Tweed, Riona;
(2019)
Cultivating Self-Compassion and Reducing Self-Criticism in a Brief Intervention for Adolescents.
Doctoral thesis (D.Clin.Psy), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
AIMS: This study aimed to investigate the effect of a compassion-focused imagery intervention and a compassionate psycho-education intervention on levels of self-compassion, self-criticism and state mood compared with a control condition in healthy adolescents. // METHOD: Fifty-one participants were randomly allocated to a compassionate imagery and psychoeducation group, a compassionate psychoeducation group or a no-intervention control. The interventions were delivered in three secondary schools in London. State measures of self-compassion, self-criticism, and mood were collected at pre- and post-intervention, and at a two-week follow up. Participants were asked to complete daily homework tasks related to each intervention. // RESULTS: Self-compassion was found to increase with a large effect size following the psychoeducation group but not in the imagery condition. Contrasting patterns were found across groups for different elements of self-compassion. Compassionate behaviour increased in the imagery group with a large effect size but not in the psychoeducation group, and uncompassionate behaviour decreased only in the psychoeducation condition with a medium-to-large effect size. Higher levels of self-compassion were associated with lower levels of self-criticism at baseline, however, no effects were found on self-criticism and state mood following the interventions. // CONCLUSIONS: This randomised-controlled study provided evidence for the potential of a brief compassionate psychoeducation intervention to increase self-compassion in adolescents. The results were inconclusive on the impact of compassionate mental imagery but it may be effective at enhancing the ‘positive elements’ of self-compassion, including self-kindness, mindfulness and common humanity. The absence of an effect on self-criticism suggests the potential existence of different pathways to enhancing self-compassion and reducing self-criticism. Future research is needed to address the shortfalls of this exploratory study, which was limited by a small sample size.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | D.Clin.Psy |
| Title: | Cultivating Self-Compassion and Reducing Self-Criticism in a Brief Intervention for Adolescents |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2019. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10082471 |
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