JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Mobile mindfulness meditation (MMM) is mindfulness meditation intervention implemented by mobile devices like smart phones and apps. MMM has been used to help managing mental health of university students.

Objective:

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of MMM on mental health of university students in the areas of stress, anxiety, depression, mindfulness, well-being, and resilience.

Methods:

We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effectiveness of MMM on mental health of university students. An electronic literature search using the PubMed, Web of Science, EBSCO, Cochrane Library, and EMBASE from inception to July 16, 2021 was conducted to identify studies that reported the effects of MMM on stress, anxiety, depression, mindfulness, well-being, and resilience. Two reviewers retrieved articles, evaluated quality and extracted data independently. The methodological quality of the selected studies was determined using the Cochrane criteria for risk-of-bias assessment. The RevMan Version 5.3 was used to perform meta-analysis.

Results:

A total of 10 studies, including 958 university students, were selected for meta-analysis. Results showed that MMM was more effective than the control groups in decreasing stress (SMD=-0.41, 95% CI [-0.59, -0.23], P<0.0001), alleviating anxiety (SMD=-0.29, 95% CI [-0.50, -0.09], P=0.004), enhancing well-being (SMD=0.30, 95% CI [0.11, 0.50], P=0.003), and improving mindfulness (SMD=2.66, 95% CI [0.77, 4.55], P=0.006). However, there was no difference between MMM and the control groups in depression (SMD=-0.14, 95% CI [-0.30, 0.03], P=0.11), and resilience (SMD=-0.06, 95% CI [-0.26, 0.15], P=0.59).

Conclusions:

MMM was an effective method to reduce stress, anxiety, and to increase well-being, mindfulness of university students, further studies are needed to confirm our findings. Clinical Trial: CRD42022303585; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=303585.