The Effect of Mindfulness on Academic Stress Management Among Students Prior to Examinations

A quasi-experimental study with thirty-four tenth-grade vocational students found that six sessions of mindfulness training—including box breathing, loving-kindness meditation, mindful eating, and mindful walking—significantly reduced academic stress before exams. The experimental group showed a significant drop in stress measured by the DASS-42, while the control group showed no change. The findings suggest mindfulness can help students manage exam-related stress and may be useful in school counseling programs.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This study examined the effect of a mindfulness-based intervention on vocational high school students’ academic stress prior to examinations. A quantitative quasi-experimental design with a non-randomized pretest–posttest control group was employed. Thirty-four tenth-grade students were assigned to an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group participated in six mindfulness sessions incorporating box breathing, loving-kindness meditation, mindful eating, and mindful walking, while the control group received no specific treatment. Academic stress was measured using the stress subscale of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-42), which demonstrated strong content validity based on Aiken’s V coefficients and excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.980). Paired-samples t-test results indicated a significant reduction in academic stress in the experimental group (p < .05), whereas no significant change was observed in the control group. These findings suggest that mindfulness training is an effective preventive approach for enhancing students’ capacity to regulate academic stress in examination contexts. The study highlights the potential integration of mindfulness practices into school-based counseling services to promote adolescents’ psychological well-being