Effectiveness of online mindfulness-based interventions in improving mental health: A review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.
M.P.J. Spijkerman, Wendy T. M. Pots, E. Bohlmeijer
Clinical Psychology Review April 1, 2016 DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2016.03.009 (opens in new tab) via Semantic Scholar
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractOnline mindfulness-based interventions have a small but significant beneficial impact on depression, anxiety, well-being, and mindfulness, with the largest effect on stress (moderate effect size). Guided online MBIs showed significantly higher effect sizes for stress and mindfulness than unguided ones. The number of intervention sessions significantly moderated stress outcomes. These findings suggest that online MBIs can improve mental health, particularly stress.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Systematic review and meta-analysis Randomized Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 15 |
| Population | Participants in randomized controlled trials of online mindfulness-based interventions |
| Keywords | Medicine Psychology |
| Key finding | Online MBIs have a small but significant beneficial impact on depression, anxiety, well-being, and mindfulness, with a moderate effect on stress. |
Abstract
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are increasingly being delivered through the Internet. Whereas numerous meta-analyses have investigated the effectiveness of face-to-face MBIs in the context of mental health and well-being, thus far a quantitative synthesis of the effectiveness of online MBIs is lacking. The aim of this meta-analysis was to estimate the overall effects of online MBIs on mental health. Fifteen randomised controlled trials were included in this study. A random effects model was used to compute pre-post between-group effect sizes, and the study quality of each of the included trials was rated. Results showed that online MBIs have a small but significant beneficial impact on depression (g=0.29), anxiety (g=0.22), well-being (g=0.23) and mindfulness (g=0.32). The largest effect was found for stress, with a moderate effect size (g=0.51). For stress and mindfulness, exploratory subgroup analyses demonstrated significantly higher effect sizes for guided online MBIs than for unguided online MBIs. In addition, meta-regression analysis showed that effect sizes for stress were significantly moderated by the number of intervention sessions. Effect sizes, however, were not significantly related to study quality. The findings indicate that online MBIs have potential to contribute to improving mental health outcomes, particularly stress. Limitations, directions for future research and practical implications are discussed.