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Focusing, meaning, life satisfaction, existential concerns, experiential avoidance and psychological distress: A longitudinal training study
No full textFocusing (Gendlin, 1978) can be described as a set of introspective skills which helps a person to attend and listen to his/her inner felt sense about a situation. Gendlin (1996) developed focusing in order to help people making sense and find meaning about their daily existence. Research has shown that focusing can lead to a deeper experiential openness, better listening to oneself and others, emotion-regulation, less mental distress, and higher levels of self-actualization (for an overview see Krycka & Ikemi, 2016; Parker, 2014). Although the theory behind focusing has closely been linked to existential philosophy and phenomenology (Casey & Schoeller, 2018; Gendlin, 1962, 1973), the hypothesis that focusing would have a positive effect on existential well-being (i.e. a higher experience of meaning in life, less existential anxiety, more life satisfaction) has only recently been tested (see previous study G-2019 12 1920: Vanhooren et al., 2022) in a cross-sectional design. However, although our results showed positive associations between focusing, meaning, well-being and negative with existential anxiety and psychological distress, cross-sectional studies don't allow for causal interpretations. In this new study, we want to test if focusing indeed leads to these positive existential well-being outcomes.
Goals
Focusing training – based on the work of Ann Weiser Cornell (2005) – consists of four levels through which lay people and professionals can learn how to acquire these introspective skills. This study aims to explore if focusing training has indeed an effect on one’s focusing skills (or focusing manner) and if this leads to a different way of coping with existential concerns and more well-being. We want to explore this research question in a sample of people who participate in this focusing training (the four levels).
Concretely, this study wants to identify if focusing training and focusing itself (the frequency participants using focusing) as such has an effect on (1) one’s focusing manner or attitudes, (2) psychological distress (3) one’s experience of and reflection about meaning in life, (4) one's openness to experiencing in terms of experiential avoidance, and (5) existential well-being in terms of coping with existential concerns and life satisfaction.
Ethical considerations in terms of societal value of the study
On the one hand, certain ways of relating with existential themes such as death anxiety and meaninglessness have been identified as trans-diagnostic factors that are recurrent in different forms of psychological suffering such as suicidal ideation, depression, general anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder ((e.g. Arredondo & Caparrós, 2019; Iverach, Menzies, & Menzies, 2014; Stillman, Baumeister, Lambert, Crescioni, DeWall, & Fincham, 2009; van Bruggen, Vos, & Glas, 2014; Volkert, Schulz, Brütt, & Andreas, 2014). On the other hand, experiencing meaning in life has been described to buffer negative ways of experiencing such as depression or death anxiety and correlate with well-being and life satisfaction (Abeyta et al., 2015; Steger, 2012). Recent cross-sectional studies have repeatedly shown that focusing might act as a mediator between meaning and other variables such as depression, existential suffering, but also well-being (Pellens, et al., 2022, in preparation; Vanhooren et al., 2022). Focusing, as an intervention, could be an important tool to enhance meaning in life and its buffering role, and enhance life satisfaction as such.
With its longitudinal character, the current study will help to test these hypotheses. As a result, focusing could be further examined as a set of skills to lower existential suffering and increase existential well-being and meaning in life.
Research Instruments
Validated questionnaires:
• Experiential avoidance AAQ-II
• Focusing Manner Scale-AE (FMS)
• Psychological distress (GHQ-12)
• Meaning in life Measurement (MILM)
• Existential Concern Questionnaire (ECQ)
• Satisfaction with Life Scale (SLS)
Non-validated questionnaires:
• Demographic questions
• Questions regarding focusing training and frequency of practice
• Open question regarding the experienced effect of focusing during the last month
Method and Practical Procedures
Focusing trainers in Flanders who are registered through Focusing Vlaanderen will be invited on a webinar where the study will be explained. Trainers who are interested for their trainees (Level 1 focusing) to participate in the study, will be invited to forward an email of the researcher to their trainees. The email will shortly explain the study. The mail will contain a link to the online survey, which will contain more information about the study, the informed consent document. Only when people check the 'yes' button (a 'no' button will also be available), they will be allowed to the study. If people participate, at the end of the questionnaire, they will also find more information about where to find the general results of the study, and information concerning psychological help if needed.
The completion of the questionnaire will take 15 to 20 minutes. Because considerable time might be passing between following the different levels, participants will be requested to complete the informed consent document at every new level of focusing training they engage with.
