This study has shown that solution-focused, cognitive-behavioural life coaching
can indeed be an effective approach to creating positive change, enhancing
mental health and life experience and facilitating goal attainment. In addition to
these therapeutic aspects, life coaching and coaching psychology provide a useful
framework from which to further develop our knowledge of the psychological
processes involved in purposeful change in normal, nonclinical populations.
Maurice Prout is a professor and director at Widener University in Pennsylvania, where one of the specific areas he has focused on for many years is cognitive-behavioral theory. Maurice Prout also belongs to the the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration (SEPI). Psychotherapy Integration seeks to take bits and pieces from many different theoretical approaches to understanding and treating mental health and combine them, in order to create a more efficient means of helping people.
“Mindfulness based stress reduction for college lecturers”iosrjce
IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-JBM) is a double blind peer reviewed International Journal that provides rapid publication (within a month) of articles in all areas of business and managemant and its applications. The journal welcomes publications of high quality papers on theoretical developments and practical applications inbusiness and management. Original research papers, state-of-the-art reviews, and high quality technical notes are invited for publications.
Abstract
Background: Across the country, nursing students are experiencing alarming amounts of stress. While stress is a common phenomenon, it has been shown to negatively impact nursing student performance and general health. One solution to this issue is mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). Reported effects of MBSR include stress reduction; mindfulness; improvements in self-esteem; increase in general health; a decrease in anxiety; and an increase in empathy. Because MBSR is not widely included in nursing curricula, students are not learning stress reduction techniques needed to manage daily stress. Purpose: To address this gap, a DNP project was implemented at a university site. The project’s purpose was two-fold: To increase the knowledge of faculty and to provide educational resources for students. Methods: A toolkit was developed that included a Power Point presentation for faculty; a copy of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS); and handouts on stress and MBSR techniques for students. Thirty-four faculty in an online family nurse practitioner program were offered the toolkit at one university in California; five faculty participated and completed the surveys. Results: Valuable data was obtained on the effectiveness of the presentation on faculty knowledge, perception, acceptance, and willingness to use the resources provided. Conclusion: When provided with a toolkit on stress and MBSR techniques, faculty became more aware of the significance of stress and stated they were willing to utilize the resources provided in future online classes.
Maurice Prout is a professor and director at Widener University in Pennsylvania, where one of the specific areas he has focused on for many years is cognitive-behavioral theory. Maurice Prout also belongs to the the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration (SEPI). Psychotherapy Integration seeks to take bits and pieces from many different theoretical approaches to understanding and treating mental health and combine them, in order to create a more efficient means of helping people.
“Mindfulness based stress reduction for college lecturers”iosrjce
IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-JBM) is a double blind peer reviewed International Journal that provides rapid publication (within a month) of articles in all areas of business and managemant and its applications. The journal welcomes publications of high quality papers on theoretical developments and practical applications inbusiness and management. Original research papers, state-of-the-art reviews, and high quality technical notes are invited for publications.
Abstract
Background: Across the country, nursing students are experiencing alarming amounts of stress. While stress is a common phenomenon, it has been shown to negatively impact nursing student performance and general health. One solution to this issue is mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). Reported effects of MBSR include stress reduction; mindfulness; improvements in self-esteem; increase in general health; a decrease in anxiety; and an increase in empathy. Because MBSR is not widely included in nursing curricula, students are not learning stress reduction techniques needed to manage daily stress. Purpose: To address this gap, a DNP project was implemented at a university site. The project’s purpose was two-fold: To increase the knowledge of faculty and to provide educational resources for students. Methods: A toolkit was developed that included a Power Point presentation for faculty; a copy of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS); and handouts on stress and MBSR techniques for students. Thirty-four faculty in an online family nurse practitioner program were offered the toolkit at one university in California; five faculty participated and completed the surveys. Results: Valuable data was obtained on the effectiveness of the presentation on faculty knowledge, perception, acceptance, and willingness to use the resources provided. Conclusion: When provided with a toolkit on stress and MBSR techniques, faculty became more aware of the significance of stress and stated they were willing to utilize the resources provided in future online classes.
Evolution of Psychotherapy: An OxymoronScott Miller
Reviews the history of psychotherapy outcome, documenting the lack of improvement and suggesting an alternative to focusing on diagnosis and treatment approach for improving outcome
Neuroprogression and Cognitive Functioning in Bipolar Disorders - Eleonora Lo...Eleonora Lombardi
Bipolar disorder (BD) has been associated with impairments
in a range of cognitive domains including attention, verbal learning, and mental flexibility. These deficits are increased during the acute phases of the illness and worsen over the course of BD. This review will examine the literature in relation to potential mechanisms associated with cognitive decline in BD. Scopus (all databases), Pubmed, and Ovid Medline were systematically searched with no language or year restrictions, up to January 2015, for human studies that collected cross-sectional and longitudinal cognitive data in adults with BD and matched healthy controls (HC). Selected search terms were “bipolar,” “cognitive,” “aging,” “illness duration,” “onset,” and “progression.” Thirty-nine studies satisfied the criteria for consideration. There is evidence that cognitive function in BD is negatively associated with features of illness progression such as number of mood episodes, illness duration, and hospitalizations. Aging does not appear to affect cognitive functioning to a greater extent than in HC. Furthermore, the small number of longitudinal studies in this field does not allow to reaching firm conclusion in terms of which sub-populations would be more prone to cognitive decline in BD. The decline in cognitive abilities over the course of the BD seems to be associated with the number of episodes and number of hospitalizations. No meaningful interaction of age and bipolar disorder has been found in terms of cognitive decline. Future large-scale longitudinal studies are necessary to confirm these findings and assist in the development of preventive interventions in vulnerable individuals.
