JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Many adolescents experience elevated stress and anxiety, yet access to effective psychological support is limited. Brief digital mental health interventions such as slow breathing and detached mindfulness offer a potentially scalable approach to promoting emotion regulation in daily life.

Objective:

The current study aimed to investigate whether one week of daily practice with a slow breathing or detached mindfulness intervention reduced stress, anxiety, and negative metacognitive beliefs in youth, and explored participants’ experience to inform the development of accessible, youth-tailored digital interventions.

Methods:

A mixed method approach was used, including quantitative and qualitative data. A total of 114 University students between 16- and 19-years old were randomly allocated to the detached mindfulness (n = 38), slow breathing (n = 38), or passive control group (n = 38). Participants who were allocated to detached mindfulness or slow breathing practiced the intervention for one week. Stress, anxiety, and negative metacognitive beliefs were assessed at pre- and post-intervention using self-report questionnaires. The quantitative data was analyzed with linear mixed-effects models and we explored daily changes in intervention effect. After post-test, participants were invited to focus groups to evaluate their experience with the interventions (n = 37). The qualitative data was analyzed with a content analysis.

Results:

: Our results showed that a week-long detached mindfulness intervention significantly reduced stress compared to the control condition. No other differences emerged for the main outcomes on pre- and post-measurements. However, in the slow breathing group, higher perceived usability was associated with greater reductions in stress. Qualitative findings showed that both interventions were viewed as calming, easy to use, and acceptable, while also highlighting challenges such as maintaining motivation and integrating the exercises into daily routines.

Conclusions:

This study provides evidence that brief digital interventions such as slow breathing and detached mindfulness are feasible and usable, with preliminary evidence for the potential of a detached mindfulness intervention to reduce stress in adolescents. Future research should focus on enhancing motivation and sustained engagement to maximize the effectiveness of digital mental health tools for youth.