The present research aims to contribute to the study of mindfulness in the workplace and assess the impact of a MBI on the interoception awareness and the mindfulness skills of workers. The second objective was to study the mediational role of the interoceptive consciousness on improvements the MAAS and FFMQ results after the MBI.
In the first place, just as we had hypothesized, interoception and mindfulness measures improved after the MBI program. These findings coincide with earlier meta-analysis and review studies (33,34) that reported significant results after the practice of meditation and suggest that several mindfulness skills are cultivated with meditation. These skills are likely to encourage positive psychological functioning in populations across a variety of settings after MBIs (1,7). Our results showed significant improvements regarding FFMQ after the MBI in the Observe, Actaware and Nonjudge subscales. Observe includes noticing or attending to internal and external experiences, such as sensations, emotions or cognitions. In our study it correlated with one of the main variables of interoception, namely emotional awareness.
Previous studies have pointed to the importance of guided training in observation of internal stimuli, since Observe (or self-focus attention) has also been associated with negative emotion in clinical and nonclinical samples (35), a facet that has been positively correlated with many psychological disorders (36,37). One explanation for this is described in earlier findings (38), which had suggested that the observing facet might operate differently in samples with and without meditation training. Close observation of internal stimuli is included in mindfulness training; most importantly, however, it teaches participants to observe them with an accepting, nonjudging, and nonreactive stance, even when they are unpleasant. This is a key aspect of emotional regulation, since awareness without judgment, typical of mindfulness practices, can facilitate a healthy relationship with emotions (39,40), making it possible for people to really experience and express feelings. This is claimed to reduce mechanisms such as avoidance, suppression or over identification with emotions, which produce anxiety or rumination. In our study, higher scores were found in nonjudging after the MBI, suggesting that practitioners learned to observe inner stimuli without judging them.
Unfortunately, the FFMQ Describe and Non-reactivity subscales did not show any results after the program, even though they correlated with the MASS and MAIA subscales. Describe refers to labeling observed stimuli with words and Non Reactivity refers to active detachment from negative thoughts and emotions so that their existence can be accepted and we can choose not to react to them (41). Our meditating sample had a high level of education. Possibly education cultivates some verbal skills or regulation of reaction, or that individuals who pursue higher levels education are more likely to develop such skills, and that meditation adds little to the effects of education. Further investigation of these facets, as well as the influence of personal characteristics such as personality, habits, context, age, education, is warranted.
In the second place, the subscales of the MAIA interoception awareness scale, Noticing, Not Distracting, Not-Worrying, Emotional Awareness and Self-Regulation improved after the program in our research. These results are consistent with earlier studies (42,43) where authors found improvements in subscales of interoceptive awareness and psychological variables (well-being, depression, among others). Unfortunately, results were found in different subscales of MAIA (42,43), in comparison with our study, probably as a result of differences in the content of the programs, which make it difficult to compare the results in more detail. In our program, the results may indicate that MBIs strengthen participants’ capacity to notice their bodies’ sensations (Noticing), helping them to make use of this capacity to regulate distress (Self-Regulation). It can also be conjectured that mindfulness skills put the organism into a grounded, calm, and present-focused ‘being-mode’ (Not Distracting) that may account for the changes in the Not-Worrying scale.
In the third place, the results showed the mediational role of the emotional awareness and body listening MAIA subscales in the improvements of mindfulness (MASS and FFMQ). In describing the conceptual framework of the MAIA, Mealhing et al. (21) understood emotional awareness as part of a mayor dimension they named Mind-Body integration. This subdomain of emotional awareness is described as the awareness that certain physical sensations are the sensory aspect of emotions. In the MAIA scale, these items are assessed with questions like I notice how my body changes when I am angry or I notice how my body changes when I feel happy/joyful. The interoception subdomains of Body Listening and Self-Regulation (21) are in the same dimension and were also identified as significant mediators of FFMQ changes in this study, along with Attention Regulation.
Furthermore, finding interoception as a mediator for mindfulness results is extremely important in our analyses, since a fundamental question underlying recent research is based on the models and mechanisms that explained how mindfulness is improved and the impact this has on psychological variables. Interoception is an iterative process that requires the interplay between the perception of body states and a cognitive appraisal of these states to inform response selection (body-mind integration). Previous authors have claimed that difficulties in body-mind integration, with a maladaptive construal of bodily sensations, may be the basis of many contemporary diseases (44).
An explanation for this was put forward by Craig (45) claiming that afferent sensory signals interact continually with higher order cognitive representations of goals, history, and the environment, motivating regulatory behavior and informing emotional experience. This may have an influence on an individual’s approach or avoidance tendencies, where such interactions considerably affect wellbeing. According to our results, experience shapes interoceptive processing, and a cycle of awareness of the contingencies between environmental triggers, bodily responses, cognitive appraisals, and emotional experiences may be promoted by mindfulness training. This knowledge can subsequently be leveraged to regulate cognition and behavior to promote emotional well-being (44).
Finally, this study has a number of limitations that need to be considered. First, it is based on self-report, which is vulnerable to biases or changes in interpretation. What is more, results may differ depending on the response system used to assess the outcome. It is still unclear in the current study how the subjective perception and evaluation of body sensations assessed using self-report methods relates to other aspects of the broader construct of interoceptive awareness. Lastly, recruitment of this sample from only one program in a single organization may limit the generalizability of the findings. Continued research on MBI programs is needed in other workplaces.
To conclude, our findings support the idea that meditation practice leads to increase interoception awareness, which in turn would facilitates mindfulness skills in daily life. Finding that interoception mediates mindfulness results is of the greatest importance in our analyses. It may be possible to broaden our understanding of the benefits of mindfulness by improving our understanding of the action mechanisms of mindfulness and seeking to better understand the coherence (or lack thereof) between variables. Understanding how interoceptive processing is shaped by experience is therefore important for efforts to cultivate well-being and stress resilience in organizations, among other multiple settings.