این ارائه توسط دکتر محمد خیاط زاده، عضو هیات علمی دانشگاه جندی شاپور در کارگاه بررسی رویکرد جدید بوبت در درمان بیماران مبتلا به فلج مغزی تدریس شده است.
برای مشاهده دیگر مباحث مربوط به فلج مغزی، به وب سایت فروردین مراجعه کنید.
www.farvardin-group.com
What is biofeedback therapy and who can benefit? Biofeedback therapy is a non-drug treatment in which patients learn to control bodily processes that are normally involuntary, such as muscle tension, blood pressure, or heart rate........
The Shift from "Ordinary" to "Extraordinary" Experience in Psychodynaimc Supe...James Tobin
Presented by James Tobin, Ph.D. at the American Psychological Association annual conference in 2012, this paper argues that psychotherapists-in-training often rely on various forms of social etiquette when relating to their patients and conducting treatment. He argues that an important goal of supervision is to help the trainee cultivate a clinical attitude and environment which is "extraordinary" in nature, an interpersonal and intrapsychic space unencumbered by political and benevolent tendencies. Dr. Tobin describes the modeling component of supervision in which the supervisee is exposed to a new way of being in the atmosphere of the supervisor's mindfulness, independence, spontaneity, creativity, and subversiveness.
Research on Psychotherapy: A Presentation at the 2013 Evolution of Psychother...Scott Miller
A summary of the findings from research on psychotherapy presented on a panel discussion with David Barlow and Steven Hayes at the 2013 Evolution of Psychotherapy conference in Anaheim, California
This would be an absolute leisure tour with minimum sightseeing so that you can enjoy your stay to the core, for where else would you find the luxury of staying in a tree house, houseboat, ayurveda resort, ashram, floating cottages, heritage hotel and homestay on a single tour.
An excellent editorial from the Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice covering the issues surrounding defining coaching and how the lack of clarity further increases ambiguity.
Evolution of Psychotherapy: An OxymoronScott Miller
Reviews the history of psychotherapy outcome, documenting the lack of improvement and suggesting an alternative to focusing on diagnosis and treatment approach for improving outcome
Neuroprogression and Cognitive Functioning in Bipolar Disorders - Eleonora Lo...Eleonora Lombardi
Bipolar disorder (BD) has been associated with impairments
in a range of cognitive domains including attention, verbal learning, and mental flexibility. These deficits are increased during the acute phases of the illness and worsen over the course of BD. This review will examine the literature in relation to potential mechanisms associated with cognitive decline in BD. Scopus (all databases), Pubmed, and Ovid Medline were systematically searched with no language or year restrictions, up to January 2015, for human studies that collected cross-sectional and longitudinal cognitive data in adults with BD and matched healthy controls (HC). Selected search terms were “bipolar,” “cognitive,” “aging,” “illness duration,” “onset,” and “progression.” Thirty-nine studies satisfied the criteria for consideration. There is evidence that cognitive function in BD is negatively associated with features of illness progression such as number of mood episodes, illness duration, and hospitalizations. Aging does not appear to affect cognitive functioning to a greater extent than in HC. Furthermore, the small number of longitudinal studies in this field does not allow to reaching firm conclusion in terms of which sub-populations would be more prone to cognitive decline in BD. The decline in cognitive abilities over the course of the BD seems to be associated with the number of episodes and number of hospitalizations. No meaningful interaction of age and bipolar disorder has been found in terms of cognitive decline. Future large-scale longitudinal studies are necessary to confirm these findings and assist in the development of preventive interventions in vulnerable individuals.
این ارائه توسط دکتر محمد خیاط زاده، عضو هیات علمی دانشگاه جندی شاپور در کارگاه بررسی رویکرد جدید بوبت در درمان بیماران مبتلا به فلج مغزی تدریس شده است.
برای مشاهده دیگر مباحث مربوط به فلج مغزی، به وب سایت فروردین مراجعه کنید.
www.farvardin-group.com
What is biofeedback therapy and who can benefit? Biofeedback therapy is a non-drug treatment in which patients learn to control bodily processes that are normally involuntary, such as muscle tension, blood pressure, or heart rate........
