Community-dwelling older adults aged 60+ with early cognitive deficits who completed an 8-week mindfulness training program showed significantly greater improvement in anxiety compared to a wait-list control group. The improvement was observed immediately after the intervention, with a large effect size. No significant improvements were found for perceived performance or satisfaction with everyday life activities or other psychological outcomes. The findings suggest mindfulness-based stress reduction is a promising primary care intervention for reducing anxiety in this population, though further research is needed to test the sustainability of the effect over time.
A randomized controlled trial tested whether video-delivered Emotion Focused Mindfulness Therapy (EFMT) could reduce anxiety in adults aged 55 and older. Forty-eight participants were assigned to group EFMT via Zoom or a wait-list control. Recruitment took 32 weeks, with 62.3% of screened individuals enrolling; retention was 80.0% and adherence among the intervention group was 100.0%. At 9 weeks, the EFMT group showed a greater reduction in anxiety scores (−3.47 points) compared to the control group (−1.22 points), a statistically significant difference. The findings suggest that virtually-delivered EFMT is feasible, acceptable, and effective for late-life anxiety.