Dangeli, J. (2015). Exploring the effects of peripheral awareness and its effects on stress and burnout [Unpublished Master’s thesis]. Alef Trust & Middlesex University.

This dissertation documents research in “peripheral awareness”, the phenomena thereof and its effects in terms of stress resilience, burnout prevention and psychological health. Peripheral awareness is a particular mode of perception with an accompanying physiological state that is claimed to promote wholesome virtues. This broad, multi-positional and inclusive perception can be established through various means, depending on individual sensory mode preferences and the context in which it is applied. A mixed methods approach was used in this study in order to investigate the effectiveness of peripheral awareness in regard to stress and burnout. The qualitative aspect of this research, involving Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), was of most prevalence. It was utilized to explore the phenomenology associated with peripheral awareness. The methodology also included a quantitative method that involved measuring the participants´ level of burnout before a 24 day intervention and then compared this with their burnout levels after the intervention. A preliminary result of this research indicates that peripheral awareness can be compared to mindfulness, as well as to what some scholars have referred to as bodyfulness (Ferrer, 2008 & Caldwell, 2014). The overall outcome of this research suggests that peripheral awareness may be a useful approach to enhance mindfulness and improve well-being, while helping one to deal with stress resourcefully, which in turn may help to prevent and treat burnout. This conclusion is supported by the literature that is referred to in this report, covering how distress and the onset of burnout may be associated with tunnel awareness (which peripheral awareness was found to counteract). Five distinct areas of future researches concerning peripheral awareness are proposed.