Effect of a brief self-compassion intervention on self-compassion and health behaviours in emerging adults.

Abstract

Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) are of increasing concern at global, national and individual levels. Global and national initiatives have been put in place to address the health behaviour failures that lead to NCDs. However at an individual level such failures remain all too common. Emerging adulthood (ages 18 to 25) is a time of particular health behaviour challenges, with lack of self-regulatory capacity implicated. Recent research has identified self-compassion as a possible means of bolstering self-regulatory resources. This pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT; N = 30) aimed to increase self- compassion and self-regulatory resources in emerging adults and help them to make positive health behaviour changes. It also aimed to test the Self-Regulation Resource Model (SRRM), which to date has only been tested in correlational studies. A brief self- compassion intervention succeeded in significantly increasing self-compassion for workshop attendees (n = 17) as compared with a waitlist control group (n = 13), with significant improvements in self-compassion during follow-up. Workshop participants also reported a significant reduction in negative affect, and significant increases in health-self efficacy and self-control, as predicted by the SRRM. However, the increase in positive affect for workshop participants was not significant. Workshop participants did engage with practice outside of sessions and practice was found to be associated with self-compassion gains. Despite the significant improvements in self-compassion and self-regulatory resources, significant improvements in the workshop group’s health behaviours were not found. Implications for future research, in particular the running of a full scale RCT, are discussed.