The Shift from "Ordinary" to "Extraordinary" Experience in Psychodynaimc Supe...James Tobin
Presented by James Tobin, Ph.D. at the American Psychological Association annual conference in 2012, this paper argues that psychotherapists-in-training often rely on various forms of social etiquette when relating to their patients and conducting treatment. He argues that an important goal of supervision is to help the trainee cultivate a clinical attitude and environment which is "extraordinary" in nature, an interpersonal and intrapsychic space unencumbered by political and benevolent tendencies. Dr. Tobin describes the modeling component of supervision in which the supervisee is exposed to a new way of being in the atmosphere of the supervisor's mindfulness, independence, spontaneity, creativity, and subversiveness.
Research on Psychotherapy: A Presentation at the 2013 Evolution of Psychother...Scott Miller
A summary of the findings from research on psychotherapy presented on a panel discussion with David Barlow and Steven Hayes at the 2013 Evolution of Psychotherapy conference in Anaheim, California
This would be an absolute leisure tour with minimum sightseeing so that you can enjoy your stay to the core, for where else would you find the luxury of staying in a tree house, houseboat, ayurveda resort, ashram, floating cottages, heritage hotel and homestay on a single tour.
An excellent editorial from the Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice covering the issues surrounding defining coaching and how the lack of clarity further increases ambiguity.
Global cleantech entrepreneur Bryan Guido Hassin presents a high level overview of marketing and sales considerations in the lean startup process. This presentation is part of a 10-week program in entrepreneurship taught at Rice Unversity.
IFA-certified strength trainer and business executive Bryan Guido Hassin shares guidelines for maximizing the effects of strength training for executives who are pressed for time and energy.
EJBO Electronic Journal of Business Ethics and Organization StEvonCanales257
EJBO Electronic Journal of Business Ethics and Organization Studies Vol. 23, No. 1 (2018)
20 http://ejbo.jyu.fi/
Promoting Sustainability: The Effects of
Workplace Mindfulness Training
Introduction
Mindfulness training is enjoying grow-
ing popularity in work life settings, with
the aim to increase employees’ mindful-
ness level and thereby their well-being.
Prior evidence suggests that higher
mindfulness is associated with reduced
stress (Ciesa and Serretti, 2009) and bet-
ter recovery from work (e.g. Hülsheger,
Land, Depenbrock, Fehrmann, Zijlstra
and Alberts, 2014). Mindfulness can be
defined as non-judgmental, moment-to-
moment awareness which can be culti-
vated through formal meditation and
informal practice in everyday life (e.g.
Kabat-Zinn, 2003). Trait mindfulness
refers to how mindful individual tend
to be and act in daily life. Mindfulness is
constituted of various facets, such as non-
reacting, observing, acting with aware-
ness, describing and non-judging experi-
ences. Of these, non-reacting, defined as
the ability to step back from and not be
overwhelmed by distressing experiences,
is an important contributor to employee
well-being (Malinowski and Lim, 2015).
Three broad streams of mindfulness
research exist. First, correlational and
cross-sectional research explores asso-
ciations between mindfulness levels and
other factors (e.g. Malinowski and Lim,
2015). Second, diverse intervention stud-
ies examine the effects of various types
of mindfulness training, while the third
stream consists of laboratory-based re-
search (c.f. Keng, Smoski and Robins,
2011). In this variety of methods used
to study the effects of mindfulness train-
ing, there seems to be a lack of studies
employing mixed methods. In addition,
participants in workplace mindfulness-
training interventions frequently have
been employees in the health care and
education sectors. Therefore, the aim of
the current study was to use quantitative
and qualitative methods to explore the
effects of workplace mindfulness-based
stress reduction (MBSR) training for
factory employees.
Mindfulness training
Previous research indicates that mind-
fulness training can lead to higher self-
reported mindfulness (e.g. Anderson,
Lau and Bishop, 2007), and a number of
studies have demonstrated that increases
in mindfulness levels mediate the effects
of mindfulness interventions on out-
comes, such as well-being (for a review,
see Keng, Smoski and Robins, 2011).
For instance, a structured, group-based
MBSR programme employed mindful-
ness meditation to develop enhanced
awareness of the moment-to-moment
experiences of perceptible mental pro-
cesses and thereby improve psychological
and physical well-being (e.g. Grossman,
Niemann, Schimidt and Walach, 2004).
In accordance of these findings, it was
proposed that:
Hypothesis 1: Compared with the par-
ticipants in the control group, the partic-
ipants in the mindfulness-based training
g ...
98 The Coaching Psychologist, Vol. 14, No. 2, December 2018 .docxsleeperharwell
98 The Coaching Psychologist, Vol. 14, No. 2, December 2018
Techniques and Approaches section
Mindfulness in applied psychology:
Building resilience in coaching
Anthony Schwartz
The recent proliferation of applications of mindfulness in different fields of psychology, including its use in
coaching psychology, has been noted and questions have been raised regarding transfer of concepts and issues
of competence. As a psychologist who has been using mindfulness-based input over the past two decades, it
seems an opportune time to continue a practice-based discussion on the use of mindfulness in the area of
coaching psychology. In particular, to consider ways in which mindfulness inputs facilitate the development
of resilience in managing issues arising in working life. This has wide relevance for applied psychologists
in the area of executive coaching.
Keywords: coaching psychology, resilience, mindfulness.
The growth of mindfulness
A
S AN APPLIED PSYCHOLOGIST of
30 years experience, my work involves
the crossover of and integration of
interventions in the fields of coaching, clin-
ical, health and occupational psychology.
Over the past 20 years I have integrated
mindfulness practice into this. I would like
to highlight and promote the applied use
of mindfulness in this area for use with
the working population, whilst recognising
valid concerns about professional training
and competence being central to its use.
Applications in the field of occupational
health psychology
Occupational health psychology is a
specialty within the science and practice of
psychology encompassing research dimen-
sions, academic orientation and real-world
applications. It employs a broad and systemic
conceptualisation of health including motiva-
tional, behavioural, cognitive and emotional
aspects; recognising both emotional well-
being and mental health. It examines worker
health at four interrelated levels of anal-
ysis: the individual, the work environment,
the organisational environment, and the
external environment (Diaz-Cabrera et al.,
2010). Its focus is to develop, maintain and
promote the health of employees (Quick &
Tetrick, 2003).
Coaching, consultancy, training and
organisational interventions in occupational
health psychology have much to offer organ-
isations, both in terms of enhancing perfor-
mance as well as preventing and addressing
work related problems at a variety of levels to
increase productivity and effectiveness. While
much has been written about the theoretical
underpinning of both coaching psychology
and occupational health psychology (Wren,
2016), there has been less attention to prac-
tice and the evolving role of the practitioner,
with even less about the application of mind-
fulness (Chaskalson, 2012). A notable excep-
tion is the work of Passmore (2017).
Coaching psychology and consultancy
in occupational health psychology
There is a growing network of practitioners
working across occupa.
Integrating a Wellness Model in Addictions Counseling, CORE 2017 ConferenceDevona Stalnaker-Shofner
Presentation for the 5th Annual Clinical Overview of the Recovery Experience (CORE) Conference, Amelia Island, FL July 17, 2017
Wellness is an integral part of the counseling profession. As such, the incorporation of client wellness into a recovery plan is vital. This education session focuses on how to integrate wellness as a part of a recovery plan and overall treatment utilizing Myers and Sweeney's (2005) Indivisible Self Wellness (IS-Wel) Model. In doing so, this offers a more holistic approach to addictions treatment and extends the recovery model beyond a mere focus on abstinence and change to include key lifestyle and personal factors that can be essential elements to sustaining recovery.
COMMENTARY Open AccessMotivational Interviewing moving fr.docxclarebernice
COMMENTARY Open Access
Motivational Interviewing: moving from why to
how with autonomy support
Ken Resnicow* and Fiona McMaster
Abstract
Motivational Interviewing (MI), a counseling style initially used to treat addictions, increasingly has been used in
health care and public health settings. This manuscript provides an overview of MI, including its theoretical origins
and core clinical strategies. We also address similarities and differences with Self-Determination Theory. MI has
been defined as person-centered method of guiding to elicit and strengthen personal motivation for change. Core
clinical strategies include, e.g., reflective listening and eliciting change talk. MI encourages individuals to work
through their ambivalence about behavior change and to explore discrepancy between their current behavior and
broader life goals and values. A key challenge for MI practitioners is deciding when and how to transition from
building motivation to the goal setting and planning phases of counseling. To address this, we present a new
three-phase model that provides a framework for moving from WHY to HOW; from building motivation to more
action oriented counseling, within a patient centered framework.
Introduction
Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a counseling style initi-
ally used to treat addictions [1-5]. Its efficacy has been
demonstrated in numerous randomized trials across a
range of conditions and settings [5-8]. Over the past 15
years, there have been considerable efforts to adapt and
test MI across various chronic disease behaviors [7,9-21].
This article provides an overview of MI and its philo-
sophic orientation and essential strategies, with an
emphasis on its application to health promotion and
chronic disease prevention. Because many practitioners
find it difficult deciding when and how to transition from
building motivation to the goal setting and planning
phases of counseling, we present a new three-phase
model that provides a framework for helping clinicians
transition from the WHY to HOW phase; from building
motivation to more action oriented counseling. Further,
we discuss possible connections between elements of the
three phase MI model and Self-Determination Theory.
Overview of Motivational Interviewing
MI is an egalitarian, empathetic “way of being”. It is a
communication style that uses specific techniques and
strategies such as reflective listening, shared decision-
making, and eliciting change talk. Recently it has been
defined as a “person-centered method of guiding to eli-
cit and strengthen personal motivation for change“ [22].
An effective MI practitioner is able to strategically bal-
ance the need to “comfort the afflicted” and “afflict the
comfortable"; to balance the expression of empathy with
the need to build sufficient discrepancy to stimulate
change.
