study.

Examples from the Participants—Religion and Spirituality

Above, some studies demonstrated that would-be meditators were interested in potential spiritual benefits such as self-liberation and learning about Buddhism. In this study, when asked:

“Tell me about what sociocultural factors, if any, might affect your practice? [sub-prompt: religious upbringing?],” each participant shared that they had no conflict with pursuing mindfulness from a cultural or religious standpoint. Two out of the six even said it was an extension of their beliefs and that therefore they were very comfortable with it.

Andy had “looked into some … aspects of Buddhism.” But, he felt “more comfortable” to have his religious beliefs “be separate” from the meditation practice. He said “there’s no conflict there.” Bonnie and Charlie, when asked if there was any social-cultural factor like religious upbringing that would affect their practice, simply said “I don’t think so” (Bonnie) and

“not at all” (Charlie), and left it at that. Ellie said that with her upbringing, meditating “would never be frowned upon.” Gail said “there was no …religious reason that I would feel guilty about it or anything like that or think it wasn’t helpful.” Finley said that “as a Catholic … I can sort of draw similarities in mindfulness meditation to praying.” So, any potential religious or spiritual benefit that might have existed was not salient in this group. For Finley, there was some

144 potential synergy (it resembles praying); but in the main, it is safe to say the search for spiritual benefits was not a main driver of this group in meditating.

A Word about McMindfulness

It is also worth mentioning that the absence of spiritual components in mindfulness programs has, as mentioned previously, been criticized as a form of McMindfulness (Hyland, T.

2015), where the West adapts practices in such a way as to cheapen them by stripping away their spiritual value. Interestingly, as mentioned previously, Hickey (2010) takes the contrary point of view, disputing that Buddhist-style meditation should be a general practice. Hickey states it was restricted to monks and nuns until 50–150 years ago. To Hickey, generalizable meditative practices are just another form of colonialism that homogenizes practices into purported essential truths. So, the absence or presence of the spiritual angle is controversial, regardless of the purported benefits of mindfulness-based practices.

Conclusion: Finding Two

The current study did find a place in the discourses of benefits, if one accepts the premise that a benefit is “something that produces good or helpful results or effects or that promotes well- being” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2020a). Thus, any reason that is given why someone would want to do mindfulness meditation can be considered to be a “benefit” because it is the

“helpful result” they are seeking. And presumably, this ties to motivation which is a “willingness to do something, or something that causes such willingness” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2018). So the participants were motivated to “do something” (enroll in a meditation course at work) so that

145 they could experience “helpful results” (benefits). In a nutshell, this is the essence of “perceived benefits of action.”

The benefits sought by the current study participants were foreshadowed clearly by earlier research in that people wanted to lessen distress and enhance well-being (Pepping et al.,

2016). The divergence from some earlier work had to do with the centrality of an explicitly spiritual/religious rationale (Carmody et al., 2009, McKenzie, 2014), which was absent here. Not surprisingly, a workplace-sponsored program might shy away from these themes, a viewpoint that has been criticized harshly (Hyland, T. 2015; Purser, 2019). However, individuals have their own lives outside of work, so spiritual yearning tied to the practices could have been expressed, had such yearnings been present. In sum, the relative value put on physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual benefits are not consistent across studies.

Finding Three: Commitment to a Plan of Action

The third finding of this study related to a commitment to a plan of action. A commitment to a plan of action is here defined as: constructing a practicable routine to engage consistently in mindfulness-based practices, with strategies to return to them in a timely manner when diverted. Having a plan of action ties directly to that aspect of the main research question exploring how workers can persist in a practice that is offered through a program at work. To put it simply, the utility of a “plan” is that is creates “a method for achieving an end” (Merriam-

Webster Dictionary, 2020c), the “end” being a regular practice from which one can derive desired benefits. This is situated in the literature below.

Galla et al. (2016) in their study, found that “action plans” that involved spelling-out in advance “when, where, and how” to engage in meditating worked if the individuals had a more

146 overarching goal of being a meditator “in their daily life” (p.232). So, a situational desire was not enough. The plan had to be long term.

