Feasibility and the Effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) on College Students

Army Medical University of People's Liberation Army

Status: Completed

Conditions: Posttraumatic Stress Symptom

Treatments: Behavioral: MBSR intervention

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06230133

ArmyMedChina

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this retrospective control study is to learn about the effects of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) intervention in military medical students' resilience, post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms (PTSD) and posttruamatic growth (PTG) etc. The main questions are aims to answer:

1. Would MBSR intervention improve psychological resilience, mindful attention awareness, satisfaction with life, and post-traumatic growth in military medical students？
2. Would MBSR intervention reduce anxiety, depression, and PTSD symptoms in military medical students？
3. Would the effects of MBSR intervention persist for at least one month in military medical students？ Participants in the intervention group will complete 8-week of MBSR training while those in the control group will not. Researchers will compare resilience, mindful attention awareness, satisfaction with life, and post-traumatic growth, etc. between the two groups.

Full description

Recruitment for the study was done via broadcast email and posted notices online. 372 students filled out screening questionnaires and indicated their intention to participate the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course. We selected 120 students according to the participant criteria. Of the 120 participants, 60 were randomly assigned to the MBSR or control groups. However, 8 participants were absent more than two courses in the MBSR group, and 24 participants did not complete the post-test. Eventually, we enrolled 52 participants in the intervention group and 36 participants in the control group.

We designed a questionnaire survey on the internet to collect data. Two trained psychology teachers organized the survey at three time points: baseline (T0), the immediate postintervention (T1), and 1 month postintervention (T2).

Independent samples t-test and c2 analyses were used to test for possible group differences in demographic variables at baseline (T1).

Next, 2 (group) × 3 (time) mixed-model repeated-measure analysis of variance ( ANOVA) was conducted to determine the effect of MBSR. Effect sizes were reported as partial η² (ηp²) coefficients. To further interpret any time-by-group interactions, a series of t tests examined possible differences among baseline, post intervention and 1 month later after intervention.

Enrollment: 88 patients

Sex: All

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• No regular meditation and yoga practice within the past 6 months;
• No current psychiatric symptoms and physical contraindications to exercise;
• the resilience scale scores were in the last 27% of the total 372 students.

Exclusion criteria

• Unwillingness to participant the mindfulness class;
• Absence from 2 or more classes;
• Do not complete the pre-, post-test and follow-up psychological assessment.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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88 participants in 2 patient groups

mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) intervention

Experimental group

Description:

MBSR intervention include 8 sessions. Each session took place once a week, 2 h per session, and lasted 8 consecutive weeks. Each session covered specific exercises and topics within the context of mindfulness practice and training. Participants were required to attend at least seven out of eight lessons, and to practice MBSR at least once per day as the homework. We provided participants with a series of audio recordings of MBSR exercises to help them do better. Participants were required to hand in the records of homework assignments before each intervention session, and they shared and discussed their homework assignments with other partners at the beginning of the intervention session. Additionally, the authors encouraged practitioners to develop an ability to bring mindfulness into the varied circumstances of daily living (e.g. Mindful running, mindful eating, mindful walking, and even mindful talking), especially stressful situations.

Treatment:

Behavioral: MBSR intervention

Control condition

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants in the control condition received university medical courses and physical training as usual.