One goal of MI is to assist individuals to work
through their ambivalence or resistance about behavior
change. MI appears to be particularly effective for i ...
Unattainable long term goals through the application of positive and motivati...Pubrica
Full information: https://bit.ly/2A8X6oY
1. What Positive Psychologyfocuses on in brief?
2.Goals of Positive Psychology
3.Unattainable long-term goals
4.Unattainable goals, physical health and emotional distress
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ImagineCare: Empowering Patients with Behavioral Science and TechnologyLiz Griffith
Mad*Pow's Jamie Thomson, Experience Design Director, and Olga Elizarova, Senior Behavior Change Analyst share their experience and findings from the ImageinCare project.
Understanding an organisation by using a cultural webPeter Mackechnie
This article considers using a particular tool to find out more about an organisation that you are either about to begin work with, join or already work for but want to know more.
Exec Coaching A Comprehensive Review Of The LiteraturePeter Mackechnie
Executive Coaching
A Comprehensive Review of the Literature
Sheila Kampa-Kokesch RHR International
Mary Z. Anderson Western Michigan University
This article critically examines the literature on executive
coaching.
I attended the Procurex Scotland event at the SECC on the 29th of October. I’ve pulled together some useful contact details. All the related leaflet material is enclosed.
2. 254 THE IMPACT OF LIFE COACHING
al development to ensure consumer protection and inform consumer choice
(Grant, 2001; Starker, 1990).
A recent development in the personal development genre is the emergence of
life coaching. Life coaching can be broadly defined as a collaborative solution-
focused, result-orientated and systematic process in which the coach facilitates
the enhancement of life experience and goal attainment in the personal and/or
professional life of normal, nonclinical clients.
ISSUES IN THE GROWTH OF LIFE COACHING PRACTICE
The coaching industry, and particularly life coaching, has grown substantially
since at least 1998. There have been claims that the number of executive and life
coaches number in the tens of thousands in the USA, and coaching has received
widespread attention in the popular Western press (Hall, Otazo, & Hollenbeck,
1999).
Despite often over optimistic claims as to its effectiveness there has been lit-
tle empirical research into the effectiveness of life coaching (Grant, 2000), with
anecdotal and marketing claims from the coaching industry itself forming the
bulk of the evidence. An overview of the peer-reviewed academic psychology
literature on coaching, in normal adult populations, as represented in the data-
base PsycINFO shows that there are only 98 citations, with only 17 of these
being empirical evaluations of the effectiveness of coaching interventions. All of
these are concerned with evaluating work-related or executive coaching within
work or organizational settings.
This is an exploratory study; the first to investigate the effectiveness of life
coaching (i.e., coaching in a nonwork or organizational setting), and to investi-
gate the impact of solution-focused, cognitive-behavioral life coaching on key
sociocognitive and metacognitive factors.
A SOLUTION-FOCUSED, COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL MODEL OF COACHING
The life coaching program used in this study is adapted from a self-help book,
Coach Yourself (Grant & Greene, 2001). This program is based on principles
drawn from cognitive-behavioral clinical and counseling psychology (Beck,
Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979), brief solution-focused therapy (O’Hanlon, 1998),
and models of self-regulated learning (Zimmerman, 1989).
Cognitive-behavioral approaches to counseling and coaching psychology rec-
ognize the quadratic reciprocity between the four domains of human experience:
behavior, thoughts, feelings and the environment. From a cognitive-behavioral
perspective, goal attainment is best facilitated by understanding the relationship
between these four domains of human experience and structuring them so as to
best support goal attainment. However, possibly because its roots are in the treat-
ment of psychopathology within a medical model, the cognitive-behavioral
3. THE IMPACT OF LIFE COACHING 255
approach tends to emphasize psychopathology, an approach which is often alien-
ating for nonclinical populations.
Thus, the Coach Yourself program incorporates aspects of brief solution-
focused therapy. Solution-focused therapy is a constructivist, humanistic
approach that concentrates on the strengths that clients bring to therapy, and
emphasizes the importance of solution construction rather than problem analy-
sis.
SELF-REGULATION, SOCIOCOGNITION, METACOGNITION AND COACHING
Goal-directed self-regulation consists of a series of processes in which an indi-
vidual sets a goal, develops a plan of action, begins action, monitors his or her
performance (through self-reflection), evaluates his or her performance by com-
parison to a standard (gaining insight), and based on this evaluation changes his
or her actions to further enhance performance and better reach his or her goals.
The coach’s role is to facilitate the coachee’s movement through the self-regula-
tory cycle towards goal attainment. Hence, coaching is a useful means of fur-
thering our understanding of the sociocognitive and metacognitive factors
involved in purposeful behavior change as people move through the self-regula-
tory cycle. Figure 1 presents a generic model of self-regulation.
Set a Goal
Develop an
Action Plan
Act
Change what's not working
Do more of what works Monitor
(requires Self-reflection)
(requires Self-Reflection)
Evaluate
(associated with Insight)
Success
Figure 1: Generic model of self-regulation and goal attainment showing self-reflection and
insight.
