Psychological Mediators of Reduced Distress: Preregistered Analyses from a Randomized Controlled Trial of a Smartphone-Based Well-Being Training.
Matthew J Hirshberg, Cortland J Dahl, Daniel Bolt, Richard J Davidson, Simon B Goldberg
Clinical psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science January 1, 2025 DOI: 10.1177/21677026241233262 via PubMed
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractA four-week smartphone-based meditation intervention reduced psychological distress in adults, most of whom had clinical anxiety or depressive symptoms during the early COVID-19 pandemic. The intervention improved four proposed mediators—mindful action, loneliness, cognitive defusion, and purpose—which together accounted for 21.9% to 62.5% of the effect on distress at three-month follow-up. In a multiple mediator analysis, reduced loneliness alone explained 61.7% of the combined indirect effect. The findings suggest multiple psychological pathways may mediate distress reduction in digital meditation-based interventions.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Randomized controlled trial Preregistered Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 662 |
| Population | Adults with clinical levels of anxiety or depressive symptoms |
| Duration | 4-week intervention, 3-month follow-up |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Distress Mechanisms Mediation Mobile health |
| Citations | 9 |
| Key finding | Assignment to a four-week smartphone-based meditation intervention predicted gains on four psychological mediators, which in turn mediated follow-up distress, with reduced loneliness accounting for 61.7% of the combined indirect effect. |
Abstract
Understanding why interventions work is essential to optimizing them. Although mechanistic theories of meditation-based interventions (MBIs) exist, empirical evidence is limited. We randomly assigned 662 adults (79.9% reported clinical levels of anxiety or depressive symptoms) to a four-week smartphone-based MBI or wait-list control condition early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychological distress and four theory driven preregistered psychological mediators of well-being (mindful action, loneliness, cognitive defusion and purpose) were assessed five times during the intervention period and at three-month follow-up. In preregistered analyses, assignment to the intervention predicted significant gains on all mediators which in turn significantly mediated follow-up distress (21.9%-62.5% of intervention effect on distress). No significant mediation pathway was observed in an exploratory multiple mediator analysis, but reduced loneliness accounted for 61.7% of the combined indirect effect. Multiple psychological pathways may mediate reduced distress in a digital MBI.