Targeted mindfulness and self-compassion improve long-term stress reduction in distance learning students: a randomized trial.
Frontiers in psychology January 1, 2025 Lotte Bock, Miriam Hägerbäumer, Erik Riedel et al.
A randomized controlled trial compared a targeted web-based mindfulness intervention focused on self-compassion and gratitude with a comprehensive mindfulness program among 167 university students in distance learning contexts. After exclusions, 98 participants completed daily digital exercises over 28 days. Both groups showed significant short-term improvements in mindfulness and perceived stress. However, only the targeted intervention group sustained reductions in perceived stress at a three-month follow-up. The targeted program was designed using Cognitive Load Theory and Spaced Repetition Theory to reduce extraneous processing and support memory consolidation. Simplified, theory-informed mindfulness interventions may improve psychological resilience in cognitively burdened learners.