4. 256 THE IMPACT OF LIFE COACHING
Some of the key metacognitive factors in the self-regulatory cycle are found
within the construct of private self-consciousness (Fenigstein, Scheier, & Buss,
1975), specifically, the processes of self-reflection and insight. Both clinical and
nonclinical change programs often encourage candidates for change to spend
time in self-reflection on the assumption that this will lead to insight, and insight
will facilitate goal attainment and behavioral change (Sedikides & Skowronski,
1995). However, it is important to note that self-reflection and insight are logi-
cally two separate processes. One may spend time in self-reflection without nec-
essarily developing insight.
METACOGNITION AND COACHING: PAST RESEARCH
SELF-REFLECTION, INSIGHT AND MENTAL HEALTH
Research into private self-consciousness has focused on how self-reflection
and internal state awareness (and the associated construct of insight) are related
to mental health, rather than to goal attainment through the coaching process. In
general self-reflection has been found to be correlated positively with measures
of psychopathology with internal state awareness being negatively correlated
with measures of psychopathology (Creed & Funder, 1998). Investigations into
the relationship between self-reflection and insight using the Private Self-
Consciousness Scale (PSCS; Fenigstein et al., 1975) have produced inconsistent
findings, and there have been calls for the PSCS to be revised.
A new measure of private self-consciousness, the Self-Reflection and Insight
Scale (SRIS; Grant, Franklin, & Langford, 2002), comprises two orthogonal
subscales, self-reflection (SRIS-SR) and insight (SRIS-IN), and initial findings
suggest that the SRIS is a valid and reliable measure of self-reflection and insight
which represents an advance on the PSCS (Grant et al., 2002).
Little is known about how the metacognitive factors of self-reflection and
insight change as individuals move purposefully towards goal attainment
through a change program. Grant et al. (2002) found that individuals who regu-
larly kept journals in which they wrote about their life experiences had higher
levels of self-reflection, but lower levels of insight than did individuals who did
not keep journals. Grant et al. suggested that the journal-keepers were in some
way stuck in a process of self-reflection, and were primarily engaged in a process
of understanding their personal behavioral, cognitive and emotional reactions,
rather than moving towards goal attainment. If this is the case then it can be pre-
dicted that individuals’ levels of insight should increase as they move through
the self-regulatory cycle towards attaining goals that had previously eluded
them.
The study also investigated the impact of life coaching on individuals’ ability
to reach their goals. It was predicted that participation in the life coaching pro-
5. THE IMPACT OF LIFE COACHING 257
gram would be associated with increased goal attainment. Making successful
purposeful change and reaching one’s goals can have a positive impact on indi-
viduals’ mental health (Sheldon & Kasser, 2001). Thus it was further hypothe-
sized that participation in the program would enhance mental health and increase
participants’ quality of life.
METHOD
PARTICIPANTS AND MATERIALS
Twenty mature-age postgraduate students from the Faculties of Science,
Economics and Business in a major Australian university (15 women and 5 men,
mean age = 35.6 years) took part in this study.
The Coach Yourself (Grant & Greene, 2001) life coaching program is a struc-
tured life coaching program. The present study used the Coach Yourself program
as a basis for group life coaching facilitated by an external coach.
DESIGN, PROCEDURE AND THE COACHING PROGRAM
The study utilized a within-subject design. Participants initially completed a
life inventory task from the Coach Yourself program in which they examined the
main areas of their lives (e.g., work, health or relationships) and then developed
three specific, tangible and measurable goals which could be attained, or towards
which significant progress could be made, within a 13-week time frame.
Participants were able to select any goal that they had wanted to achieve in the
past, but had been unsuccessful in achieving.
Participants met in a group for ten, 50-minute weekly group coaching sessions,
and were coached in the application of cognitive-behavioral coaching tech-
niques, including self-monitoring, cognitive restructuring, behavioral modifica-
tion and environmental structuring, and solution-focused techniques such as the
“Miracle Question” (de Shazer, 1988).
The Miracle Question is a technique which facilitates the generation of options
and action plans. The client is asked to respond to a question such as; “if you
woke up tomorrow, and a miracle had happened and the solution was somehow
present, what would be happening?”. Although a relatively new modality, pre-
liminary studies have shown solution-focused approaches to be effective in a
range of applications (Gingerich & Eisengart, 2000).
The role of the coach was to facilitate this process, and to help the coachees to
systematically work through the self-regulation cycle, monitoring and evaluating
their progress towards their goals during the preceding week, and developing
action plans for the coming week.
6. 258 THE IMPACT OF LIFE COACHING
Measures
Participants completed the questionnaires in a group setting before and fol-
lowing completion of the Coach Yourself program.
Goal Attainment Scale. Participants were asked to identify three goals.