Interestingly, Gawande, et al. (2019) found those chronic disease patients enrolled in a formal meditation program were more likely to make an actions plan to improve their health

(including meditating) as compared with those who were just encouraged to use available self- directed resources via a 60 minute introduction. The action plans consisted of: “mindfulness or self-care (45%), physical activity (31%), diet (8%), or other aspects impacting health or capacity for the self-management of health condition (18%).” (p. 299). The study did not report on the effectiveness of the action plans on actual persistence.

Having a plan is a good first step, but what might interfere with making and carrying out a plan of action? In the most relevant research located by this researcher, Shapiro’s 1992 study entitled: “A Preliminary Study of Long-term Meditators” emphasized the self-regulation aspect of meditation. In response to Shapiro’s question, “What do you say to yourself when you do not meditate on a given day?” His participants’ answers included: “no time,” “too high stress or pain in my life,” “lazy,” “make sure I do it tomorrow,” “I want to break the rules,” and “[I’ll try to] observe the source of the resistance.” Shapiro observed that adherence and compliance in meditation is interesting in that it appears that longer-time meditators are more likely to see their own periodic noncompliance as self-educational rather than as something that requires the blaming of the self and/or others. In this sense, one makes room to start again the next day.

In more up-to-date research relative to, Handley et al. (2006), in the area of primary healthcare, looked at the effectiveness of patients and their doctors in co-creating plans that led to behavioral change. They detailed whether patients recalled and carried-out their plans, and what patient characteristics were associated with outcomes. Two thirds of the plans related to

147 diet and exercise. Only 4% planned to explicitly address “stress,” with only 4 out of total number of 228 participants planning “structured relaxation exercises” (p. 228). Handley et al. found that the majority did co-create the plans during their primary care visit, and that they could describe their plan a few weeks later. Of those who could recall their action plan, more than two-thirds self-reported enacting some of the changes in their plan. Whether this type of planning could be done with a meditation teacher is unclear. Perhaps it would be seen as a type of pressure contrary to the open invitation to try meditation. If true, then it might backfire.

Turning to exercise adherence literature, Lawton et al.’s (2006) British South Asians study participants, many of whom were diabetic, agreed that, in their case, exercise would be beneficial, but they felt they lacked time. In the latter study, the skill to overcome the resistance—that is to make a plan and stick to it—unfortunately seems lacking.

So, it seems that there is a role for making action plans as a way to promote persistence in meditating; but in this context, the plans would probably arise solely from the aspiring meditator rather than as a co-creation of the teacher. Then, the would-be meditators would have to overcome their own excuses. Then, after making a plan, the meditator would have follow it.

Next, the experiences of the study participants are reviewed.

Examples from the Participants

In the current study, Charlie did make a commitment to himself to meditate; but this appeared to be episodic and subject to being superseded. Similarly, Ellie would try to make a schedule, but the demands of the day would interfere. In contrast, Andy and Bonnie had set routines that helped them stick with their plans to meditate. Interestingly, Finley would insert meditation when he found he had free time. And Gail said she intended to purchase a license for

148 the associated training app to support her practice. Clearly, there was variability in making firm plans in this group.

Stapling

As has previously been mentioned, a specific practice that might help with persistence and sticking with a plan, according to Welch & Edjlali (2018), is “stapling.” It takes a recurring situation such as riding mass transit to work or arriving early at one’s desk to enact a

“sustainable mindful awareness plan” (p. 8). One attaches the practice to something one does already, every day, without fail. In this way, one makes a commonplace action more beneficial rather than adding yet another task to one’s life. This seems to be somewhat related, but more intentional, than the participants in Finley’s unplanned and opportunity-related practice.

