Moderating role of decentering in the relationship between mindfulness and post-traumatic symptoms among individuals with history of sexual abuse

Abstract

The study investigated mindfulness and decentering among individuals with at least one trauma history of sexual abuse. Data were collected from 223 victims with oftrauma history of sexual abuse, selected with the aid of different civil society organizations across South-east Nigeria. The participants were chosen through the snowball sampling technique. Multiple linear regression was used for data analysis. The result showed a negative relationship between mindfulness and post-traumatic symptoms and a negative relationship between decentering and post-traumatic symptoms. The result also showed that decentering moderated the relationship between mindfulness and post-traumatic symptoms. The findings from the study contribute to knowledge, as they expanded the mindfulness to meaning theory, which holds that different perspectives are formed in the appraisal of events with the help of mindfulness, thus limiting the effect of such events on the individual's behaviour. The results of this study suggest that psychotherapists may benefit from incorporating mindfulness-based treatment methods and decentering mechanisms into their therapeutic approach. This is particularly relevant when working with individuals who have experienced trauma, as the moderating effect of decentering on the relationship between mindfulness and trauma should be taken into consideration. which includes conducting randomized control trial to firmly determine the relationship among variables, focusing on different trauma history, including data from participants’ significant others in order to avoid the inflation or deflation of result due to common method variance.