Daily interventions and assessments: The effect of online self-compassion meditation on psychological health.
Yanjuan Li, Yueqin Hu, Wanting Yang, Yuyin Wang
Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being April 23, 2021 DOI: 10.1111/aphw.12278 (opens in new tab) via Semantic Scholar
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractA 4-week study with 65 employees tested daily online self-compassion meditation delivered via smartphone. After a control week, two intervention weeks of daily meditation improved daily self-compassion and reduced perceived stress and emotional exhaustion. Self-compassion and stress did not change during the control week, then improved during the intervention weeks and remained stable during the follow-up week. Emotional exhaustion declined during the control week and stayed stable afterward. The intervention worked equally well regardless of participants' baseline trait self-compassion. The authors conclude that daily online self-compassion meditation is effective and suggest the method can be applied to test other daily online interventions.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Within-subjects longitudinal design with control, intervention, and follow-up periods Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 65 |
| Population | Employees |
| Intervention | Online self-compassion meditation |
| Duration | 4-week study (1-week control, 2-week intervention, 1-week follow-up) |
| Keywords | Medicine Psychology |
| Key finding | Daily online self-compassion meditation improved daily self-compassion and reduced perceived stress and emotional exhaustion, with effects persisting at one-week follow-up. |
Abstract
Traditional self-compassion-based interventions have been shown to be beneficial for improving psychological health. With the development of technology, online interventions accessible via smart phones start to emerge. The current study aimed to use daily assessments to investigate the effect of online daily self-compassion interventions and its improvement pattern. Sixty-five employees were recruited and completed a 4-week study. The first week was the control period; the second week and the third week were the intervention period and the fourth week was the follow-up period. Online self-compassion meditation significantly improved daily self-compassion and reduced perceived stress and emotional exhaustion, with varied changing patterns. Daily self-compassion and perceived stress did not change in the control period, then started to increase/decline with time during the intervention period, and remained stable in the follow-up period. Daily emotional exhaustion declined with time in the control period and remained stable in the intervention and follow-up period. The intervention effects did not differ for individuals with different levels of trait self-compassion. This study shows that daily online self-compassion meditation is effective and reveals how it works. Future studies can apply this method to examine the effectiveness of other daily online interventions.