The Feasibility of the Thai Sensory Profile Assessment Tool (TSPA) for Classifying the participants for Mind-Body intervention

BackgroundThe previous research found that multisensory interventions impact behavioral responses in healthy individuals and clinical populations, but few have been shown the impacts of Mind-Body intervention on cortisol levels in different sensory personalities. In Thailand, the earlier study found that the Thai Sensory Profile Assessment Tool (TSPA) had acceptable validity and reliability in classifying sensory personality called "sensory pattern". The pattern is divided into sensory preference and sensory threshold, which is formulated from personal experience. ObjectiveThe main objective of this study is to examine the feasibility and interpretability of TSPA in classifying sensory patterns of participants attending Mind-Body Intervention consisting of Mindfulness-Based Flow Practice (MBFP) and Relax On-site program. Materials and methodsThere is a sub-study of a controlled cross-over trial study effect of a mindfulness intervention on anxiety and biomarkers in healthy nursing staff. For this study, we aim to categorize sensory patterns and find the feasibility of Mind-Body Intervention. Each participant was self-tested by TSPA before the intervention, either relaxation on-site or MBFP in the residential retreat program. The feasibility criteria include the time for finishing the test. The interpretability including participants comprehension and the classification phenotype provides insight into different effects of the intervention. The effect of MBFP and relaxation on-site was measured quantitatively by the change of morning cortisol before and after the intervention and qualitatively from satisfaction interviews after the intervention. ResultsThe TSPA assessment takes an average time of 20 minutes. There is no complaint about the difficulty to understand participants. We classified participants by TSPA pattern into three groups by the sensory preference, including, 1) Balanced majority (14/20) have a moderate sensory preference and threshold, 2) low sensory preference for taste and smell (3/20), and 3) high sensory preference for sight smell and movement (3/20). At the same time, most participants show higher cortisol after relaxation on-site and decreased cortisol after MBFP. ConclusionsThis pilot study showed that TSPA can be a feasible tool for assessing the sensory preference of the participants to match the health promotion modalities appropriately. We also got a preliminary insight that people with low smell sensory preference, low smell sensory threshold, high sensory preference insight, and movement with moderate threshold showed differences in MBFP. However, it needs a larger sample, and a simpler questionnaire related to the MBFP intervention program to prove these initial findings.