Background: Young adults experience disproportionately high levels of stress, creating significant health challenges. This demographic often underuses traditional stress management methods due to perceived ineffectiveness, inconvenience, or stigma. Given these challenges, mobile virtual reality (VR) offers a novel, engaging, and accessible alternative stress management tool that may be more...
Mindfulness interventions are considered an effective strategy for preventing mental health problems among health care workers (HCWs). While prior reviews have often included facilitator-guided or multicomponent interventions, it is unclear whether self-guided digital mindfulness interventions can also be effective without professional or in-person support. This systematic review aimed to...
Meditation apps are increasingly popular but face significant engagement challenges. Most research does not meaningfully capture real-world engagement or associated user characteristics. Engagement patterns and reasons for engaging or disengaging remain relatively unexplored. This study aimed to examine Medito app user engagement over the first 30 days after download and how intended use,...
Anxiety and depressive disorders affect hundreds of millions globally, with substantial barriers limiting access to evidence-based treatments like cognitive behavioral therapy. Digital mental health interventions offer potential solutions to improve access to support. However, evidence of efficacy through randomized controlled trials is essential for clinical adoption. This study evaluated the...
Mindfulness practices, such as breathing meditation (BM), reduce stress and enhance mood. One such practice is mindful eating, where a practitioner focuses on the five senses while eating or drinking. A novel set of prototypes has been developed, incorporating principles of mindful eating. These prototypes include matcha green tea and a mobile app that provides audio guidance for meditation...
Perceived stress in the United States has drastically increased since the COVID-19 pandemic and is associated with negative mental health outcomes such as depression and anxiety. Digital mental health (DMH) interventions are efficacious tools to address negative mental health outcomes and have helped reduce the severity of psychological symptoms, such as anxiety, depression, and perceived...
Mindfulness-based training programs have consistently shown efficacy in stress reduction. However, questions regarding the optimal duration and most effective delivery methods remain. This research explores a 4-week neurofeedback-assisted mindfulness training for employees via a mobile app. The study's core query is whether incorporating neurofeedback can amplify the benefits on stress...
BACKGROUND: Stress-related mental health disorders have steadily increased and contributed to a worldwide disease burden with up to 50% experiencing a stress-related mental health disorder worldwide. Data suggest that only approximately 20%-65% of individuals receive treatment. This gap in receiving treatment may be attributed to barriers such as limited treatment access, negative stigma...
Radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) can generate considerable physical and psychological discomfort under conscious sedation. App-based mindfulness meditation combined with an electroencephalography (EEG)-based brain-computer interface (BCI) shows promise as effective and accessible adjuncts in medical practice. This study aimed to investigate the...
Workplace-based mindfulness programs have good evidence for improving employee stress and mental health outcomes, but less is known about their effects on productivity and citizenship behaviors. Most of the available evidence is derived from studies of mindfulness programs that use class-based approaches. Mindfulness apps can increase access to training, but whether self-directed app use is...
BackgroundMindfulness meditation smartphone apps may improve mental health but lack evidence-based behavioral strategies to encourage their regular use for attaining mental health benefits. In October 2019, the Calm mindfulness meditation app introduced a mood check-in feature, but its effects on participation in meditation have yet to be tested. ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to...
Background: Recovery from stress is a predictive factor for cardiovascular health, and heart rate variability (HRV) is suggested to be an index of how well people physiologically recover from stress. Biofeedback and mindfulness interventions that include guided breathing have been shown to be effective in increasing HRV and facilitating stress recovery. Objective: This study aims to assess the...
Background: Traditional mindfulness-based stress reduction programs are resource intensive for providers and time- and cost-intensive for participants, but the use of mobile technologies may be particularly convenient and cost-effective for populations that are busy, less affluent, or geographically distant from skilled providers. Women in southern Louisiana live in a vulnerable, disaster-prone...
Background College students experience high levels of stress. Mindfulness meditation delivered via a mobile app may be an appealing, efficacious way to reduce stress in college students. Objective We aimed to test the initial efficacy and sustained effects of an 8-week mindfulness meditation mobile app—Calm—compared to a wait-list control on stress, mindfulness, and self-compassion in college...
Background University students are at risk of weight gain during their studies. Key factors related to weight gain in this population include unhealthy weight-related behaviors because of stress. Mindfulness holds promise for weight management. However, there has not been any previous trial that has explored the effectiveness of a student-tailored mindfulness app for stress, weight-related...
BACKGROUND: Cancer is highly prevalent worldwide and can cause high levels of distress in patients, which is often neglected in medical care. Smartphone apps are readily available and therefore seem promising to deliver distress-reducing interventions such as mindfulness and relaxation programs. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of a mindfulness and relaxation app for...
BACKGROUND: Mindfulness-based programs show promise for promoting smoking cessation in diverse populations. Mobile health strategies could increase treatment engagement and in-the-moment support, thus enhancing the effects of mindfulness-based smoking cessation interventions. However, most mobile health programs have been developed without sufficient input from the target population. OBJECTIVE:...
BACKGROUND: The advent of mobile technology has ushered in an era in which smartphone apps can be used as interventions for suicidality. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to review recent research that is relevant to smartphone apps that can be used for mindfulness interventions for suicidality in Asian youths. METHODS: The inclusion criteria for this review were: papers published in peer-reviewed journals...
Background: Up to 70% of lung cancer survivors are affected by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a common, debilitating, comorbid disease. Lung cancer and COPD are both characterized by symptoms such as breathlessness, fatigue, and psychological distress. These distressing chronic symptoms are exacerbated by stress and detract from an individual's quality of life. Objective: The aim...
Background Mindfulness meditation has become increasingly popular over the last few years, due in part to the increase in mobile apps incorporating the practice. Although studies have demonstrated the potential of mindfulness meditation to positively impact health, little has been uncovered about what predicts engagement in mindfulness meditation. Understanding the predictors of mindfulness...
Background: There is growing evidence for the positive impact of mindfulness on wellbeing. Mindfulness-based mobile apps may have potential as an alternative delivery medium for training. While there are hundreds of such apps, there is little information on their quality. Objective: This study aimed to conduct a systematic review of mindfulness-based iPhone mobile apps and to evaluate their...
Interest in mindfulness has increased exponentially, particularly in the fields of psychology and medicine. The trait or state of mindfulness is significantly related to several indicators of psychological health, and mindfulness-based therapies are effective at preventing and treating many chronic diseases. Interest in mobile applications for health promotion and disease self-management is...