Table 3.
Participant characteristics that were measured in the 51 eligible study, categorized across 13 categories
| Category | Number of studies | Measured baseline participant characteristics |
|---|---|---|
| Psychological traits | 11 | Absorption, social desirability, cooperativeness, persistence, novelty‐seeking, harm avoidance, reward dependence, repressive/defensiveness, hypnotic responsivity, Big Five (extraversion, neuroticism, openness to experience, conscientiousness, agreeableness), sensory imagery |
| Anxiety | 7 | State anxiety, social anxiety, trait anxiety, bodily symptoms of anxiety |
| Self‐concept | 9 | Locus of control, low self‐esteem, perceived self, self‐concept, self‐transcendence, self‐directedness, self‐efficacy, self‐compassion, perceived behavioural control |
| Interpersonal | 9 | Positive life experiences, social support received, social support given insecure attachment, history of interpersonal violence, childhood abuse, life experience stressors, sexual trauma, combat‐related trauma |
| Demographics | 13 | Age, gender, marital status, employment, education |
| Depression | 9 | Depression symptoms, history of recurrent depression, number of depression episodes, fatigue |
| Motivation | 8 | Therapist's assessment of patient's motivation, therapist's prediction of leaving preterm, expectancy, motivation for spiritual growth, considered meditation, considered therapy, attitudes about meditation, intentions to practice meditation, subjective norms |
| Psychopathology | 4 | Obsessive–compulsive behaviour, alcohol consumption, posttraumatic stress disorder severity, psychological maladjustment, severity of substance use |
| Mindfulness | 7 | Trait mindfulness, curiosity, decentering, non‐judgement |
| Belief system | 4 | Irrational beliefs, spirituality, religiosity, implicit religiousness/spirituality, religious affiliation |
| Medical conditions | 6 | Headaches, length of time since cancer diagnosis, pain/stress diagnosis, diastolic blood pressure, hypertension history, number of comorbid pain conditions, baseline pain |
| Stress‐related factors | 7 | Cortisol, IL‐6, lymphocyte subsets, mitogen‐stimulated subsets, pain catastrophizing, discomfort with emotion, sexual distress |
| Well‐being | 12 | Psychological detachment from work, sleep quality, sleep duration, well‐being, pain self‐efficacy, minutes of physical activity per day, distress tolerance, relaxation level, mood, positive and negative affect, positive emotions, experience in group therapy, psychological functioning, physical functioning, mental health |
The second column represents the number of studies per category and its sum is bigger than the total number of included studies (N = 51) as almost all studies had outcomes that were included in more than one category.