The importance of formal versus informal mindfulness practice for enhancing psychological wellbeing and study engagement in a medical student cohort with a 5-week mindfulness-based lifestyle program.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Uncontrolled single-arm pre-post intervention study without a comparison group
PubMed 34673830 · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0258999
What was done
A 5-week mindfulness-based lifestyle course was integrated into the core curriculum for first-year undergraduate medical students (enrolled N = 310, 60% female, mean age 18.60 years). Pre- and post-intervention self-report surveys were administered to measure mental health (MHC-SF), perceived stress (PSS), study engagement (UWES-S), dispositional mindfulness (FMI), and mindfulness practice adherence (formal vs. informal practice quality).
What was found
A total of 205 students completed both pre- and post-course evaluations. Mental health, perceived stress, study engagement, and mindfulness scores all improved significantly from baseline to post-intervention (all p < .001; exact mean values not provided in the abstract). Reductions in perceived stress correlated with improvements across all other metrics (p < .01). Improvements across all primary outcomes were positively associated with informal practice quality, whereas improved dispositional mindfulness alone was associated with formal practice (all p < .05).
Why it matters
These findings suggest that brief mindfulness training integrated into medical curricula may support student wellbeing, and that informal mindfulness practice incorporated into daily routines may provide broader benefit than formal meditation practice.
Limits
The study lacked a randomized or non-intervention control group, preventing causal attribution. Only 205 of 310 enrolled students completed both assessments (34% attrition), introducing potential response and attrition bias. All measures were self-reported, and no long-term follow-up was conducted.