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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)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
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)
Topics Meditation
Key findings 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.

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

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