Conclusion: Finding Three

In this section, having an “action plan” that becomes a routine for meditating consistently was explored. It was seen that being a meditator can aid in making actions plans, but here the focus is to prompt meditating itself. Long-term meditators seemed to be less harsh on themselves when they missed a given day, so their relationship to the plan does not seem punitive. In a study on primary health care, patients were often willing to co-create action plans with their doctors, although very few planned to do anything resembling meditation. It is not clear if this would be applicable to meditating. In a study on exercise adherence, people gave the excuse that they lacked time, an obvious barrier to making or sticking with a plan to improve their health. Of course, this excuse could be given by meditators as well. The study participants had varying levels of commitment to a plan, with Andy and Bonnie being the most explicit about their

149 expectations for themselves. The idea of “stapling” wherein a meditative practice is overlapped with another routine seemed promising. In sum, a specific plan, that is long term and easily integrated into one’s life seems to be a key component of persistence.

Finding Four: Options

The fourth finding of this study was the role of options in relationship to persistence in meditating for the study’s participants. Here “options” are operationally defined as the perception of the availability and legitimacy of a variety of approaches to practicing mindfulness, and the freedom to employ them. The way that having options is situated in research literature is discussed below.

Pender et al. (2014) posited that individual cognitions and affect, including a perception of options, can have an impact on whether the “Health-Promoting Behavior” is carried out.

Hagger et al. (2006) found that perceived behavioral control (personal volition) was a very strong predictor of behavior. In this sense, freedom to make choices appears to be reinforcing.

Similarly, Maglio et al. (2014) found that when participants get to plan what, where, and when they will pursue a goal, it increases the likelihood they will reach that goal. Again, the role of options can be integral to achievement. Borrowing from the literature on exercise motivation,

Dimmock et al. (2013) counseled that an anticipation of variety with respect to types of exercise tasks is necessary to ensure interest and enjoyment in an exercise class. Here again, it is the perception of options that is operative.

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Examples from the Participants

Four of the study participants were coded as being interested in options. Bonnie expressed liking that the course was not “one size fits all.” She could choose to sit or stand. She could use a phone app. or not. All of this was inviting to Bonnie. Gail felt the teaching was

“relaxed” and that she was not being told how to do the practice. She did not want it to be

“super-strict.” Andy appreciated that the practices are to be “interpreted individually.” He could vary his approach at will. Ellie was the most explicit when she praised the approach of the teacher by saying the teacher was “very effective at … communicating that there are many options and many choices.” In all these quotes, one can see that perception of the availability and legitimacy of a variety of approaches to practicing mindfulness was embraced by most study participants.

Conclusion: Finding Four

This workplace-sponsored program evoked feelings of choice and opportunity that were noted by a majority of the participants. Having options aided in health promotion, here involving meditating. Personal volition was tied to carrying out desired behavior. Options in planning

(what, where, and when) was beneficial. In the area of exercise motivation, variety promoted interest in activities. Given the conclusions of the supporting literature, it is not surprising that having options could contribute to persistence in mindfulness-based practices.

Finding Five: Positive Activity-Related Affect

The fifth finding of this study relates to Positive Activity-related Affect, which is operationally defined as: positive feelings about mindfulness-based practices, before, during or

151 after practicing as well as a broad appreciation of these practices as generally beneficial to one’s self and others. Note, no interview question asked directly about positive or negative feelings.

Abuhamdeh & Csikszentmihalyi (2012) found that the state of “being in the moment” is related to intrinsic motivation where one does an activity for its own sake. It also helps if the balance of challenges and skills (BCS) is appropriate, meaning that the task that is chosen is not too hard or too easy. The fact that it is a good fit makes it enjoyable. Csikszentmihalyi (2014), in his chapter on Learning, Flow, and Happiness, suggests that “happiness consists in complete involvement with a challenging task, from which learning and growth result.” (p. 172). Here, he is talking about “flow”, described as “feelings while involved in an enjoyable activity” (p. 158).

