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Male Representation in Randomized Clinical Trials of Mindfulness-Based Therapies

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Abstract

Mindfulness-based treatments for health issues and psychological disorders have increased in popularity and use. A large amount of empirical evidence indicates that these treatments are effective. However, it is possible that these scientific investigations of mindfulness-based treatments have not been conducted with representative samples. In particular, it seems like most participants in these studies are female. In order to explore this, we conducted a systematic review and examined the sample demographics of 117 articles that investigated the effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction or mindfulness-based cognitive therapy via randomized controlled trials. Male participants accounted for less than 29% of the 9820 total participants. These findings suggest that the evidence supporting the effectiveness of mindfulness-based treatments is based on non-representative samples, and future research should work to correct this.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Olivia Hanno and Kathryn Lyle for their help with this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY, 14456, USA

    Jamie S. Bodenlos, Katherine Strang, Rosalind Gray-Bauer & Brien K. Ashdown

  2. Department of Psychology, Clark University, Worcester, MA, USA

    Amanda Faherty

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  1. Jamie S. Bodenlos
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  2. Katherine Strang
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  3. Rosalind Gray-Bauer
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  4. Amanda Faherty
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Correspondence to Jamie S. Bodenlos.

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Bodenlos, J.S., Strang, K., Gray-Bauer, R. et al. Male Representation in Randomized Clinical Trials of Mindfulness-Based Therapies. Mindfulness 8, 259–265 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-016-0646-1

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