JMIR mHealth and uHealth
June 8, 2026
Julia Adams, Jonathan Davies, Prai Wattanatakulchat et al.
Meditation app use is generally low: half of users engage for 16 minutes or less in the first month after download, and fewer than 20% continue past 14 days. Intended use far exceeds actual use. Higher engagement is associated with expectation match, expectations for anxiety and attention, conscientiousness, satisfaction with life, and well-being, while neuroticism, perceived stress, psychological distress, and lower quality of life are linked to lower engagement. Readiness to change uniquely predicts higher engagement. Acute stress motivates use, but chronic stress disrupts it. Engagement is best when experiences match expectations and users are prepared to change.
Journal of medical Internet research
February 2, 2026
Julia Adams, Jonathan Davies, Prai Wattanatakulchat et al.
Most people who download meditation apps use them very little. In a survey of 536 recent users across five English-speaking countries, those who were more educated, more open to new experiences, and who held stronger beliefs that meditation apps would help them were more likely to engage regularly. Readiness to change, expectations for sleep and thriving, and perceived app quality and appeal were also linked to greater use. Age and higher education were among the strongest predictors of engagement. The findings suggest that user characteristics and attitudes toward the app matter more than mental health symptoms for determining how much someone uses a meditation app.
May 27, 2025
Prai Wattanatakulchat, Julieta Galante, Timothy Wood et al.
preprint
Unwanted meditation-related experiences are common and alternate with positive ones, but predicting them is difficult because they have been studied as isolated events. This survey of 886 U.S. meditators tested whether a modern interpretation of the Stages of Insight (SoI), a Buddhist model of meditative progression, fits contemporary meditators. Only four of the eight stages could be assessed. The pattern of item endorsement predicted the number of stages reached better than chance, but early stages were not more frequently endorsed than later ones, and more meditation experience did not predict classification into later stages. The findings provide no clear evidence that the SoI model applies across contexts and traditions, but show that traditional models can guide research on meditation experiences as developmental processes.
JMIR research protocols
July 17, 2026
Lillian Ofori Ward, Cate Bailey, Prai Wattanatakulchat et al.
A protocol for a prospective longitudinal cohort study will follow 600 beginner meditators in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom over one year to investigate whether regular meditation practice improves quality of life and mental well-being. The study will compare effects between secular and spiritual practitioners, assess cost-effectiveness in terms of quality of life, and track the incidence and functional impact of any adverse effects. Participants report practice frequency and duration weekly via an app, with monthly sampling of quality of life, well-being, practice characteristics, costs, and adverse effects. Data collection began in October 2025; results are expected in January 2028.