Healthy Student Initiative

This paper extends prior research by exploring how students with self-critical (SC) traits respond to mindfulness meditation (MM) with a twofold purpose: i) to study anxiety sensitivity and mood changes during the school year as students attended MM tutorials ii) to study the relationship between self-criticism and MM-related benefits over time. This paper reports on participants' mood and anxiety sensitivity changes before, during, and after the MM program and the association between depressed mood and SC levels. Participants were trained in MM over two continuous semesters, with two specific hypotheses guiding evaluations:

1. Participants overall would report progressive improvements in psychological well-being as measured by mood and anxiety sensitivity variables, reflecting the effectiveness of the MM program.
2. Elevations in self-critical personality traits would predict greater improvements in depressed mood, given the greater need to neutralize cognitive events related to negative moods.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Depressive Self-Criticism
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Mindfulness Meditation

Detailed Description

A total of 71 undergraduate students in a large public university participated in weekly MM sessions through the Fall & Winter semesters of the 2012/2013 academic year. Recruitment was facilitated through in-class announcements and poster and print advertisements. Online and paper surveys elicited self-report data (reflecting mental health profiles) at program initiation which served as baseline measures for the September-October study period, written informed consent was also obtained during this time. Inclusion criteria included: 1) currently enrolled (part-time-full-time); 2) computer access at the university or elsewhere and/or smartphone access Following a standard within-subjects design, participants were required to complete the psychological measures at 3 additional assessment periods; Time 2 (November-December), Time 3 (January-February), and Time 4 (March-April). To alleviate demands on the students partaking in weekly MM sessions, follow-up assessments were provided in paper and electronic form and completed autonomously. Study participants were given $50 cash payments for full study participation and the study met the ethical guidelines and received approval from the Human Participants Review Subcommittee of the university site where the study was conducted.

The program progressively trained students in "mindfulness of breathing", a form of meditation frequently employed secularly. The tutorials were held on campus five times weekly, led by a faculty member and a graduate student who were trained, experienced MM practitioners. The tutorials were one hour in duration and typically involved 40-45 minutes of guided MM followed by a question-answer period that addressed recent research findings. Program participation required attendance at one tutorial per week, and participants were encouraged to maintain autonomous MM practice.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 71
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Canada
  • Ontario
    • Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M3J 1P3
      • York University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 17 years and older (Child, Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Currently enrolled (part-time-full-time) OR current staff members at university
• Computer access at the university or elsewhere and/or smartphone access

Exclusion Criteria:

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: Mindfulness Meditation; The program progressively trained students in "mindfulness of breathing", a form of meditation frequently employed secularly. The tutorials were held on campus five times weekly, led by a faculty member and a graduate student who were trained, experienced MM practitioners. The tutorials were one hour in duration and typically involved 40-45 minutes of guided MM followed by a question-answer period that addressed recent research findings. Program participation required attendance at one tutorial per week, and participants were encouraged to maintain autonomous MM practice.

Behavioral: Mindfulness Meditation; The program progressively trained students in "mindfulness of breathing", a form of meditation frequently employed secularly. The tutorials were held on campus five times weekly, led by a faculty member and a graduate student who were trained, experienced MM practitioners. The tutorials were one hour in duration and typically involved 40-45 minutes of guided MM followed by a question-answer period that addressed recent research findings. Program participation required attendance at one tutorial per week, and participants were encouraged to maintain autonomous MM practice.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Profile of Mood States	Inventory to assess mood states	6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Anxiety Sensitivity	Inventory to assess anxiety sensitivity	6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: York University
• Collaborators: Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Paul Ritvo, PhD, York University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Ritvo, P., Vora, K., Irvine, J., Mongrain, M., Azargive, S., Muhammad Abid, A., … Cribbie, R. (2013). Reductions in Negative Automatic Thoughts in Students Attending Mindfulness Tutorials Predicts Increased Life Satisfaction. International Journal of Educational Psychology, 2(3), 272-296. doi:10.4471/ijep.2013.28

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: July 1, 2012
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 1, 2013
• Study Completion (Actual): July 1, 2013

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 12, 2014
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 13, 2014
• First Posted (Estimate): June 16, 2014

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): June 16, 2014
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 13, 2014
• Last Verified: June 1, 2014

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: mindfulness meditation, mental health, self-criticism
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2012 - 170