Mindfulness-based online intervention increases well-being and decreases stress after Covid-19 lockdown

Abstract

Mindfulness interventions were shown to be effective in improving well-being and reducing perceived stress in several conditions. These effects were also found in online mindfulness-based training, especially in employees in organizational environments. The aim of this study was to test the effectiveness of an online mindfulness intervention on healthy employees, especially after the first Italian Covid-19 lockdown. Participants in the intervention group underwent an 8-week mindfulness online training program based on the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) protocol compared to a control (no-intervention) group. All participants filled in weekly surveys for the whole intervention duration via online questionnaires to measure their habits, mindfulness (FFMQ-15), emotion regulation (ERQ), positive and negative affect (PANAS), depression, anxiety and stress (DASS-21), resilience (RSA) and insomnia (ISI). 69 participants in the intervention group and 63 in the no-treatment control group were considered in the longitudinal analyses. We found significant differences between the intervention and control groups over time in the measures of mindfulness (in particular the nonreactivity subscale), positive affect, depression, and insomnia. Moreover, we found that the frequency of practice and ease perceived in practicing were positively correlated to several indices of well-being (mindfulness, positive affect, cognitive reappraisal) and negatively correlated to several indices of stress (negative affect, depression, anxiety, stress, insomnia, expressive suppression). These results show the importance and effectiveness of online mindfulness training programs to cope with stress among employees, especially after the Covid-19 lockdown.

Figure 1

Time course of predicted average scores for different well-being and stress indices in longitudinal analyses. The x-axis in the plots represents the weeks of the intervention (from 0—before intervention—to 8—final week) and the y-axis represents participants’ scores. The red line represents the control group (N = 63), while the green line represents the intervention group (N = 69). The grey shaded area represents 95% confidence intervals. The y-axis represents predicted average scores for (A) the habit “Please specify how much time you spent doing the following activity: Practicing mindfulness (or other forms of meditation)”. See Supplementary Materials for further details on the questionnaire. (B) the mindfulness variable (FFMQ-15 questionnaire) total score and (C) the FFMQ-15 nonreactivity subscale, (D) the cognitive reappraisal variable (ERQ questionnaire), (E) the positive affect variable (PANAS questionnaire), (F) the depression variable (DASS-21 questionnaire), (G) the insomnia score (ISI questionnaire).

Figure 2

Plots showing significant correlations between the weekly frequency of mindfulness practice and several variables in the intervention group. The x-axis represents the weekly frequency of practice (ranging from 0 to 7 + times a week) and the y-axes represent (A) mindfulness total score (FFMQ-15), (B) describe subscale (FFMQ-15) (C) positive affect (PANAS), (D) structured style subscale (RSA) (participants only presented 0 to 4 values on the x-axis in this subsample), (E) negative affect (PANAS), (F) DASS-21 total score, (G) depression subscale (DASS-21), (H) anxiety (DASS-21), (I) stress subscale (DASS-21), (J) insomnia (ISI). The grey shaded area represents 95% confidence intervals.

Figure 3

Plots showing significant correlations between the difficulty perceived in weekly mindfulness practice and several variables in the intervention group. The x-axis represents difficulty perceived in weekly practice (ranging from 1—very easy to 7—very difficult) and the y-axes represent (A) mindfulness total score (FFMQ-15), (B) observing subscale (FFMQ-15), (C) acting with awareness subscale (FFMQ-15), (D) nonjudging subscale (FFMQ-15), (E) nonreactivity subscale (FFMQ-15), (F) cognitive reappraisal subscale (ERQ), (G) positive affect (PANAS), (H) expressive suppression subscale (ERQ), (I) negative affect (PANAS), (J) DASS-21 total score, (K) depression subscale (DASS-21), (L) anxiety subscale (DASS-21), (M) stress subscale (DASS-21), (N) insomnia (ISI). The grey shaded area represents 95% confidence intervals.