Mindfulness-Based Online Intervention Increases Well-Being And Decreases Stress After Covid-19 Lockdown

Abstract

Mindfulness interventions were shown to be effective in improving well-being and reducing perceived stress in several conditions. These effects were also found in online mindfulness-based training, especially on employees in organizational environments. The aim of this study was to test the effectiveness of online mindfulness intervention on healthy employees especially after the first Italian Covid-19 lockdown.Participants in the intervention group underwent an 8-week mindfulness online training program based on the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) protocol compared to a control (no-intervention) group. All participants filled in weekly surveys for the whole intervention duration via online questionnaires to measure their habits, mindfulness (FFMQ-15), emotion regulation (ERQ), positive and negative affect (PANAS), depression, anxiety and stress (DASS-21), resilience (RSA) and insomnia (ISI). 46 participants in the intervention group and 54 in the control group completed at least half of the weekly questionnaires and were considered in the longitudinal analyses. We found significant differences between the intervention and control groups over time in the measures of mindfulness (in particular the nonreactivity subscale), positive affect, depression, and insomnia. Moreover, we found that the frequency of practice and ease perceived in practicing were positively correlated to several indices of well-being (mindfulness, positive affect, cognitive reappraisal) and negatively correlated to several indices of stress (negative affect, depression, anxiety, stress, insomnia, expressive suppression). These results show the importance and effectiveness of online mindfulness training programs to cope with stress among employees, especially after the Covid-19 lockdown.

The efficacy of online mindfulness‐based interventions in a university student sample: Videoconference‐ or podcast‐delivered intervention

“…The increasing mental health issues during the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges of delivering face-to-face interventions have increased the demand for online interventions. Online interventions are easily scalable, more accessible, allow for adherence to social distancing, have greater anonymity, and reduce delivery costs (Bossi et al, 2021). Several studies evaluated the efficacy of online mindfulness interventions prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

How perceived risk influences college students' preventive behavior: Novel data of COVID-19 campus lockdown from Wuhan, China

“…Individuals with higher levels of PA are more likely to care for themselves (89) and show great potential in health behavior learning (90). PA can help people cope with PR, especially after the COVID-19 lockdown (91). In this study, the influence of PA on PB was greater than that of NA.…”

Burnout, depression, anxiety and insomnia among medical staff during the COVID-19 epidemic in Shanghai

“…A study on operating room staff found that providing them with 30-min of music therapy three times a day for a consecutive month significantly decreased their emotional exhaustion, representing improved job burnout (51). In another pilot study, researchers chose mindfulness therapy based on an online app, which has also been shown to help reduce the stress and negative emotions of medical and non-medical participants, thereby improving burnout (52,53). We therefore recommend the use of non-drug interventions such as online mindfulness therapy or music therapy to help medical staff with job burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”