10-Week Trajectories of Candidate Psychological Processes Differentially Predict Mental Health Gains from Online Dyadic versus Mindfulness Interventions: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

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.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Background: App-based contemplative interventions, such as mindfulness-based interventions, have gained popularity for the promotion of mental health; however, the understanding of underlying intervention-specific mechanisms remains limited, especially related to novel inter-relational dyadic practices. Methods: We tested (n = 253) seven putative mechanisms underlying two brief (daily 12-min) online mental interventions: attention-focused mindfulness and socio-emotional partner-based, both supported by weekly online coaching. Weekly self-reports of rumination, worry, psychological flexibility, affective control, social support, acceptance, and mindfulness were obtained over 10 weeks of intervention, and depression, anxiety, and resilience were assessed as pre- and post-intervention outcomes. Results: Significant week-to-week reductions in rumination and increases in psychological flexibility were observed in both interventions. Only attention-based practice led to temporal reductions in worry, and only socio-emotional dyadic practice led to temporal increases in affective control. Mediation analyses with slopes of weekly variables as mediators detected no significant indirect effects. However, exploratory moderation analyses revealed that intervention-related reductions in depressive symptomatology and anxiety vulnerability and increases in resilience were predicted by weekly increases in acceptance and affective control in the socio-emotional dyadic group, and by weekly reductions in rumination and worry in the mindfulness group. Limitations of the study include reliance on brief self-report measures, relatively small sample size, and absence of long-term follow-up assessments indicating the need for future well-powered longitudinal studies comparing intervention modalities. Conclusions: We present preliminary evidence for practice-specific active ingredients of contemplative interventions, which can be leveraged to enhance their efficiency for mental health.