The Orientation on Being Program: A Prospective Pilot Study Comparing Its Results With the Standard Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program

Various programs focus on psychological well-being associated with spiritual and personal growth, but empirical studies assessing the evidence are scarce. The objective of this pilot is to examine the results of the first year of the extensive Orientation on Being (OB) program in the Netherlands. A prospective and quasi-experimental design was used in which changes in various indices of psychological functioning of OB participants (N = 27) were compared with those of matched participants of the standard 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program (MBSR; N = 54) across a 12-month period. Analyses showed that the OB program was associated with significant changes across the 12 months in all but one of the studied outcomes: increased psychological well-being, self-esteem, self-compassion, introspective insight, and mindfulness skills, and decreased depressive symptoms, anxiety, perceived stress and rumination (all with large effect sizes). Differences between the two programs were absent at 2 months, but a significant Time × Group interaction reflected that the OB group further strengthened its beneficial changes between 2 and 12 months, which were not evident in the MBSR group. These results indicate that the OB program was associated with persistent large benefits for psychological functioning. Future studies should employ larger samples in a randomized controlled trial.