Examining the effectiveness of mindfulness interventions for anxiety in young adults: a narrative synthesis

A narrative synthesis of eight studies (423 participants) examined mindfulness-based interventions for anxiety in people aged 12–25. Most studies reported significant decreases in anxiety symptoms related to social phobia, chronic pain, stress, and academic performance. However, the amount of improvement varied, and different anxiety scales made comparisons difficult. Interventions that included mindfulness information sessions for parents or mindful physical activity such as yoga showed better results. The review offers recommendations for tailoring mindfulness treatments to young people.

Study at a glance

Abstract

BackgroundAnxiety disorders, such as generalized anxiety disorder and social anxiety, are a major problem among adolescents and young adults. Structured mindfulness based interventions such as Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) have been shown to be at least as effective as other interventions for treating anxiety, but a thorough analysis of different factors for effective treatments is missing.ObjectiveThe objective of this narrative synthesis is to synthesize mindfulness treatments for anxiety in young adults aged between 12 to 25, and examine components of those interventions that are more effective in reducing anxiety. MethodsStudies were selected from 3 public databases (APA Psycinfo, Embase, Medline), as well as a manual process to augment the searches. Interventions involving Mindfulness based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Mindfulness based Stress Reduction (MBSR) based studies, as well as their variants were eligible. Anxiety should be one of the measures in the study although it may not be the primary measure. After initial screening and removal of duplicates, 8 studies involving 423 participants were identified. ResultsIdentified themes included customizations for young people, homework and follow ups, qualifications of the instructors, dropout rates, physical activity and subjective experience. Most studies showed a significant decrease in anxiety symptoms, in case of social phobia, chronic pain, stress and academic performance. However, variable scales for measuring anxiety were employed across studies, making it difficult to combine or compare them. The amount of improvement of anxiety was variable. Interventions that included mindfulness information sessions for parents and interventions with mindful physical activity such as yoga showed better results. ConclusionRecommendations are presented to enable more effective mindfulness interventions tailored for young people with anxiety. Keywords: Mindfulness, generalized anxiety disorder, chronic pain, academic performance, social anxiety, stress, mindfulness based stress reduction, mindfulness based cognitive therapy, adolescents, young people, young adults