More broadly, the role of emotion in motivation has been explored by Popa et al. (2013), who suggest that emotions cause motivation and vice versa. That is, emotions trigger and guide behavior. For example, Popa et al. assert that joy causes many emotions such as motivation, absorption, zeal, and ease (p.43). So, if one is joyful when meditating, presumably it will

“influence [the] motivational force” (p. 45), and then one will be inclined to repeat that which gave them joy. So, the positive activity-related affect put forth by Pender et al.’s (2014) HPM fits in with the broader discourses on why someone might persist in an activity.

Potential for Negative Affect

No practice is a panacea; and Davidson & Kaszniak (2015) warn that as meditators become more attuned to their internal experiences, they may suffer negative activity-related affect, at least initially, in witnessing the chaos in their minds. In this study, no one reported negative affect in conjunction with meditating.

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Examples from the Participants

Three of the six participants shared positive feelings about mindfulness-based practices.

Ellie said the practices had aesthetic appeal and that they were “beautiful.” Whether this would, in and of itself, motivate her to stick with her practice would require follow-up. Andy, who was more consistent in his practice than Ellie, enjoyed doing it both alone and in a group. In his case, the enjoyment was tied to his doing the practice which should be motivating in keeping with the assertions of both Popa et al. and Pender et al. discussed above. Gail, a longer-time practitioner, liked the teachers on the associated phone app. She said she was considering paying for a personal subscription to it once the workplace program subscription ended. Clearly, she had positive affect with respect to that aspect of the program. In all these ways, these three participants had something positive to say about mindfulness-based practices, including a broad appreciation of these practices as being generally beneficial.

Conclusion: Finding Five

Positive Activity-related Affect was broadly defined in this study. It related to any positive feelings about the practices that would have a potential role in motivating someone to adopt and persist in them. In the literature, one type of positive feeling was derived from making the choice to participate of one’s own free will; another was finding the activity neither too hard nor too easy. If one achieved a state of “flow,” even momentarily, a positive feeling would result that could, in turn, motivate one to persist. Even more mundane feelings than a state of “flow” could be a motivating force. Ellie, Andy and Gail, all chose to join the program. Presumably, they were intrinsically motivated. None complained of the practices being uncomfortable. Each

153 had a positive association. These three, along with the other three participants, did not report any negative affect. In sum, the data suggests that emotion has some role in promoting persistence in meditation practices, although the report of positive emotion was made by only half of this group.

Finding Six: The Role of Community

The sixth finding of this study ties to the role of community, which has both external and internal factors. The desire for traditional community, such as a formal gathering outside of work, was weak among these six participants, as explained below. The operational definition of

“The Role of Community” is the presence of, influence by, or sharing with others, including a self-reported inclination or disinclination to join with others rather than be solitary. It is composed of observable and non-observable factors. The way this fits into broader discourses is discussed below.

The most obvious form of community is the physical gathering together of a group of people for a purpose. McKenzie (2014), in a study in Scotland of a group of people at a Buddhist community, sought out reasons why some people might seek out formal Buddhist organizations and found out they range from wanting to learn about Buddhism and/or meditation; for community; to deal with personal, social, health or mental health issues; and to enrich their lives.

McKenzie thought motivation for initial contact versus continuing attendance may differ and evolve. In McKenzie, the community is foregrounded, and presumably self-selected, by participants. In the present study, the program was brought to the workplace, either in person or virtually; so expending energy, for those who might enjoy community, differed from the experience of McKenzie’s research participants. Certainly the bar to entry was lower due to the

154 convenience of a workplace location, although self-selection was obviously in force since signing up for the course was voluntary and an opt-in.

Friends as a Form of Community

On a smaller scale, having a friend with whom to share activities could be seen as a form of community. Borrowing from exercise motivation literature, Gore et al. (2016) recommended that people have exercise partners so that they have a relationally autonomous reason [to engage] in health behavior (RARH) such as exercise (p.36). This was associated with improved reported effort and progress, at least for women, in Gore et al.’s study. One wonders if one could have a “relational reason” to meditate, along the same lines.