Participants rated each goal for perceived difficulty on a four point scale (1 =
very easy, to 4 = very difficult), and also rated their degree of past success in
attaining the goals on a scale from 0% (no attainment) to 100% (total attain-
ment). Goal attainment scores were calculated by multiplying the difficulty rat-
ing by the degree of success, and dividing by the number of chosen goals to find
a mean score. Participants also rated the length of time they had sought to attain
these goals.
The Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21). The DASS-21 (Lovibond
& Lovibond, 1995) was utilized as a measure of psychopathology.
The Quality of Life Inventory (QOLI). The QOLI (Frisch, 1994) is a 32-item
self-report questionnaire that assesses individuals’ perceptions of their quality of
life in 16 life domains: health, self-esteem, goals and values, money, work, play,
learning, creativity, helping others, love, friends, children, relatives, home,
neighborhood, and community.
The Self-Reflection and Insight Scale (SRIS). The SIRS (Grant et al., 2002) is
a 20-item self-report scale which comprises two subscales: a self-reflection scale
(SRIS-SR) and an insight scale (SRIS-IN). The SRIS assesses individuals’
propensity to reflect on, and their level of insight into, their thoughts, feelings
and behavior.
Self-reflection items include; “It is important to me to try to understand what
my feelings mean”, and “I frequently take time to reflect on my thoughts”.
Insight items include; “I usually know why I feel the way I do”, and “My behav-
ior often puzzles me” (reverse scored).
RESULTS
To assist interpretation effect sizes are reported and t tests were used to assess
statistical significance. Alpha was set at 0.05. Results of the intervention are pre-
sented in Table 1.
Participation in the life coaching program was associated with increased goal
attainment, with a large observed effect size (d = 2.85; Cohen, 1992). The aver-
age length of time that the participants had been trying to reach their goals was
23.5 months.
Participants’ reported levels of depression, anxiety and stress were significant-
ly reduced, with statistically significant effect sizes of d = 0.82, 0.48 and 0 .69
respectively. Participants reported a significantly enhanced quality of life with an
observed large effect size of d = 1.62. As predicted, participants’ levels of insight
7. THE IMPACT OF LIFE COACHING 259
significantly increased following the life coaching program with a medium effect
size being observed (d = 0.59), and participants’ levels of self-reflection signifi-
cantly decreased (d = 0.76).
TABLE 1
MEAN PRE- AND POST-COACHING PROGRAM SCORES
Pre Post
M SD M SD t (1, 19) p d
GAS 60.00 35.24 204.05 65.79 -10.02 <.01 2.85
Goal Difficulty 3.07 .46 2.97 .38 .88 .39 0.19
DEP 4.60 4.77 1.20 2.28 3.65 <.01 0.82
ANX 2.90 4.18 1.10 1.77 2.16 .04 0.48
STRESS 12.60 9.38 7.80 5.98 3.11 <.01 0.69
QOLI 24.25 18.71 44.45 18.23 7.24 <.01 1.62
SRIS-SR 56.05 5.65 49.05 10.19 3.40 <.01 0.76
SRIS-IN 35.65 6.71 38.60 5.55 2.64 .02 0.59
Note: GAS = Goal Attainment Scale; QOLI = Quality of Life Inventory; DEP = DASS-21 depres-
sion scale; ANX = DASS-21 anxiety scale; STRESS = DASS-21 stress scale; SRIS-SR = Self-
Reflection scale SRIS-IN = Insight scale
p values are given as two-tailed
There was no significant positive correlation between the self-reflection scale
of the SRIS and the insight subscale either before (r = .10) or following the life
coaching program (r = -.22). A significant negative correlation between post-
program SR-SRIS scores and goal attainment was found (r = -.35, p = .03), and
the positive correlation between postprogram IN-SRIS and goal attainment was
significant with a one-tailed test (r = .28, p = .04; one-tailed).
DISCUSSION
THE IMPACT ON GOAL ATTAINMENT AND WELL-BEING
This exploratory study provides preliminary empirical evidence that a life
coaching program can facilitate goal attainment, improve mental heath and
enhance quality of life. This study also sheds light on the metacognitive process-
es of self-reflection and insight, and how these change following a program of
purposeful directed change.
It appears that the life coaching program was indeed successful in terms of
goal attainment. The participants chose to work towards attaining a wide range
of goals. These included; establishing a new business; extending social life; bal-
ancing work/life and attending to neglected financial affairs. On average these
individuals had been trying to reach their goals for 23.5 months. The goal attain-
8. 260 THE IMPACT OF LIFE COACHING
ment scale effect size was large (d = 2.85) and this compares favorably with
meta-analytic reports of the efficacy of bibliotherapy where the mean estimated
effect size was d = 0.56 (Marrs, 1995).
However, it should be borne in mind that the goal attainment scale used in this
study was self-report. Although it was not possible for the investigator to objec-
tively determine the veracity of reported goal attainment, nevertheless, it
appeared from the discussions in the weekly group coaching sessions that the
participants were making genuine progress towards their goals. For example,
several of the participants’ goals were to establish new businesses and have pay-
ing clients by the completion of the life coaching program, and they spoke enthu-
siastically about the development of their new businesses.
