Evaluating Theory-Driven Messaging to Overcome the Barriers to Meditation: Large-Scale Digital Field Experiment.
Michael Bowen, Michael Beam, Joakim Semb, Dong Whi Yoo
JMIR Mental Health July 7, 2025 DOI: 10.2196/71732 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Digital messaging-based experiment Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 1,330,000 |
| Population | U.S. adults aged 18 years and older using the Spotify mobile app |
| Intervention | knowledge |
| Duration | 7-day follow-up |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Barriers Experiment Health communication Mental health Messaging Mobile app Self-efficacy |
| Citations | 2 |
| Key findings | A message addressing the pragmatic barrier that meditation requires solitude and quiet increased click-through and activation rates by about 55% relative to a control, while a message targeting knowledge barriers reduced both rates. |
Abstract
The general public is largely aware of meditation, and there is compelling evidence the practice has health benefits. But many people who are aware of meditation have not tried it, and those who do often struggle to establish a regular practice. The barriers to meditation are generally understood and include a lack of knowledge, a lack of time, and unclear benefits. These barriers present an impediment to self-efficacy in establishing a meditation practice. Despite these challenges, current strategies for promoting meditation may fail to address these barriers, leaving a gap in our knowledge about health communication efforts aimed at fostering meditation practices. The objective of this research is to leverage a large-scale, real-world digital platform to understand whether breaking down the theory-based barriers to meditation can serve as an effective strategy for encouraging meditation. This research is a digital messaging-based experiment that includes approximately 1.33 million people, aged 18 years and older, in the United States. The experiment was conducted on the Spotify mobile app and includes 1 control condition and 4 test conditions. Each of the test conditions was a message that attempted to address a specific barrier to meditation. The control message only included the call-to-action without any theory-based messaging accompaniment. When users clicked the message, they were redirected to meditation content. The click-through rate and the activation rate of each message were the dependent variables in the experiment. The most effective message, which was designed to break down the pragmatic barriers to meditation, had a click-through rate odds ratio (OR) of 1.57 (95% CI 1.52-1.62) and an activation rate OR of 1.55 (95% CI 1.45-1.65), relative to the control. The least effective, which was designed to break down knowledge barriers, had a click-through rate OR of 0.91 (95% CI 0.88-0.94) and an activation rate OR of 0.66 (95% CI 0.61-0.71), compared to the control. After 7 days, the differences in people's engagement with the meditation content itself between experimental conditions had substantively diminished. Theory-driven messaging can potentially encourage people to explore meditation content, but not universally so, given 2 of the experimental conditions performed better than and 2 performed worse than the control. The most successful message broke down the barrier that meditation requires being alone and in a quiet place. Addressing this barrier may have boosted self-efficacy by aligning the practice with everyday settings that fit into people's busy lifestyles. Future researchers might consider how to encourage people to engage in meditation during their daily activities. In addition, breaking down the barriers to meditation through messaging can drive interest and experimentation with meditation content, but may not be enough to compel meaningful behavior change.
Comparable studies
Other experimental studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Cancer patients (clinical intervention study) | 2003 | Mixed methods: scale development, correlational, quasi-experimental, laboratory, experience-sampling, and clinical intervention study | |
| Loving-kindness meditation increases social connectedness. | 2008 | Controlled laboratory experiment | |
| Mindfulness and mind-wandering: Finding convergence through opposing constructs. | 2012 | Two studies: correlational study and experimental study | |
| Mental Training Enhances Attentional Stability: Neural and Behavioral Evidence | 2009 | Experimental study | |
| Mindfulness meditation and substance use in an incarcerated population. Incarcerated population | 2006 | Quasi-experimental with treatment-as-usual control condition |
Citations in the library
Cites 9
- A Framework for the Empirical Investigation of Mindfulness Meditative Development Mindfulness April 13, 2023
- Situating Meditation Apps Within the Ecosystem of Meditation Practice: Population-Based Survey Study. JMIR Mental Health April 28, 2023
- Mapping Mindfulness: Assessing the Stages of Meditation Habit Formation in the USA Using the Sussex Mindfulness Meditation (SuMMed) Model Mindfulness May 1, 2025
- Effects of Mindfulness Meditation Duration and Type on Well-being: an Online Dose-Ranging Randomized Controlled Trial Mindfulness April 12, 2023
- Who Sticks with Meditation? Rates and Predictors of Persistence in a Population-based Sample in the USA. Mindfulness 2023
and 4 more in the library