Digital Well-Being Training With Health Care Professionals: A Randomized Clinical Trial.
Level 2 - randomized trial
Individual randomized controlled trial with masked outcome assessment.
PubMed 40824577 · doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2025.3888
What was done
Researchers conducted a 2-arm randomized clinical trial across 762 healthcare facilities in 7 Mexican states between March 2023 and March 2024. A total of 2,315 adults working as healthcare professionals with no prior well-being training were randomized 1:1 to a 13-week digital well-being training or a wait-list control group. The intervention consisted of nine 2-hour Zoom sessions and access to the Healthy Minds Program smartphone app covering psychoeducation and contemplative practice. The primary outcomes were self-reported distress (a composite z-score of perceived stress, anxiety, and depression) and well-being measured by the World Health Organization-5 (WHO-5) scale at 13 weeks postintervention and 37 weeks of follow-up. Outcome assessors and data analysts were masked to group assignment.
What was found
Among 2,315 participants (mean age 34.7 years; 73.1% female; 33.4% nurses, 31.7% physicians), the intervention group demonstrated statistically significant improvements compared to wait-list control: - 13-week distress: adjusted standardized mean difference (SMD) -0.24 (95% CI, -0.32 to -0.16). - 13-week well-being: adjusted SMD 0.27 (95% CI, 0.18 to 0.35). - 37-week distress: adjusted SMD -0.36 (95% CI, -0.44 to -0.28). - 37-week well-being: adjusted SMD 0.42 (95% CI, 0.34 to 0.50). Adverse events were rare (intervention: 6 of 1,157 [0.05%]; control: 4 of 1,158 [0.04%]).
Why it matters
Scalable digital training combining live remote sessions with app-based practice can achieve sustained, modest reductions in psychological distress and gains in well-being among diverse healthcare personnel.
Limits
The study used an inactive wait-list control rather than an active comparator (such as an educational or attention control), which can inflate effect sizes on self-reported psychological measures. The population was restricted to Mexican healthcare professionals without prior training, and all primary outcomes relied on self-report questionnaires.