The quantitative questionnaires will be analyzed with SPSS. From T1 on: there will be one open question which will be qualitatively analyzed.
The questionnaire will be repeated at different time slots:
T0: One day before Focusing training level 1
T1: At the end of Focusing training level 1
T2: One month after Focusing training level 1
T3: One day before Focusing training level 2
T4: At the end of Focusing training level 2
T5: One month after Focusing training level 2
T6: One day before Focusing training level 3
T7: At the end of Focusing training level 3
T8: One month after Focusing training level 3
T9: One day before Focusing training level 4
T10: At the end of Focusing training level 4
T11: One month after Focusing training level 4
Back-up plan in case of a pandemic
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, some focusing trainings have remained online (as at PraxisP KU Leuven). The study will recruit from participants that are part of these online groups. The study itself is entirely digital.
Beginning and end to the study
Start: As soon as approved by SMEC
End: September 1 2029
What kind of information are you gathering and from whom
Gewone persoonsgegevens van de participanten:
Categorieën:
- Identificatiegegevens (Naam en email)
- Persoonlijke kenmerken (Leeftijd, geslacht)
- Opleiding en training (info omtrent focusing training)
- Levensstijl en gewoontes (frequentie van de praktijk van focusing en focusing partner-ship)
- Psychologische details (antwoorden op de vragenlijsten over zingeving, experiëntiële vermijding, focusing attitude, coping met existentiële uitdagingen, levenssatifisactie, het ervaren van psychologische stress)
Bijzondere categorieën van persoonsgegevens van de participanten:
- Gegevens over de gezondheid van een persoon/ mentale gezondheid: meting van psychologische stress via de General Health Questionnaire: een globale inschatting van mentale belasting gedurende de laatste maand.
Vulnerable people?
No
Selection Criteria
- Participanten in focusing training
- Volwassenen
Expected sample
We hope to start with 300 participants at T0 (first wave). However focusing trainers informed us that only 17% of the people who started their level 1 training eventually attend the last focusing training level 4 (starting at wave 10), which in this case would be 50 participants.
Ratio Sample versus Population
The population is unknown, but a rough estimation tells us that 100 trainees start every year in Flanders.
How much information do you gather from one person
Items through the questionnaire per wave:
- Demographic variables and variables regarding frequency of pratice: 6 questions using a likert-scale, a number, or a 'yes' 'no' button
- One open question about experienced changes over the last month with regard to general life attitudes and focusing (except for T0)
- A total of 82 items using Likert-scales
- Identification: name and email
Geographical spread of the participants
Flanders (Belgium)
Acquiring participants and informed consent
Focusing trainers will be invited on a webinar where the study will be explained. The information will be the same as the description of the study in the SMEC file. The results of the previous cross-sectional study will also be showed. There will be time for questions and answers. Trainers who are interested after this seminar, will receive an email from the researcher which they can post on their website, or forward to their new trainees before the training (Level 1 focusing) starts. The email will contain the following explanation:
"Beste focusser, Op dit moment heb je interesse getoond om een (nieuwe) focusing training te volgen. Zoals je misschien weet is focusing gegroeid uit het onderzoek van Eugene Gendlin in de jaren 60 van vorige eeuw. Wij aan KU Leuven (België) zetten graag zijn werk verder en vroegen ons af of jij zou willen deelnemen aan onze nieuwe studie. In deze studie willen we verder onderzoeken hoe focusing een effect kan hebben op ons leven. Door deze studie zullen we wellicht ook focusing training kunnen verbeteren. Je kan ons steunen door deel te nemen aan ons onderzoek. Op die manier bouw je mee aan een samenleving waarin stilstaan bij het innerlijke weten en zelfreflectie hopelijk een bredere basis kan krijgen. Onderzoek kan het belang van focusing en experiëntiële zelfreflectie sterk onderbouwen. Via een online vragenlijst zouden we graag voor je start aan de focusing training, er net na en ook nog eens een maand nadien, enkele vragen stellen. Het zijn vragen rond focusing, zingeving, stress, welzijn, en tevredenheid. Je kan er ook kwijt, na je training, wat er eventueel veranderd is sinds je de training startte en in hoeverre focusing daar iets mee te maken heeft. Het invullen zal je wellicht 15 tot 20 minuten tijd vragen, maar het is meteen ook een manier om stil te staan bij jezelf en wat focusing voor jou mag of mocht betekenen. We willen je graag oprecht danken en wensen je een heel mooie focusing training toe. Hieronder vind je een link naar de studie zelf. Ze zal je meer informatie geven omtrent de studie en laat je toe om meteen deel te nemen. "
The mail will contain a link to the online survey, which will contain more information about the study, the informed consent document. Only when people check the 'yes' button (a 'no' button will also be available), they will be allowed to the study. If people participate, at the end of the questionnaire, they will also find more information about where to find the general results of the study, and information concerning psychological help if needed.
