JMIR mental health
April 28, 2023
Sin U Lam, Qiang Xie, Simon B Goldberg
29 citations
Among US adults who have ever meditated, more than half (58.8%) have used a meditation app at least once, and 21.7% use one weekly or daily. Younger age, higher anxiety, and a mental health motivation for meditating were linked to having used a meditation app. Active users were younger, less likely to be men or non-Latinx White, had lower income, and were more likely to have started meditating for spiritual reasons. Concerns about cost, effectiveness, time, technical issues, and user-friendliness were more common among app users. Desired features include practice tips, reminders, mini-practices, and mental health content, while social features were less popular. Headspace and Calm were the most used apps.
Psychological services
July 10, 2025
Rachel L Dyer, Katherine M Zimmerman, Xinxuyang Zhao et al.
2 citations
Depression and anxiety have worsened among American adults in recent decades. Meditation apps could help reduce these symptoms, but many users struggle to keep using them. This study interviewed 20 adults with elevated depressive or anxiety symptoms who were part of a clinical trial testing a meditation app called the Healthy Minds Program. Using an implementation science framework called the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, the researchers identified four categories: practical factors that helped users build a meditation habit, motivations for starting and sticking with practice, obstacles to developing a practice, and suggestions for improving the app. Most participants reported positive outcomes, which for some motivated continued use. Future work should examine how barriers and facilitators shift as users gain more experience.
February 10, 2023
Qiang Xie, Kevin M. Riordan, Scott A. Baldwin et al.
2 citations
preprint
Among clinically distressed adults with no meditation experience who used a smartphone-based loving-kindness and compassion training program for two weeks, those who increased their informal meditation practice (using techniques outside formal sessions) showed greater reductions in psychological distress and loneliness from before to after the intervention, though no changes in empathy or prosociality were observed. Daily analyses indicated that more informal practice on a given day predicted lower distress the next day, but not lower loneliness. Distress and loneliness did not predict subsequent informal practice. The findings suggest that informal practice may play a causal role in reducing distress, but further experimental studies are needed.
November 3, 2023
Qiang Xie, Rachel L. Dyer, Sin U Lam et al.
1 citation
preprint
Brief, informal meditation practices done during daily activities may help make meditation-based interventions more effective and accessible. Interviews with 17 participants after a 4-week smartphone meditation program revealed four themes: reported benefits, how they integrated practice into daily life, barriers to practice, and recommended facilitators. Barriers included lack of reminders and social support; facilitators included personalized app features and repeating intervention content. Addressing these factors could increase engagement with informal practice.