The effectiveness and acceptability of formal versus informal mindfulness among university students with and without recent self-injury: A randomized controlled trial.
Level 2 - randomized trial
Individual randomized controlled trial
PubMed 39489621 · doi:10.1111/aphw.12613
What was done
A randomized controlled trial evaluated the acceptability and immediate pre-post effects of a formal mindfulness induction, an informal mindfulness induction, and a control task. The study included university students with (n = 103) and without (n = 123) past-year non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). Measured outcomes included acceptability, state mindfulness, state stress, and state well-being assessed with both brief Visual Analogue Scales and lengthier instruments.
What was found
Outcomes did not differ based on NSSI history. Only informal mindfulness was consistently preferred over the control task in two-way ANOVAs. On brief Visual Analogue Scales analyzed via three-way mixed ANOVAs, state well-being increased across all conditions, state mindfulness increased after both formal and informal mindfulness, and state stress decreased only after informal mindfulness. These condition differences were short-lived and not detected on lengthier measures. The abstract reported no exact numerical values, effect sizes, or test statistics.
Why it matters
Informal mindfulness practices may offer an accessible, acceptable option for immediate stress reduction in university students regardless of self-injury history. It also demonstrates that measurement tool length influences whether transient mindfulness effects are detected.
Limits
No exact figures, confidence intervals, or p-values were provided in the abstract. Effects were transient, disappearing on longer assessment scales, and the sample was restricted to university students evaluated immediately after brief inductions.