A four-week smartphone meditation app reduces psychological distress in school system employees at post-intervention and three-month follow-up¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · causal r3 · q3 · i1–i2
Currency · newest study 2022 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i2 HMP assignment predicted significantly larger reductions in psychological distress than wait-list control at post-intervention (d=-0.53). → Hirshberg Matthew J. 2022 q3 i1 The distress reduction persisted at three-month follow-up (d=-0.34), though follow-up change favored the wait-list control (d=0.22). → Hirshberg Matthew J. 2022 (2)

Evidence¶

Hirshberg Matthew J. 2022¶

Hirshberg Matthew J., Frye Corrina, Dahl Cortland J., Riordan Kevin M., Vack Nathan J., Sachs Jane, Goldman Robin, Davidson Richard J., Goldberg Simon B. (2022). A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Smartphone-Based Well-Being Training in Public School System Employees During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Educational Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000739

q3 · i2 · causal · r3

Preregistered intention-to-treat piecewise linear mixed effects models on N=662 randomized Wisconsin school system employees. The HMP group showed "significantly larger reductions in psychological distress" versus wait-list control at post-intervention (d=−0.53).

"the HMP group demonstrated significantly larger reductions in psychological distress over the intervention period compared to the WLC (d=−0.53 CI [−0.69 to −0.38], p<.001; Figure 3)"

Hirshberg Matthew J. 2022 (2)¶

Hirshberg Matthew J., Frye Corrina, Dahl Cortland J., Riordan Kevin M., Vack Nathan J., Sachs Jane, Goldman Robin, Davidson Richard J., Goldberg Simon B. (2022). A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Smartphone-Based Well-Being Training in Public School System Employees During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Educational Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000739

q3 · i1 · causal · r3

Same intention-to-treat mixed effects models at the three-month follow-up (T6) in the N=662 sample. Assignment to the HMP "continued to predict significantly larger reductions in distress at T6 compared to the WLC" (d=−0.34).

"Consistent with our hypothesis, assignment to the HMP continued to predict significantly larger reductions in distress at T6 compared to the WLC (d=−0.34 [−0.49 to −0.19], p<.001)"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Most participants assigned to the app downloaded it, but fewer engaged, averaging about 11 days and 128 minutes of practice over four weeks — related
• App benefits on distress are as large or larger among participants with elevated baseline anxiety and depressive symptoms — related
• The meditation app improves well-being skills (self-compassion, loneliness, cognitive defusion, perseverative thinking, well-being, meaning) that persist at follow-up, except mindful action — related
• The meditation app showed no evidence of elevated adverse events, with lower odds of symptom worsening at post-test — related
• Attrition was significantly higher in the app group than in the wait-list control group — related
• Treatment effects were not moderated by employment category (teacher vs. other) or by intervention timing (summer vs. school year) — related