In the present study, at study site one, the classes were done in a group once a week, providing a kind of short term recurring community.9 People who already knew each other gathered for their half hour in-person classes. According to Peter Block, “community” is defined as “the experience of belonging.” “Community is a feeling, [a] sense of interconnectedness, and a shared purpose” (Linton, 2009, p.41). Here, the shared purpose was to learn about meditation and to practice together, however briefly. The “feeling” aspect is pertinent, as will be discussed in the words of the participants below.

Examples from the Participants

In response to the question: “How does a group setting affect your practice?” Participants enjoyed the classes, but did not seem to seek additional community for its own sake. Bonnie said

9 At Site Two, there was a set time to meet for the class, but it was done over the Internet. This study did not address whether one approach (meeting virtually versus in person) was more likely to evoke feelings of community.

155 she appreciated the workplace program but did not seem to want to replicate it elsewhere.

Similarly, Ellie said it would depend on the people, but she does not see herself seeking out community outside of work. Andy has gone on retreats, but did not see himself going to something more frequently. Finley would consider it, but only if he already knew the people.

Gail felt she had created community with a group of friends, but there was no fixed meaning place or formal schedule. In all these ways, the seeking out of ongoing community, as an aid to persistence, did not pan out. Interestingly, this could be described as a lack of feeling or desire to create community.

The Influence of Peers

The influence of peers emerged as a subtheme tied to “The Role of Community” because it includes sharing with others. The operational definition of Peer Influence is the study participant’s report of the effect on their mindfulness-based practice of the perceived thoughts, actions or comments of people they categorize as peers. In this instance, the “peers” were family members (Charlie, Ellie, Finley), a circle of friends (Gail), confidants (Andy), and professional colleagues (Andy, Finley). For example, Andy had two friends who meditate, and he “followed a similar path.” Bonnie had a friend with whom she “talked a lot previously about sort of the pressures [they each] were facing.” While not a formal community, perhaps this meets the definition of community as a feeling and sense of interconnectedness along with a shared purpose (Linton, 2009, p. 41).

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Introversion and Extroversion

Another aspect that was shown not to influence the desire for community was the participants’ self-reported degree of introversion and extroversion, here also an aspect of the superordinate theme Role of the Community. Like the theme of community, introversion and extroversion are not specifically called out in the HPM model, but the “personal factors” (ones biological, psychological and sociocultural in nature) are included. The operational definition of

Introversion and Extroversion in this study ties to: the self-reported responses from the participants. Swickert et al. (2002) provide the rationale for including it here, because introversion and extroversion could play a role in how much a particular person would seek community. Swickert et al. indicate that extroverts, relative to introverts, exhibit more sociable and spontaneous behaviors. They have larger social networks. They seek out and utilize social support. In contrast, introverts, relative to extroverts, are more socially reserved, serious, and controlled. They have smaller social networks. They tend to withdraw from over-stimulating social interactions. (pp. 877-878) So, while the relative introversion or extroversion was conceivably tied to an interest in community, this also did not pan out. Of the two strong introverts, the two strong extroverts; and of the two “neither/boths,” none wanted formal community.

The Role of the Tribe

The lack of desire for community may be unfortunate because, according to Elisha

Goldstein (Goldstein & Edjlali, 2018), once a formal meditation program ends, the actual practices of the individual members tend to dissipate over time. They posit that the community component provides the kind of structure that helps sustain the practices, since relationships help

157 form a type of “tribe” (p. 9) that inspires one to continue. Yet, these six participants did not seem to want community in the way described by Goldstein and Edjlali.

Conclusion: Finding Six

In this section, the role of the community on mindfulness meditation persistence was examined and found to be somewhat contradictory. Some meditators seek out community, as the group in Scotland did (McKenzie (2014); but this study group said they would not. This study group actually signed up for the workplace program, but then rejected the idea of joining an outside group, regardless of the degree of self-reported introversion or extroversion.

