Online mindfulness-based and partner-based socio-emotional interventions, both supported by weekly coaching, reduced depression and emotion regulation difficulties over 10 weeks compared to a waitlist control group. Trait anxiety decreased only after mindfulness training. Multidimensional resilience increased only after socio-emotional training, and stress recovery improved only after mindfulness training. Socio-emotional training reduced negative interpretation bias, and this reduction mediated decreases in depression and trait anxiety. Neither training reduced state anxiety or negative attention bias. The sample was subclinical and mostly female, limiting generalizability.
Brief app-based mindfulness and socio-emotional dyadic interventions improved depression, anxiety, emotion regulation, and stress recovery only among people who had shown resilient stress-reactivity profiles during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those with vulnerable profiles—characterized by less plasticity in stress recovery—did not improve on any outcome. The findings come from 253 community adults who used a daily 12-minute app for 10 weeks with weekly coaching. The results suggest that low-dose digital mental interventions may benefit individuals with greater stress resiliency, while more vulnerable individuals may need more intensive or personalized approaches.
Two brief online mental interventions—attention-focused mindfulness and socio-emotional partner-based practice—were compared over 10 weeks in 253 participants. Both interventions led to week-to-week reductions in rumination and increases in psychological flexibility. Only attention-based practice reduced worry over time, and only the partner-based practice increased affective control. Mediation analyses found no significant indirect effects, but exploratory moderation showed that reductions in depression and anxiety and increases in resilience were predicted by weekly increases in acceptance and affective control in the partner-based group, and by weekly reductions in rumination and worry in the mindfulness group. The findings suggest distinct active ingredients for each practice.