JMIR Mental Health
November 27, 2020
Simon B. Goldberg, Ted Imhoff‐Smith, Daniel M. Bolt et al.
104 citations
An eight-week randomized controlled trial tested two versions of a self-guided smartphone-based meditation app, the Healthy Minds Program, against a waitlist control. One version combined mindfulness with practices for positive relationships; the other combined mindfulness with insight into the self. Among 343 randomized adults without extensive meditation experience, both app conditions led to larger improvements in psychological distress, social connectedness, and mindfulness compared to the control group, with effect sizes ranging from small to moderate. The two app versions did not differ from each other. Improvements in distress were linked to days of app use. The study provides initial evidence that the app can reduce distress and enhance well-being.
Applied developmental science
January 1, 2025
Lisa Flook, Matthew J. Hirshberg, Lori Gustafson et al.
20 citations
Fifth graders who completed an 8-week school-based mindfulness training showed significant improvements on a computerized measure of cognitive flexibility and received higher end-of-year social-emotional learning grades compared to a wait-list control group, after accounting for prior-year grades. The 292 students from 21 classrooms were randomly assigned to either the mindfulness program or a control condition. Teacher-rated social-emotional competence did not differ between groups. The results suggest that a brief mindfulness intervention can bolster cognitive and social-emotional skills during the transitional pre-adolescent period.
Clinical psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science
January 1, 2025
Matthew J. Hirshberg, Cortland J. Dahl, Daniel M. Bolt et al.
9 citations
A four-week smartphone-based meditation intervention reduced psychological distress in adults, most of whom had clinical anxiety or depressive symptoms during the early COVID-19 pandemic. The intervention improved four proposed mediators—mindful action, loneliness, cognitive defusion, and purpose—which together accounted for 21.9% to 62.5% of the effect on distress at three-month follow-up. In a multiple mediator analysis, reduced loneliness alone explained 61.7% of the combined indirect effect. The findings suggest multiple psychological pathways may mediate distress reduction in digital meditation-based interventions.
Clinical psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science
May 1, 2024
Simon B. Goldberg, Zishan Jiwani, Daniel M. Bolt et al.
8 citations
A strong working alliance significantly enhances engagement in smartphone-based interventions. In a study involving 302 participants, with 80% experiencing elevated depression or anxiety, bidirectional relationships were observed between psychological distress and alliance during a 4-week meditation program. Effect sizes ranged from -.09 to -.14, comparable to those seen in traditional psychotherapy. These findings suggest that measuring alliance could improve the effectiveness of mobile health tools, highlighting the importance of digital technology in mental health support.
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
August 1, 2024
Simon B. Goldberg, Daniel M. Bolt, Cortland J. Dahl et al.
5 citations
Meditation app users who reported increased positive feelings and decreased negative feelings during practice showed greater reductions in psychological distress, both immediately after the program and three months later. In a randomized trial with 243 distressed public school employees, most of whom had clinically elevated depression or anxiety, negative affect during meditation declined over time while positive affect remained stable. Changes in positive affect predicted later distress more strongly than changes in negative affect. The findings challenge the common mindfulness emphasis on nonjudgmental awareness regardless of emotional tone, suggesting that the affective quality of meditation experience matters for outcomes and could guide personalized intervention.
August 1, 2023
Matthew J. Hirshberg, Cortland J. Dahl, Daniel M. Bolt et al.
3 citations
preprint
A four-week smartphone-based meditation intervention reduced psychological distress during the early COVID-19 pandemic. Among 662 adults, most of whom reported clinical levels of anxiety or depressive symptoms, the intervention improved four proposed mediators—mindful action, loneliness, cognitive defusion, and purpose—measured five times during the program and at three-month follow-up. Each mediator individually accounted for 22.2% to 64.5% of the intervention's effect on later distress. When all mediators were analyzed together, only reduced loneliness remained a significant pathway, explaining 70.0% of the combined indirect effect. Multiple psychological mechanisms likely contribute to the benefits of digital meditation interventions.
October 17, 2023
Christian A. Webb, Lori M. Hilt, Caroline M. Swords et al.
1 citation
preprint
Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) measures of rumination are only modestly correlated with conventional self-report measures, especially for change over time, partly due to lower reliability of EMA. Changes in rumination were larger for conventional self-report than EMA. Both types of measures accounted for unique variance in depressive symptom improvement, showing incremental predictive validity. The findings suggest that EMA and conventional self-report provide distinct, clinically meaningful information. Researchers using EMA should consider psychometric properties and the precise construct they intend to capture.
August 28, 2020
Simon B. Goldberg, Ted Imhoff‐Smith, Daniel M. Bolt et al.
A fully remote randomized controlled trial tested two versions of a self-guided smartphone-based meditation app, the Healthy Minds Program, against a waitlist control in 343 adults without extensive meditation experience. Both app conditions—one combining mindfulness with practices for positive relationships, the other combining mindfulness with insight into the self—produced larger improvements in psychological distress, social connectedness, mindfulness, and insight-related measures than the control group, with effect sizes ranging from -0.28 to 0.41. Improvements in distress were linked to days of app use. The two app conditions did not differ from each other on any outcome.