Low-intensity online mindfulness-based intervention for university students with anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic-A randomized controlled trial with 3-month follow-up

Daniel Kim-Wan Young; Per Carlbring; Petrus Yat-Nam Ng; Daphne Yi Ting Cheng; Joseph Qi-Rong Chen; Siu-Man Ng

doi:10.1016/j.invent.2023.100665

Low-intensity online mindfulness-based intervention for university students with anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic-A randomized controlled trial with 3-month follow-up

Internet Interv. 2023 Sep 11:34:100665. doi: 10.1016/j.invent.2023.100665. eCollection 2023 Dec.

Authors

Daniel Kim-Wan Young¹, Per Carlbring², Petrus Yat-Nam Ng³, Daphne Yi Ting Cheng³, Joseph Qi-Rong Chen³, Siu-Man Ng⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Social Work, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
² Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
³ Department of Social Work, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong.
⁴ Department of Social Work & Social Administration, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.

Abstract

Objective: This study investigated the effectiveness of a low-intensity online mindfulness-based Intervention (iMBI) for alleviating anxiety in university students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: In a randomized controlled trial involving 134 participants from a local university in Hong Kong, subjects were randomly assigned to either the intervention group (n = 67) or the inactive control group (n = 67). The intervention group participated in a low-intensity iMBI comprising 16 online modules and two half-day online mindfulness workshops over an eight-week period. Outcomes were measured via an online platform using standardized assessment scales, including the Beck Anxiety Inventory and the Chinese Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire, at three different time points: pre-intervention, post-intervention and at a three-month follow-up.

Results: Intent-to-treat analysis using 2 (group) × 3 (time) repeated measures of covariance (ANCOVA) showed that the intervention group, compared to the control group, showed a significant reduction in anxiety symptoms with a medium effect size (Cohen's d = 0.5) and a significant improvement in mindfulness skills with a medium effect size (Cohen's d = 0.5) at post-intervention. The effects of the intervention in reducing anxiety and improving mindfulness persisted at the three-month follow-up.

Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate the effectiveness of the low-intensity iMBI in alleviating anxiety among university students.

Keywords: Anxiety; Chinese; Online mindfulness-based intervention; Randomized controlled trial; University students.