MCD: Increasing Mindfulness and Mindful Eating in Obese patients
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Mindful Construal Diaries: Developing and testing an intervention for mindful eating and weight regulation
IRAS ID
221564
Contact name
Henna Bahia
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 1 days
Research summary
This study will address whether ‘Mindful Construal Diary (MCD) can promote mindfulness, mindful eating and subsequent weight loss in an obese population?’. The MCD is an intervention that consists of thirteen questions an individual must consider two minutes prior to eating and revisit while eating, questions include ‘How does this meal taste’ and ‘How does this meal smell’. The diary is underpinned by mindfulness, which refers to being consciously aware in the present moment and being accepting and non-judgemental to all emotions. Through practising mindfulness, participants will eat mindfully and consiously, mindful eating can be defined as an awareness of thoughts, feelings and emotions related to current food consumption (e.g., portion size, feelings of hunger/satiety, and healthfulness of food). Being underpinned by mindfulness, the MCD will aid mindful eating by prompting individuals to consider aspects of their meal by generating a more focused perspective for the experience of eating. This research has significant importance, as many mindfulness based interventions employ meditative practices, however these are found to be only effective for short term weight loss. The MCD has been associated with weight loss, however, existing literature is only preliminary, and no research to date has used the MCD in an obese population, highlighting the importance to test this intervention. Participants who are considered as obese 35 to 39.99 kg/m2 are eligible for this research. Heartlands Hospital Weight Management Clinic is where the research will be conducted and where participants will be recruited from. This research is funded by Birmingham City University. The study is expected to last approximately 7 months, 3 months will be allocated to participants using the MCD and the collection of survey data. Another 3 months will be allocated to interviewing participants, with the aim of exploring difficulties they experienced when they were using the diary.
REC name
West of Scotland REC 3
REC reference
17/WS/0065
Date of REC Opinion
23 Mar 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion