The study used a two-group design that involved two samples of 40 participants who had ended treatment for smoking dependence. There were two treatment options; the standard treatment or the standard treatment with mindfulness therapy. The individuals were randomly allocated to the standard treatment option (M= 13.25, SD= 3.51), and the standard treatment and mindfulness option (M=3.04, SD= 8.1). The results of the performance of the two groups after 16 weeks of treatment were analyzed using an independent sample t-test which accurately tested the null hypothesis. It was the appropriate statistical test because it compares the means of two distinct groups that have a continuous dependent variable (Ross & Willson, 2017). In this case, the two clusters are the adolescents who access the standard treatment option and those who access the standard treatment option with mindfulness therapy. The test results showed that the t (38) = 4.9607 with p=.000, which makes the results statistically significant because p was <.05.
The researcher rejects the null hypothesis based on the value of the t=4.9607, which is >0. Higher t-test results point to evidence that the null hypothesis is incorrect. The results indicate that there is a difference in scores between individuals who used the standard treatment option with mindfulness therapy and the standard treatment. The outcome of this study will be crucial for the counselors who are seeking new and effective methods to counter smoking dependence. Mindfulness therapy can be applied in situations where the adolescents indicate they are experiencing depression during the treatment program. This is because mindfulness therapy has demonstrated efficacy in treating depression. More studies need to be done to ascertain whether mindfulness therapy can be applied in other drugs and substance abuse treatment programs.
Reference
Ross, A., & Willson, V. L. (2017). Independent Samples T-Test. In Basic and Advanced Statistical Tests (pp. 13-16). SensePublishers, Rotterdam.