Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for People High on the Personality Trait Sensory Processing Sensitivity: A Mixed Methods Study

Measured by the Mental Health Continuum - Short Form (MHC-SF). It has 14 items assessed on a six-point Likert scale (0-5) with a total score ranging from 0 to 70. There are three subscales: Emotional well-being (3 items), Social well-being (5 items), and Psychological well-being (6 items). Score combinations across these subscales can be used to distinguish between the following subgroups: flourishing, moderate, and languishing. Higher scores indicate a better well-being.

Measured by the Burnout Assessment Tool - Short Form (BAT-12). It has 12 items assessed on a five-point Likert scale (1-5) with a mean total score ranging from 1 to 5. There are four subscales: Exhaustion, Mental Distance, Emotional Impairment, and Cognitive Impairment (3 items each). Mean subscale scores range from 1 to 5. Higher scores indicate more severe burnout symptoms.

Measured by the Cohen - Hoberman Inventory of Physical Symptoms (CHIPS). It has 33 items assessed on a five-point Likert scale (0-4) with a total score of 0 to 132. A higher score indicates more severe physical symptoms.

Measured by the Multi-Modal Evaluation of Sensory Sensitivity (MESSY). It has 30 items assessed on a five-point Likert scale (1-5) with a total score of 30 to 150. There are seven subscales Multisensory Sensitivity (7 items), Visual Sensitivity (5 items), Auditory Sensitivity (5 items), Tactile Sensitivity (3 items), Chemosensory Sensitivity (4 items), Sensitivity to environmental temperature (3 items), and Motion Sensitivity (3 items). Mean subscale scores range from 1 and 5. Higher scores indicate more overstimulation symptoms.

The three secondary outcomes listed above, in addition to this one, can be categorized into outcomes pertaining to mental and physical health as well as well-being.

Measured by the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire - Short Form (FFMQ-SF). It has 24 items assessed on a five-point Likert scale (1-5) with a total score ranging from 24 to 120. There are five subscales: Observing (4 items), Describing (5 items), Acting with awareness (5 items), Non-judging (5 items), and Nonreactivity (5 items) with subscale scores ranging from 4 to 20 for Observing and from 5 to 25 for the others. Higher scores indicate more mindfulness.

Measured by the Attention Control Scale (ACS). It has 20 items assessed on a four-point Likert scale (1-4) with a total score ranging from 20 to 80. There are two subscales: Attention Focusing (9 items) with a subscale score ranging from 9 to 36 and Attention Shifting (11 items) with a subscale score ranging from 11 to 44. Higher scores indicate more attention regulation.

Measured by the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire - Short Form (CERQ-SF). It has 18 items assessed on a five-point Likert scale (1-5). This study uses eight of in total nine subscales (and 16 items) with two items each: four adaptive strategy subscales: (Putting into perspective, Positive reappraisal, Positive refocusing, and Refocus on planning), and four less adaptive strategies (Self-blame, Other-blame, Rumination, and Catastrophizing). Subscale scores range from 2 to 10 and higher scores indicate more of that emotion regulation strategy.

Measured by the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness - 2 (MAIA-2). It has 37 items assessed on a six-point Likert scale (0-5). There are eight subscales: Noticing (4 items), Not Distracting (6 items), Not-Worrying (5 items), Attention Regulation (7 items), Emotional Awareness (5 items), Self-Regulation (4 items), Body Listening (3 items), and Trusting (3 items) with mean subscale scores ranging from 0 to 5. Higher scores indicate more of that body awareness aspect.

Measured by the Self-Compassion Scale - Short-Form (SCS-SF). It has 12 items assessed on seven-point Likert scale (1-7) with a total score ranging from 12 to 84. There are six subscales: Self-Kindness, Self-Judgement, Common Humanity, Isolation, Mindfulness, and Over-Identified with two items each. Subscale scores range from 2 and 14. Higher scores indicate more self-compassion.

The four secondary outcomes listed above, in addition to this one, can be categorized into outcomes pertaining to potential mindfulness mechanisms.

Measured by the Sensory Processing Sensitivity Questionnaire - Short Form (SPSQ-SF). It has 26 items assessed on a seven-point Likert scale (1-7) with a total score ranging from 26 to 182. There are six subscales: Sensory sensitivity to subtle internal and external stimuli (4 items), Social affective sensitivity (5 items), Aesthetic sensitivity (3 items), Sensory comfort (5 items), Sensory discomfort (4 items), and Emotional and physiological reactivity (5 items). The first four subscales make up the positive dimension and the last two subscales the negative dimension. Subscale scores and dimension scores are derived by adding up the relevant items. Higher scores indicate more sensory processing sensitivity aspects.

Semi-structured interview, participant observer