The effectiveness of a non-guided mindfulness application on perceived stress in a non-clinical Dutch population: a Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)

Abstract

Mindfulness has become increasingly popular and positive outcomes have been reported for mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) in reducing stress. These findings make room for innovative perspectives on how MBIs could be applied, for instance through mHealth.

The aim of this study is to investigate if a non-guided mindfulness mobile phone application can decrease perceived stress in a non-clinical Dutch population over the course of eight weeks, with follow-up at six months.

A randomized controlled trial (RCT) was performed, comparing the experimental group that made use of a structured 8-week mHealth mindfulness program and a control group after 8 weeks, with follow-up after six months. Participants were recruited via a national television program. The primary outcome measure was perceived stress as measured by the Perceived Stress scale (PSS), secondary outcomes were symptoms of burnout (VAS) and psychological symptoms (measured by the four-dimensional symptom questionnaire; 4DSQ at follow-up). Outcomes were analyzed using a multilevel regression model.

At baseline, 587 respondents were included. Results showed no post-intervention differences between groups for the level of perceived stress. With regard to the secondary outcome measures, the VAS for emotional exhaustion and physical exhaustion showed statistically significant lower scores for the experimental group after 8 weeks (resp. p=.04 and p= .01), but not at follow-up. There were no differences between groups found for psychological symptoms as measured with the 4DSQ.

These findings do not support our hypothesis that using the mindfulness app would reduce stress levels. However, findings with regard to diminished exhaustion at 8 weeks are encouraging and require further investigation.