Testing a compassionate community actively living mindfulness (CCALM) intervention: elucidating individual and dyadic pathways to PEACE character virtues

The project will examine how Prosociality, Empathy, Altruism, Compassion, and Ethics (PEACE) character virtues may change with transitions to assisted living arrangements among older adults and their romantic partners. The project will employ a novel contemplative practices intervention program we developed called Compassionate Community Actively Living Mindfulness (CCALM) into the healthcare system. We will strategically focus on this population because older adults transitioning into assisted living and their spousal caregivers are at risk for greater perceived stress, depression, and health issues, which may undermine abilities to engage in PEACE behaviors. Additionally, by recruiting this sample, we will test how our CCALM intervention utilizing contemplative practices may promote PEACE character virtues in this distressed segment of the population, and the extent to which both partners show similar/diverging prospective changes in character virtues while dealing with a novel and enduring stressor in their lives.