In sum, the presence of, influence by, and/or sharing with others regarding mindfulness- based practices was affirmed by the participants. That is, they all had a friend, family member, or work colleague who had an impact on their practice. Yet, regardless of their degree of self- reported extroversion, the desire to seek formal community was lacking, something that

Goldstein and Edjlali (2018) might term ill-fated with respect to persistence. Fortunately, many had peers with whom they discussed their practice; and perhaps that sense of interconnectedness could be characterized as a form of community (Linton, 2009) that would prove some of the benefits described by Goldstein and Edjlali.

Finding Seven: External Influences (Current and Prior)

The seventh finding of this study relates to external influences, both current and prior, excluding the role of community which, above, was called out as a special case. The operational definition of External Influences (Current and Prior) is: self-reported past behavior, such as past exposure to health-promoting practices generally, or mindfulness-based practices, specifically,

158 plus any contemporaneous situational stimuli influential in adopting the practices. It is about factors external to the participant.

If the past is prologue, then perhaps a pattern of influences would be predictive of persistence among this group. The role of these kinds of precursors is situated in the literature below.

Prior-related Behavior

Participants were asked: “Tell me about your past involvement or exposure to mindfulness-based practices?” It was left to participant to define what that meant. As discussed in Chapter 4, all six reported some prior exposure, such as attending formal retreats; to using a phone app; to hearing about it at a previous job. Of course, since mindfulness is marketed pervasively as a form of “self-help,” all would be expected to have had some exposure. The question is the effect that this would have on the participant and their persistence in this endeavor.

Pender et al. (2014) included “Prior Related Behavior” as an aspect of the HPM. They indicated it was a strong predictor of future behavior. On the face of it, this makes common sense. Presumably, people tend to do some things and not others. Some tend to like sports, so they engage in sports-related activities. Some are spiritual seekers, so they explore associated knowledge and practices. Yet, Pender et al.’s posited mechanism is “habit-formation” which is a predisposition “to engage in a behavior automatically” (p. 36). When this mechanism is in force,

“habit strength” builds due to the concentrated repetition of the behavior. (p. 36). Dahl et al.

(2015) believe that habit formation is operative in some aspects of meditative practices, but their focus is on perspective taking (p. 518) rather than adopting the practices more generally. And

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Riegel, et al. (2019) in their article, “Self-care research: Where are we now? Where are we going?” assert that self-care behaviors congruent with individual goals are more likely to become sustained habits (p. 3). So presumably, those that want to improve their well-being generally might embrace compatible practices—in this case, meditation, In the current study, the questions were broad by design, so it seems hard to locate the specific “habit” that would persist across activities such that it would explain persistence in meditating.

Other Health Promotion

Even less specifically, but in a way designed to capture other kinds of health-promoting activities aside from mindfulness-based practices, participants were asked: “What other consistent health-related practices have you tried[,] and how would you describe the outcome?” and “Tell me about other times you have tried something like this program[;] how did it turn out?. Again, it was left to participant to define what that meant. Not surprisingly, all engaged in some sort of self-reported health promotion such as taking multivitamins and attending spin classes. Pender et al. reference Bandura (1986) in making the case that prior-related behavior provides the person relevant experiences with respect to outcomes. That is, the person makes the connection with their past in anticipation that they may experience the same challenges, benefits, and feelings from the current behavior as in the past. So, if the participant has had a generally positive recollection of engaging in their own self-promoting of health, then presumably they would continue on that path.

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Situational Influences

Situational Influences are the final “external influences” to be explored. Situational

Influences in this study are: stimuli that aid in either the adoption or eschewing of mindfulness- based practices. They tie to the actions of others and their effect on the participant. They range from direct interactions to something as diffuse as incitements from the zeitgeist. They can be contemporaneous or from the past.

Situational Influences are, by definition, external to the participant; but of course, the participant’s perceptions of them are key (Pender et al., 2014). They go beyond the past exposure to mindfulness-based practices and other health-promoting activities, as discussed above. For example, four of the participants remarked specifically that having the program at work was inviting. One shared that his fellow coaches used mindfulness-based practices and that he could see the benefit. Others got recommendations from healthcare providers and relatives that they recalled has had at least at a little influence on them. Pender et al. posit that “cues trigger action.”

