Effectiveness of Online Mindfulness-Based Interventions on Psychological Distress and the Mediating Role of Emotion Regulation
Frontiers in Psychology October 31, 2018 Ying Ma, Zhaozhuo She, Angela Fung-Ying Siu et al.
An 8-week randomized controlled trial compared four conditions: group mindfulness-based intervention (GMBI), self-directed mindfulness-based intervention (SDMBI), discussion group, and blank control group. Among 76 participants who completed pre- and post-tests, both GMBI and SDMBI showed significant improvements in mindfulness, emotion regulation difficulties, and psychological distress (depression and anxiety) with medium to large effect sizes. GMBI produced the largest effects. Changes in emotion regulation difficulties mediated the relationship between changes in mindfulness dimensions (Observing and Describing) and changes in psychological distress. The results provide encouraging evidence for online mindfulness-based interventions in reducing psychological distress and suggest a mediating role of emotion regulation, while also highlighting the importance of group discussion.