The life coaching program appeared to enhance quality of life and mental
health, even though the enhancement of mental health and life quality were not
specifically targeted in the life coaching program. The observed effect sizes for
mental health were d = 0.82 for depression, d = 0.48 for anxiety and d = 0.69 for
stress. The magnitude of this study’s impact on mental health is noteworthy
given that Ergene (2000) found a mean effect size of d = 0.65 for cognitive-
behavioral psychological treatment for anxiety programs, and effect sizes for
psychological treatments for depression range from d = 0.28 to d = 1.03 (e.g.,
Febbraro & Clum, 1998; Reinecke, Ryan, & DuBois, 1998).
The program also appeared to enhance general life satisfaction. The QOLI
(Frisch, 1994) assesses 16 different life domains and there was an observed large
effect size (d = 1.62). This finding suggests that although the life coaching pro-
gram was directed at the attainment of specific goals, the benefits generalized to
participants’ broader life experience, and this provides preliminary evidence of
the general value of life coaching in enhancing well-being, in addition to its
more specific impact on goal attainment.
THE IMPACT ON SELF-REFLECTION AND INSIGHT
The life coaching study also impacted on the participants’ levels of self-reflec-
tion and insight. Following the program participants’ levels of self-reflection
decreased while their levels of insight increased.
These findings lend support to the notion that high levels of self-reflection may
be more akin to a self-focused rumination, rather than a reflective processes
associated with goal attainment. Indeed, Lyubomirsky, Tucker, Caldwell, and
Berg (1999) found that dysphoric self-reflection led participants to rate their own
problems as severe and unsolvable, and to report a reduced likelihood of actual-
ly implementing their solutions.
These findings also suggest that as individuals move through the self-regula-
tory cycle towards goal attainment they become less engaged in self-reflection
and experience greater insight. This suggests that the constructs measured by the
9. THE IMPACT OF LIFE COACHING 261
SRIS may be malleable as a result of coaching, and this notion is somewhat at
odds with previous research which has identified private self-consciousness as a
trait facet (e.g., Trapnell & Campbell, 1999). The items on the SRIS are present-
ly expressed in a global, trait-like fashion. Exploration of the malleability of self-
reflection and insight may be further facilitated by the inclusion of process-relat-
ed or goal-specific items in the SRIS.
LIMITATIONS
There are a number of limitations to the present study which should be taken
into account when interpreting these findings. This exploratory study used a
within-subjects design. The lack of a control group means that the effects could
have occurred naturalistically, rather than being caused by the intervention. In
addition, the participants were self-selected mature-age university students, who
may not be representative of the general population, and who may have been
especially motivated to achieve their goals. Further, the design may have
induced a demand effect; that is, the participants may have felt that they had to
report making progress and enhanced well-being in order to please the experi-
menter. Nevertheless, this study has begun the process of evaluating the effec-
tiveness of life coaching and has further advanced our knowledge of a psychol-
ogy of life coaching.
IMPLICATIONS FOR LIFE COACHING PRACTICE
This study has indicated that solution-focused, cognitive-behavioral life
coaching can facilitate goal attainment, improve mental health and enhance gen-
eral life experience.
This study also found that over the course of participation in the life coaching
program levels of self-reflection decreased and levels of insight increased. This
has been interpreted as an indication that as individuals move through the self-
regulatory cycle towards goal attainment they are less engaged in self-reflection.
The implications of this finding for life coaching practitioners emphasize the fact
that an excessive focus on self-reflection may be counterproductive in terms of
goal attainment. Use of the solution-focused approach may be useful in counter-
acting tendencies to engage in prolonged self-reflection, and may serve to
remind coaches to ensure that life coaching is conducted as a solution-focused,
goal-directed process.
DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
Future research should employ random assignment to treatment and control.
The construction of process-specific or goal-specific items to complement the
existing global items on the self-reflection and insight subscales of the SRIS
would be a valuable step in developing an understanding of the role of metacog-
10. 262 THE IMPACT OF LIFE COACHING
nition in purposeful change, and would further explorations of the relationship
between insight and goal attainment. Given the apparent positive impact on par-
ticipants’ mental health, future research should investigate also the utility of life
coaching as a means of enhancing well-being.
SUMMARY
This study has shone some light on the roles of self-reflection and insight in
the self-regulatory cycle. It appears that overengagement in self-reflection may
not facilitate goal attainment. This finding serves to remind coaches that life
coaching should be a results-orientated solution-focused process, rather than an
introspective, overly-philosophical endeavor.
This study has shown that solution-focused, cognitive-behavioural life coach-
ing can indeed be an effective approach to creating positive change, enhancing
mental health and life experience and facilitating goal attainment. In addition to
these therapeutic aspects, life coaching and coaching psychology provide a use-
ful framework from which to further develop our knowledge of the psychologi-
cal processes involved in purposeful change in normal, nonclinical populations.
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