Effects of a Neuroscience-Based Mindfulness Meditation Program on Psychological Health: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

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dc.contributor.authorLynn, Sarahen
dc.contributor.authorBasso, Julia C.en
dc.date.accessioned2024-06-07T17:32:12Zen
dc.date.available2024-06-07T17:32:12Zen
dc.date.issued2023en
dc.description.abstractBackground: Mindfulness and meditation have a rich historical tradition, and a growing scientific base of evidence supports their use in creating positive psychological and neuroplastic changes for practitioners. Although meditation can be taught in various ways, the scientific community has yet to systematically study the impact of different types of meditation on neuropsychological outcomes, especially as it pertains to digital implementation. Therefore, it is critical that the instruction of mindfulness be evidence based because meditation is being used in both scientific and clinical settings. Objective: This study investigated the use of teacher cueing and the integration of neuroscience education into a meditation program. Compassion cueing was chosen as the element of experimental manipulation because traditional lineages of Buddhist meditation teach compassion for self and others as one of the primary outcomes of meditation. We hypothesized that participants receiving compassion cueing would have enhanced neuropsychological outcomes compared with those receiving functional cueing and that gains in neuroscience knowledge would relate to positive neuropsychological outcomes. Methods: Participants (n=89) were randomized to receive either functional cueing (control group) or compassion cueing (experimental group) and engaged with five 10-minute meditation sessions a week for 4 weeks. All intervention sessions were administered through digital presentation. All participants completed ecological momentary assessments before and after the daily intervention, as well as pre- and postintervention questionnaires. Results: Participants demonstrated significant benefits over time, including increased mindfulness and self-compassion, decreased depression, and gains in neuroscience content (all P<.001); however, no significant between-group differences were found. Daily scores from each day of the intervention showed a statistically significant shift from active toward settled. Importantly, long-term increases in mindfulness were positively correlated to changes in compassion (r=0.326; P=.009) and self-compassion (r=0.424; P<.001) and negatively correlated to changes in anxiety (r=–0.266; P=.03) and depression (r=–0.271; P=.03). Finally, the acute effects of meditation were significantly correlated to the longitudinal outcomes (with a small-to-medium effect size), especially those relevant to mindfulness. Conclusions: We developed a novel neuroscience-based education–meditation program that enhanced self-regulation as evidenced by improved mindfulness, self-compassion, and mood state. Our findings demonstrate the behavioral importance of engaging with mindfulness meditation and reinforce the idea that the benefits of meditation are independent of teacher cueing behavior. Future studies will need to investigate the brain-based changes underlying these meditation-induced outcomes.en
dc.description.sponsorshipThis work was supported by the integrated Translational Health Research Institute of Virginia (iTHRIV) Scholars Program, which is supported in part by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (UL1TR003015 and KL2TR003016). The Statistical Applications and Innovations Group, Department of Statistics, Virginia Tech, also supported this work. Finally, this work was supported by Virginia Tech’s Open Access Subvention Fund.en
dc.format.extent15 pagesen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationLynn S, Basso JC Effects of a Neuroscience-Based Mindfulness Meditation Program on Psychological Health: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial JMIR Form Res 2023;7:e40135 URL: https://formative.jmir.org/2023/1/e40135 doi: 10.2196/40135en
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.2196/40135en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10919/119348en
dc.identifier.volume7en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherJMIR Publicationsen
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.subjectmeditationen
dc.subjectmindfulnessen
dc.subjectmental healthen
dc.subjectcompassionen
dc.subjectself-compassionen
dc.subjectdigitalen
dc.subjectmedical educationen
dc.subjectneuroscience educationen
dc.subjectdepressionen
dc.subjectpsychological healthen
dc.subjectmental illnessen
dc.subjectanxietyen
dc.titleEffects of a Neuroscience-Based Mindfulness Meditation Program on Psychological Health: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trialen
dc.title.serialJMIR Formative Researchen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten

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