The Effects of Mindfulness-based Training in Undergraduate Students of Translation and Interpreting

Overview

The Faculty of Translation and Interpreting of the University of Granada (UGR) has been leading the lists of the best faculties in this area in Spain and abroad for years. This has largely defined the profile of its students as high performing and, therefore, more prone to display maladaptive perfectionism which can lead to psychological distress (Rice et al 2006). However psychological distress is not something that only affects high profile students. Several studies report overall greater stress levels among undergraduate students when compared to general population levels (Ramasubramanian 2017). In fact, it is estimated that nearly 40 percent of university students experience mild to severe depressive symptoms with over 50 percent of students predicted to experience some level of depressive symptomatology during their college years (Pogrebtsova et al 2018: 46). Coping with cognitive and emotional challenges is therefore a desirable aim for every student on a daily bases. It is within this framework that CRAFTftiugr was born, a teaching innovation project, which is the result of the interaction among experts in mindfulness, lecturers and researchers in Translation and Interpreting and Experimental Psychology, students, Administrative and Support Staff and social stakeholders in the context of Higher Education. The main objective of the study is to test whether participating in a course on mindfulness-based techniques can improve students' cognitive, emotional and personal traits as well as academic performance. Together with this main purpose, the present study also aims to compare the effects of two mindfulness based programs, MBSR and CRAFT, on the students' ability to improve specific aspects of cognition, emotional intelligence, creativity or academic performance among others. Both mindfulness-based programs involve training sustained attention and an accepting and open attitude though they differ in several aspects of their methods, intention and aims. Drawing conclusions from the outcomes, a curriculum applied to Translation and Interpreting Studies will be designed aimed at preventing the development of psychological stress, perfectionism and other anxiety disorders, maximizing comfort in the Higher Education context and, ultimately, improving academic achievement.

The first year of the project has been devoted to the design of the study, the creation of the curriculum content for the courses (see attached document), all the administrative procedures aimed at formally introducing a course of this type into the Bachelor's Degree in Translation and Interpreting, and applying and receiving approval from the UGR Ethics Committee on Human Research (CEIH), the UGR Human Subjects Protection Review Board (see attached document). All 1st and 4th year students are informed and invited to participate both in the course and in the study; they can choose to participate either in the study alone, in the course alone or in both. So that the 4 ECTS credits of the mindfulness-based course can be validated for the completion of the Degree in Translation and Interpreting as prescribed by the European Higher Education Area, a petition was filed to the governing body of the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting of the UGR. In this petition, the content of the course, design and aim of the study, potential participants, duration and other issues related with the project were included and explained. The Faculty grants some facilities (lecture rooms and Administrative and Support Staff's help) and allows the validation of 4 ECTS credits in exchange for participation in the course. In order to encourage participation in the study besides the 4 European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) credits obtained as a result of attending the course, they could receive a discount on the original price for the ECTS credit in case they also opt for participating in the study. If they are grant holders, they get a further discount. All participants are asked to fill in an informed consent, a demographic questionnaire to determine eligibility and a battery of tests. Eligible participants are randomly assigned to either the MBSR group or the CRAFT group. To ensure a balanced proportion of 1st and 4th year students in each group, the course year variable is blocked. Also, excluded students who follow the course, are assigned to both groups proportionally with the criterion of "being 1st or 4th year students". All questionnaires are uploaded to the UGR LimeSuvey platform, an open source online survey tool specially designed to develop, publish and collect survey responses. This software is the one recommended by the University of Granada to present and collect online data for research purposes as it complies with all current legislation and ensures that all protection data requirements are being effectively met. For specific security guarantees, an institutional email account is created through which all communication related to the project is carried out. In the same line, all the documentation generated within the project is uploaded and shared on a virtual cloud owned by the UGR (www.ugrdrive.ugr.es). Both program instructors are fully qualified. Carmen Verdejo-Lucas (MA) is a certified MBSR instructor with more than 30 year experience. She is a clinical psychologist specialized in mindfulness and compassion based interventions. She is also a certified Cultivating Emotional Balance (CEB) instructor by Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies and has received training from some of the most outstanding figures in mindfulness and compassion: Jon Kabat-Zinn, Alan Wallace, Eve Eckman, Ronald Siegel, Paul Gilbert, Jonh Picock, Margaret Cullen and Gonzalo Brito. Pilar Posadas de Julián (PhD) is specialized in mindfulness in educational contexts. She did her degree in Translation and Interpreting, and her PhD in Linguistics and Language Learning. As a musician, she works as a full professor at the Department of Pedagogy and Singing of the Conservatoire for Music and Dance combining this job with university postgraduate lecturing at different universities and institutions in and outside Spain. With more than 30 year experience in yoga, meditation and relaxation techniques, she is an accredited practitioner in a variety of mindfulness and yoga based techniques. She has been IP in several teaching innovation projects and has been awarded different prizes. Due to the health emergency crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, following instructions by our university (https://covid19.ugr.es/), the original study design has been changed from crossover to parallel. Contents of the programs and teaching methodology have also changed accordingly to adapt to online classes. Both programs are adapted and extended due to the circumstances. Data collection is done at two different points in time: 1, before initiating the intervention, and 2, at the end of the intervention. Both data gathering phases lasts for approximately 15 days. At the baseline, the only face-to-face measure is administered as such by another member who is blind to hypothesis. Due to the exigencies of health emergency situation and the impossibility to administer this measure face to face at the end of the intervention, it is also uploaded to the LimeSurvey platform and administered online at the end of the intervention. The University of Granada General Foundation was the entity appointed to carry out all the administrative procedures (participants' enrollment, payment of fees, participants' medical insurance, certificate issuing at the end of the course and the like). The Chair in Conscience and Development of the University of Granada (Spain) is responsible of co-funding and the study members from the Cognitive Neuroscience Group (HUM-379, https://www.ugr.es/\~jcarlosresina/Home.html) at the Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Centre (CIMCYC) of the University of Granada (Spain) are responsible of randomization and data analysis. It is expected to find improvements in all measures (psychological and academic) in both groups after completing the course compared to pre-training and compared to a passive control group (students from the same degree that didn't chose to receive the course during the present academic year). In order to measure potential specific effects of each mindfulness program, pre-training to post-training psychological measures will be compared once completed the first program. Altogether, this applied study might help to elucidate whether these important transversal competences and soft skills in Translation and Interpreting can improve with mindfulness-based techniques and ultimately could be recommended as part of the official curricula of the Translating and Interpreting degree.