Efficacy of a Single Session Mindfulness Based Intervention

AbstractObjectives Loneliness, perceived stress, depression, and anxiety have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of existing mindfulness and compassion-based intervention are effective, but are time-intensive, decreasing overall accessibility and scalability. Single-session interventions (SSIs) serve as a promising alternative. The current pre-registered clinical trial evaluated a newly developed, manualized, mindfulness-based SSI. Methods 91 adults were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) one-hour mindfulness only telehealth intervention; (b) one-hour mindfulness and compassion telehealth intervention; or (c) one-week waitlist control (before randomization to an active intervention). Intervention sessions were conducted by graduate students in clinical psychology. The primary outcome was self-reported loneliness; secondary outcomes were self-reported perceived stress, depression, and anxiety. Bayesian multi-level models were conducted to test differences between active interventions and waitlist at the 1-week follow-up and between active interventions at the 2-week follow-up. Results We found overall reductions in self-reported loneliness at the 2-week follow-upb= -2.36, 95% Highest Density Interval (HDI) [-3.36, -1.36], however there was no difference between the active interventions and waitlist at the 1-week follow-up. Compared to the waitlist-control, the inclusion of a compassion component led to meaningful reductions in perceived stressb= -3.75, 95% HDI [-6.95, -0.59], anxietyb= -3.79, 95% HDI [-6.99, -0.53], and depressionb= -3.01, 95% HDI [-5.22, -0.78] at the 1-week follow-up. Conclusions Results suggest that a single-session mindfulness and compassion intervention may lead to meaningful reductions in perceived stress, symptoms of anxiety, and symptoms of depression, but not loneliness. Implications of these findings are discussed.