The Relationship between Mindfulness and Readiness to Change in Alcohol Drinkers

Eid Abo Hamza (), Adam Yoon, Liquan Liu, Anchal Garg, Yuliya Richard, Dorota Frydecka, Ahmed Helal and Ahmed A. Moustafa
Additional contact information
Eid Abo Hamza: College of Education, Humanities & Social Sciences, Al Ain University, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 64141, United Arab Emirates
Adam Yoon: School of Psychology, Western Sydney University, Sydney, NSW 2751, Australia
Liquan Liu: School of Psychology, Western Sydney University, Sydney, NSW 2751, Australia
Anchal Garg: School of Psychology, Faculty of Society and Design, Bond University, Gold Coast, QLD 4229, Australia
Yuliya Richard: Blue Horizon Counselling and Mediation, Sydney, NSW 2065, Australia
Dorota Frydecka: Department of Psychiatry, Wroclaw Medical University, 50-367 Wroclaw, Poland
Ahmed Helal: Faculty of Education, Tanta University, Tanta 31527, Egypt
Ahmed A. Moustafa: School of Psychology, Faculty of Society and Design, Bond University, Gold Coast, QLD 4229, Australia

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 9, 1-13

Abstract: Mindfulness is a multi-faceted construct that involves paying attention to thoughts and emotions without automatically reacting and being critical of them. Recent research has suggested that mindfulness might play an important role in reducing problematic alcohol use. Further, Readiness to Change (RTC) is related to motivation to change drinking behaviours. The RTC scale identifies motivation to change drinking behaviours including Precontemplation, Contemplation, and Action stages. The current study investigated, for the first time, the relationship between mindfulness (and its facets) and RTC in relation to drinking behaviours. Undergraduate students from Western Sydney University ( N = 279) were screened for drinking levels using the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) and then completed the Readiness to Change Questionnaire (RCT) and the Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), which includes the following facets: Acting with Awareness, Non-Judging of Inner Experience, Non-Reactivity to Inner Experience, Describing, and Observing. Results show that overall, mindfulness and its facets negatively correlated with RTC. Multiple regression analysis further showed that Awareness and Non-Judgement facets negatively predicted RTC. These findings provide insight into how the facets of mindfulness interact with the drinking motives of individuals and their intentions to change drinking behaviours. Based on these findings, we recommend the incorporation of mindfulness techniques in interventions targeting problematic drinking.

Keywords: alcohol abuse; mindfulness; readiness to change; binge drinking; interventions; neural substrates (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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