Here, the biggest cue seemed to be the program itself. Interestingly, by design, only those who participated in the program and, in turn, volunteered for the study, were interviewed. So, the extent to which situational influences led to participation is not measurable using a qualitative research approach.

Conclusion: Finding Seven

In this section, External Influences, both current and prior were examined. Prior Related

Behavior, such as going to a formal meditation retreat, was discussed. More general “health promotion” was also inquired about, again with all participants having some involvement ranging from flossing to taking multivitamins. Pender et al. posited that “Prior Related Behavior”

161 played a role in health promotion and perhaps that is the case. However, any specific mechanism of “habit-formation” was unclear. Situational influences were also explored as an aspect of

External Influences (Current and Prior), since contemporaneous situational stimuli might be influential in adopting the practice of meditation. For example, a study participant who was a coach saw that mindfulness seemed to help another coach do his work; and that was motivating.

More research would have to be done to unpack the kinds of external influences that contributed to meditation persistence.

Major Findings—Conclusion

In the above section, the seven findings culled from emergent coding were discussed. In exploring the phenomenon of Mindfulness Meditation Persistence Motivation in the context of a workplace meditation program, the HPM was a good starting point but one which was not entirely explanatory.

In the first finding, Bandura’s (1986) concept of self-efficacy aided in sense-making because the feeling of being competent to do something helps one to want to repeat it. However, in this context, success must be framed as “beginning again” (when one has drifted away mentally). This can be seen as being a bit of a paradox because it is based on discovering that one’s mind has wandered. However, this framing encourages sticking with the practice, according to Salzberg (2015) who counsels that instead of berating oneself for failure (having had a wandering mind), one should let go of the distraction and start over with kindness. A competent meditation teacher can reinforce this skill.

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The second finding was wanting purported benefits, although the nature of the benefits varied greatly. Here, many wanted to de-stress. Interestingly, spiritual benefits were not relevant to this group, unlike in other studies.

The third finding related to a commitment to a plan of action. Having a longer-term focus

(“I am a meditator,” versus “I will try meditation”) was said to be preferable (Galla, et al., 2016).

Also, “stapling” a behavior to something one already does, was recommended to combat a feeling of overload.

The fourth finding, the presence of options, was seen as favorable by all participants.

This involved choices such as how to “sit” and whether to use a phone app. The lack of rigidity and the feeling of choice were seen as being encouraging of persistence in meditative practices.

The fifth finding related to positive activity-related affect. Not surprisingly, liking the feeling of an activity, during or immediately after, should reinforce its repetition. Liking the teacher and enjoying the group practice are examples here. Fortunately, none reported negative affect, although that has been reported in other studies.

The sixth finding related to the role of community. While the offering of a workplace program created a type of short-lived community, the current study participants did not seem to seek community for its own sake. Regardless of degree of introversion or extroversion, none intended to seek a more formal and consistent community to sustain their practice. Elisha

Goldstein’s (2018) idea of a sustaining “tribe” was not embraced by these participants; although each reported that a friend, family member, or work colleague had an impact on their practice. In that sense, they were not loners.

The seventh and final finding of this study related to External Influences (ones Current and Prior) such as past involvement with health-promoting behaviors (including mindfulness-

163 based practices) and health-promoting “situational influences.” The logic of Pender et al.’s “habit formation” seemed weak, but the idea that a general sense of having been successful in adopting healthful behaviors in the past would promote the adoption of healthful behaviors in the present made sense, since wanting to improve one’s well-being generally might cause one to embrace compatible practices—in this case, meditation (Riegel, et al., 2019). Also, Pender et al.’s idea that “cues trigger action” made sense in that the program itself could be seen as a very strong cue to engage in the practices, at least during the formal program.

In a number of ways, this study did identify potential aids to persisting in mindfulness- based practices that participants have been told are beneficial. They can commit to “beginning again.” They can embrace the self-identity of a meditator. They can “staple” the practices to what they already do. They can avail themselves of options and seek that which feels positive.

All of this is encouraging. Based upon this, and preceding chapters, recommendations for practice and future research are discussed.

Section Two: Recommendations for Practice

The ultimate goal of this study was to increase happiness in the workplace. A mechanism by which that could be achieved is through the practice of mindfulness meditation with its numerous reported benefits such as improved well-being, physical health, improved mood, and reduced stress. The requirement is that in order for the practices to have their positive effect on worker well-being, the teaching must be accessible and motivating, and the practices need to be done on a regular basis to provide benefit. Based on the finding and conclusions reached above, the following action steps are planned:

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1. First, these findings should be shared with meditation program providers and those

contemplating introducing a program at work. This can be done through social media,

articles, and personal communication.

2. Second, the program should be framed as being “health-promoting”; and the benefits

should be tied to the well-being of the worker and their colleagues, family, and friends,

rather than primarily to the productivity of the company. Only in this way can exploitive

McMindfulness be avoided in which the effects of societal inequalities on the workers is

glossed over.

3. Third, it would be ideal if such a program could be provided onsite or online with the

support of the company. This is because the presence of a program onsite can cue the

adoption of the practices.

4. Fourth, the facilitator should be an experienced meditator who offers an invitation to the

participant to try different approaches (options) to find the best fit. If the facilitator can

encourage the adoption of the identity as meditator—however new—that is suggestive of

persistence. The concepts of “stapling” (adding the practices to an already recurrent task

such as commuting) and “beginning again” (where coming back from mind wandering is

itself defined as success) are good approaches.

5. Fifth, paying an experienced facilitator may be cost prohibitive, but this would be

preferable to relying on a less-experienced volunteer.

6. Sixth, one may try to implement a self-sustaining community to promote the idea of a

tribe, but it may not work.

7. Seventh, while the issues around the moral underpinnings of mindfulness-based practices

are complicated, implementers of programs must walk a fine line between genericizing

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the approach to make it non-threatening and stripping it of its regard for the well-being of

all. Only in this way will the profound value of the practices be retained.

8. Finally, for in regard to corporate settings, companies should embrace these programs,

because the proven benefits to workers such as increased job satisfaction, better work

relationships, enhanced well-being, and improved work performance also benefit the

company.

Section Three: Recommendations for Future Research

Recommendations for future research might involve a longitudinal study design to measure persistence over a longer period. It could also study the characteristics of non-enrollees.

The same or a different study could examine which messages are the most successful at encouraging people to both join a program and then to “begin again,” since that aids in persistence. Research on how a program offered over the Internet differs from one offered in person, with respect to persistence in meditating, would be interesting. Also, which types of past health promotion predict for success in adopting, and persisting in, mindfulness-based practices?

And, if participation in “community” aids in persistence, what would promote involvement, since in this study it was resisted as a formal concept? Finally, does the provision of mindfulness-based practices within a workplace ultimately disempower individuals by blaming them for stress caused by inequities in society and the workplace? Under what circumstances, and can this potential ill-effect be mitigated?

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Study Limitations

While attempts were made to ensure the trustworthiness of this study, limitations and constraints will have had an effect on study outcomes. The choice of a particular theoretical framework to guide the construction of open-ended questions may have obscured a better theoretical fit. Regarding the small sample size, Malterud, Siersma, and Guassora (2016) would say that the relative inexperience of the interviewer was a limiting factor. And, there were no other coders to demonstrate reliability through interrater agreement. Further, the limitation of a single interview per person, rather than a longitudinal study, may have left out other potential explanations for Mindfulness Meditation Persistence Motivation. The most obvious limitation is that persistence over time could not be measured. Finally, the fact that this case study was conducted at only two workplaces may affect the transferability of the findings to other workers who are not at all like the ones sampled here.

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