Advantages through participation
People who start a focusing training are usually very interested in self-reflection. The questionnaires in this study demand a self-reflective stance. As a result, the study itself entails a moment of self-reflection and can help to further acquire a focusing manner as being trained in the focusing training. The one open-ended question can serve as a space to evaluate one’s focusing training experiences in terms of observed changes. It values the participant’s opinion and a written reflection about the observed changes can help to anker these changes more profoundly. Getting the space for one’s personal thoughts – in terms of this open-question – can help participants feel personally valued.
Risks and counseling
A first inconvenience is the time that the participant will spend on completing the questionnaire.
Second, questions concerning life satisfaction, meaning in life and existential concerns entail always the risk to be confronted with negative feelings. However, at the same time one can also experience positive feelings through the same questionnaires.
No explicit counseling is provided, based on the fact of having been doing the existential research since 2012, participants never made use of the counseling option. In case of negative experiences, participants will be informed how to get help at the last page of the questionnaire:
"Beste meneer, mevrouw,
Bedankt voor het deelnemen aan ons onderzoek. Als u naar aanleiding van het onderzoek met vragen, bedenkingen of gevoelens zit die u graag wilt bespreken, dan kunt u steeds terecht bij de onderzoeker van deze studie. Als u liever praat met een vertrouwd persoon kunt u ook steeds terecht bij uw huisarts of bij uw specialist arts.
Daarnaast zijn er nog verschillende plaatsen waar u vertrouwelijk terecht kan met vragen rond verschillende thema’s die misschien aan bod gekomen zijn. U kunt steeds één van deze organisaties contacteren als u graag verder wilt spreken over deze onderwerpen.
Voor België:
Tele-onthaal: Tel. 106 (anoniem en gratis)
Centrum Algemeen Welzijn: Tel. 078 150. U vindt een centrum in uw buurt op http://www.caw.be/
Centrum Geestelijke Gezondheidszorg: Professionele multidisciplinaire werking. U vindt een centrum in uw buurt op https://www.geestelijkgezondvlaanderen.be/centrum-geestelijke-gezondheidszorg-cgg
Hulp of advies bij zelfdoding: Tel. 1813 (anoniem en gratis) of chat via https://www.zelfmoord1813.be/
Hartelijk dank voor uw medewerking.
Vriendelijke groeten,
Prof. Dr. S. Vanhooren – [email protected] "
Coding
To enable the longitudinal character of the study, participants will be asked to register their name and email-address. After the closure of their training, they will be asked through email to complete the same questionnaire again, and one month later, again.
A list of names and emails will be kept apart, and each participant will get a code. One researcher - Jeroen Breynaert- will attend to this list and coding. He will derive the data-set from the online system and code the data, while he is in a separate room. He will keep the list with names and codes on his personal KU Leuven One Drive. He will put the coded data-set on a KU Leuven Teams Platform File "Focusing 2024" that only he and Siebrecht Vanhooren are having access to. Siebrecht Vanhooren will be responsible for the data-analysis, will work on the data in a separate room, and will keep his files on his own KU Leuven one drive.
In this way the list of names and the analyzed data-set will stay apart. The main researcher, who is responsible for the data-analysis, will only work on the coded data set, and won't see any names or e-mail addresses.
There will be no printed list of names and codes to prevent problems. When working on coding the names, Jeroen Breynaert will work in a separate room.
Debriefing of the study
The participants will be able to find the results of the study on this website: https://ppw.kuleuven.be/meaning-and-existence/projecten_en_publicaties/focusing-en-existentiele-therapie
They will also be informed through the newsletter of Focusing Vlaanderen
MASI Psychometric validation study - Portuguese sample
No full textThis study examined the psychometric properties of the Measure of Anxiety in Selection Interviews (MASI) in a Portuguese sample
