A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Smartphone-Based Well-Being Training in Public School System Employees During the COVID-19 Pandemic

A four-week smartphone-based meditation app (Healthy Minds Program) reduced psychological distress and improved well-being among school system employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a randomized wait-list controlled trial with 662 participants (64% teachers), those assigned to the app showed significantly larger reductions in distress immediately after the intervention and at a three-month follow-up, with similar benefits on secondary outcomes such as perseverative thinking and social connection. The app was equally effective for participants with elevated baseline anxiety and depressive symptoms, and no evidence of elevated adverse events was found. The program may offer a scalable approach to supporting educator mental health.

Study at a glance

Abstract

While the extraordinary pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic on student mental health have received considerable attention, less attention has been placed on the well-being of educators. School system employees play a vital role in society, and teacher levels of well-being are associated with the educational outcomes of young people. We extend extant research on the prevalence and correlates of educator distress during the pandemic by reporting on a pragmatic randomized wait-list controlled trial (N=662; 64% teachers) of an innovative mental health promotion strategy implemented during the pandemic; a freely available four-week smartphone-based meditation app designed to train key constituents of well-being (Healthy Minds Program; HMP). Following our preregistered analysis plan and consistent with hypotheses, assignment to the HMP predicted significantly larger reductions in psychological distress, our primary outcome, at post-intervention (Cohen’s d=-0.52, 95% confidence interval [-0.68, -0.37], p<.001) and at the three-month follow-up (d=-0.33 [-0.48, -0.18], p<.001). Also consistent with hypotheses, we observed similar indications of immediate and sustained benefit following the HMP on all six preregistered secondary outcomes selected to tap skills targeted in the app (e.g., perseverative thinking, social connection, well-being; absolute ds=0.19-0.42, all ps<.031 corrected). We found no evidence for elevated adverse events and the HMP was equally effective among participants with elevated baseline anxiety and depressive symptoms. These data suggest that the HMP may be an effective and scalable approach to supporting the mental health and well-being of teachers and other school system employees, with implications for employee retention and performance, and student outcomes.