(PS10-46) Changes in Mindfulness for Sexual and Gender Minority Patients in Dialectical Behavior Therapy

Abstract Text: Sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals experience higher levels of mental distress compared to non-SGM individuals (Pinciotti et al., 2024). Prior research links this distress to internal and external factors such as discrimination, stigma and adverse childhood experiences (Patten et al., 2021; Schnarrs et al., 2022). While Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) has been shown to improve depression and emotion regulation for SGM individuals (Shaw et al, 2021), there is limited research supporting its effectiveness in improving mindfulness outcomes specifically. Mindfulness is an important factor in the overall effectiveness of DBT (Eeles et al, 2022), as mindfulness skills are the foundation of all other DBT skills (Linehan, 1993). Mindfulness is also particularly relevant for SGM clients, as it has been shown to reduce the impact of daily stress on those who experience discrimination (Swales, 2018; Zapolski et al, 2019). Therefore, mindfulness is worth investigating as a vital DBT treatment outcome for SGM individuals. In our study, we examined if there was a significant difference between baseline mindfulness scores between SGM adults vs. non-SGM adults and whether these scores changed over the course of DBT treatment. 255 participants were drawn from a population of adult DBT patients at an outpatient private practice and training institute in Southern California, of which 38.8% (N=99) identified as SGM and 61.1% (N=156) identified as non-SGM. The average age of participants was 31.25 years old, with 65% women, 31% men, and 4% nonbinary. Clients completed intake measures prior to DBT treatment including the FFMQ-15 and completed the same measures at a second-time point, after a minimum 2 months of treatment, with an average time between the first and last measures of 6.7 months. Using a mixed linear effects model, results showed that SGM patients had marginally significant lower mindfulness vs. non-SGM clients at baseline (β = -1.61, SE = 0.85, p = .058). Both groups showed significant improvement in FFMQ-15 scores as treatment progressed (β =0.15, SE = 0.04, p < .001). There was also a significant interaction between time in treatment and SGM status (β =-0.16, SE = 0.06, p = .01), meaning that clients who identified as SGM showed greater improvement in mindfulness over time compared to non-SGM clients. Our findings expand research on the efficacy of mindfulness DBT treatment for SGM populations. We discovered that while SGM clients may have had slightly worse mindfulness scores compared to non-SGM clients at baseline, they showed greater improvement over time. The SGM clients lower baseline mindfulness scores aligned with the Minority Stress Model, but despite this, the improved mindfulness outcomes for SGM clients over time show promise in the efficacy of DBT treatments for minoritized groups.