As part of the master's thesis, we designed a four-week stress management programme based on Polyvagal Theory and tested the effects of the online implementation on adults without a history of mental health problems. Polyvagal Theory provides an illustrative explanation of the experience of stress and coping with stress. Stress is understood in Polyvagal Theory as a disturbance of homeostasis, usually adaptive in the short term but detrimental in the long term. Therefore, it makes sense to strengthen stress resilience, the ability to regulate back to a state of safety after confronting a stressor, through the activation of the ventral vagal complex. We have modelled the programme on successful stress management programmes and intertwined exercises that connect the body to the mind with polyvagal theory, towards activation of the ventral vagus. The programme was implemented with four implementation groups of 16 participants each. The first two treatment groups comprised the experimental group and the second two comprised the inactive control group. After the experimental groups, we ran the programme with the third and fourth group. The effects were tested experimentally and quasi-experimentally. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14), Mindfulness and Awareness Scale (MAAS), Relational Needs Satisfaction Scale (RNS) and the Psychological Well-being Questionnaire (RPWB) were used to measure the effects. Significant differences between the experimental and control groups were found with moderate effects on the Perceived Stress Scale, the Mindfulness and Awareness Scale and the Positive Interpersonal Relationships dimension, a subscale of the Psychological Well-being Questionnaire. On the other measures, there were no significant differences between the control and experimental groups. Comparing the “pre/post” measurements, we found that both groups showed a significant decrease in perceived stress and an increase in mindfulness. Participants' relational need satisfaction and psychological well-being increased after implementation with low to moderate effects, but results were not consistent across the two groups. The programme therefore appears to be moderately effective in reducing perceived stress and increasing mindfulness, and low effective in increasing relational need satisfaction and psychological well-being.
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