Farah Ahmad|Christo El Morr|Paul Ritvo|Nasih Othman|Rahim Moineddin|Mvc Team
An Eight-Week, Web-Based Mindfulness Virtual Community Intervention for Students’ Mental Health: Randomized Controlled Trial
York University|York University|York University|York University|Public Health Ontario|University of Toronto
background innovative interventions needed address increasing mental health needs university students given demonstrated anxiolytic antidepressant benefits mindfulness training developed 8week webbased mindfulness virtual community mvc intervention informed cognitive behavioral therapy cbt constructs objective study investigated efficacy mvc intervention reducing symptoms depression anxiety stress among undergraduate students toronto canada secondary outcomes included quality life life satisfaction mindfulness methods first 4 weeks full mvc intervention fmvc comprised 1 12 videobased modules psychoeducation students preidentified stressful topics topically applied mindfulness practice 2 anonymous peertopeer discussion forums 3 anonymous groupbased professionally guided 20min live videoconferences second 4 weeks fmvc involved access videobased modules 8week partial mvc pmvc comprised 12 videobased modules randomized controlled trial conducted 4 parallel arms fmvc pmvc waitlist control wlc groupbased facetoface cbt results latter group presented elsewhere students recruited multiple strategies consented randomized wlc40 fmvc40 pmvc39 learned allocation consenting online surveys baseline t1 4 weeks t2 8 weeks t3 included patient health questionnaire9 item beck anxiety inventory perceived stress scale quality life scale brief multidimensional students life satisfaction scale fivefacet mindfulness questionnaire analyses employed generalized estimation equation methods ar1 covariance structures adjusted possible confounders gender age birth country paid work unpaid work physical activities selfrated health mental health counseling access results 113 students provided t1 data 28 males 85 females mean age 248 years participants fmvc n39 pmvc n35 wlc n39 groups similar sociodemographic characteristics t1 t3 followup per adjusted comparisons statistically significant reductions depression scores fmvc score change 403 plt001 pmvc score change 482 plt001 compared wlc t3 statistically significant reduction anxiety scores pmvc score change 735 p01 compared wlc statistically significant reduction scores perceived stress fmvc score change 532 plt001 pmvc score change 561 p005 compared wlc statistically significant changes t3 quality life mindfulness fmvc pmvc vs wlc life satisfaction conclusions internetbased mindfulness cbtbased interventions fmvc pmvc result significant reductions symptoms depression anxiety stress student population future research larger sample multiple universities would precisely test generalizability trial registration international standard randomized controlled trial number isrctn92827275 httpswwwisrctncomisrctn92827275