No time for that? An investigation of mindfulness and stress in first-year engineering design
Hannah Nolte, Jacquelyn Huff, Christopher McComb
Design Science 2022 DOI: 10.1017/dsj.2022.5 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | First-year engineering design students |
| Intervention | Mindfulness-based intervention |
| Duration | Brief (duration not specified) |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Citations | 13 |
| Key findings | The mindfulness-based intervention produced a small increase in one aspect of students' state mindfulness but no observable impact on their stress experience during design tasks. Physical modelling was the most stressful task, with concept generation and concept selection producing similar stress levels. Students reported five recurring coping mechanisms: focusing on the task, minimising the importance of their performance, breathing, taking a break, and avoidance or distraction. |
Abstract
Abstract Engineering design induces mental stress for students and the sources of stress for each stage of design are unique. Therefore, strategies are needed to manage the stress of engineering design that are applicable across the design process. This study investigated the effect of a brief mindfulness-based intervention on first-year students’ cognitive stress during concept generation, concept selection and physical modelling. It was found that the mindfulness-based intervention did increase one aspect of students’ state mindfulness (though the effect was small). While prior work indicates that increased mindfulness can lower perceived stress, the increase in students’ state mindfulness during this study was not found to have an observable impact on students’ stress experience. However, students were receptive to completing a mindfulness-based activity in-class and perceived multiple benefits. Physical modelling was the most stressful of the design tasks while concept generation and concept selection produced similar levels of stress. Students used five reoccurring mechanisms for coping with the stress of design including focusing on the task, minimising the importance of their performance, breathing, taking a break and avoidance/distraction. More research should be conducted with longer duration mindfulness-based interventions to understand their potential as a stress management strategy for engineering design.
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Using Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness Undergraduate students | 2006 | Observational cohort | |
| Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders Patients with generalized anxiety disorder or panic disorder with or without agoraphobia | 1992 | Observational cohort | n = 22 |
| Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness Participants with extensive Insight meditation experience and matched controls | 2005 | Observational cohort | n = 20 |
| Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity Experienced meditators and matched meditation-naive controls | 2011 | Observational cohort | |
| Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice Long-term Buddhist practitioners and controls | 2004 | Observational cohort |
Citations in the library
Cites 15
- Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. Clinical Psychology Science and Practice 2004
- Mindfulness Interventions Annual Review of Psychology September 30, 2016
- The toronto mindfulness scale: Development and validation Journal of Clinical Psychology 2006
- Mindfulness Training Improves Working Memory Capacity and GRE Performance While Reducing Mind Wandering Psychological Science March 28, 2013
- Stress in Post-Secondary: Toward an Understanding of Test-Anxiety, Cognitive Performance, and Brief Mindfulness Meditation Behavioural Sciences Undergraduate Journal December 31, 2020
and 10 more in the library