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. 2016 Oct;7(5):1044-1051.
doi: 10.1007/s12671-016-0540-x. Epub 2016 Apr 19.

The Effects of Mindfulness Training on Emotional Health in Chinese Long-Term Male Prison Inmates

Wei Xu  1   2 , Kun Jia  1 , Xinghua Liu  1 , Stefan G Hofmann  3
Affiliations

The Effects of Mindfulness Training on Emotional Health in Chinese Long-Term Male Prison Inmates

Wei Xu et al. Mindfulness (N Y). 2016 Oct.

Abstract

Long-term imprisonment can cause severe emotional problems, which in turn can trigger behavioral problems, self-harm, and suicide. Mindfulness-based intervention can enhance emotional health. This study investigated the effects of a 6-week mindfulness training program on the emotional health of long-term male Chinese prison inmates. Forty long-term male prisoners completed a pretest and posttest, with 19 in the mindfulness training group and 21 in the waitlist control group. The treatment group showed a significant improvement in mindfulness level, anxiety, depression, tension-anxiety, depression-dejection, anger-hostility, confusion-bewilderment, and total mood disturbance. Implications and limitations of this study were discussed. These results support the use of a mindfulness-based intervention to enhance the emotional health of long-term male prison inmates.

Keywords: Emotion regulation; Inmates; Meditation; Mindfulness treatment; Negative emotions.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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