ArticleInternet interventions2020
Intermittent mindfulness practice can be beneficial, and daily practice can be harmful. An in depth, mixed methods study of the "Calm" app's (mostly positive) effects.
Article in Internet interventions, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05027113 (App-Based Mindfulness Meditation for People of Color Who Experience Race-Related Stress), which is not on this map. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
App-Based Mindfulness Meditation for People of Color Who Experience Race-Related Stress: A Randomized Control Trial
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Just-in-Time Adaptive Mechanisms of Popular Mobile Apps for Individuals With Depression: Systematic App Search and Literature Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2021Pooled it
- Enhancing psychological skills and well-being in sport through an app-based blended intervention: a randomized controlled pilot study.BMC psychology · 2025Trial
- Hybrid Delivery of Mindfulness Meditation and Perceived Stress in Pediatric Resident Physicians: A Randomized Clinical Trial of In-Person and Digital Mindfulness Meditation.Journal of clinical psychology in medical settings · 2023Trial
- A Teaching Kitchen Medical Groups Visit with an eHealth Platform for Hypertension and Cardiac Risk Factors: A Qualitative Feasibility Study.Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.) · 2021Trial
- A pilot study on integrating mindfulness-informed professional development for EFL teachers.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Trait Mindfulness and the Experience of Stuttering.American journal of speech-language pathology · 2025Article
- Digital Mental Health Interventions for Adolescents and Young People: Evaluating Efficacy and Accessibility.Cureus · 2025Review
- Digital Mental Health Interventions for Young People Aged 16-25 Years: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- A systematic realist synthesis of digital interventions for enhancing mental health at work: contexts, mechanisms, and outcomes.International journal of mental health systems · 2025Review
- Cognitive offloading or cognitive overload? How AI alters the mental architecture of coping.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Web-Based Intervention Using Self-Compassionate Writing to Induce Positive Mood in Family Caregivers of Older Adults: Quantitative Study.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- Understanding the Implementation of Informal Meditation Practice in a Smartphone-Based Intervention: A Qualitative Analysis.Mindfulness · 2024Article
- Factors Affecting Digital Tool Use in Client Interaction According to Mental Health Professionals: Interview Study.JMIR human factors · 2023Article
- Emergency Department Nurses' Experiences of a Mindfulness Training Intervention: A Phenomenological Exploration.Journal of holistic nursing : official journal of the American Holistic Nurses' Association · 2023Article
- Feasibility and Acceptability of a Mindfulness-Based Smartphone App among Pregnant Women with Obesity.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Analysis of Mobile App-Based Mental Health Solutions for College Students: A Rapid Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- The effects of app-based mindfulness practice on the well-being of university students and staff.Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.) · 2023Article
- Delivery of Complementary and Integrative Health Using Virtual Health Resources: A Scoping Review.Journal of integrative and complementary medicine · 2022Article
- Emotion Self-Regulation in Neurotic Students: A Pilot Mindfulness-Based Intervention to Assess Its Effectiveness through Brain Signals and Behavioral Data.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Practicing Mindfulness through mHealth Applications: Emerging Adults' Health-Enhancing and Inhibiting Experiences.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesDespite a weak evidence base, daily use of mindfulness-based self-help smartphone applications (apps) is said to promote wellbeing. However, many do not use these apps in the way that app developers and mindfulness proponents recommend. We sought to determine whether the "Calm" app works, and whether it does so even when it is used intermittently.
methodsEmploying a mixed-methods design, we recruited a self-selected sample of 269 students from a Scottish university (81% female, 84% white, mean age 23.89) to engage with a seven-day introductory mindfulness course, delivered using Calm, currently one of the most popular, yet under-researched, apps.
resultsDaily course engagement was associated with significant gains in wellbeing ( CONCLUSIONS FOR PRACTICE: Mindfulness-based self-help apps such as Calm have the potential to both enhance and diminish users' wellbeing. Intermittent mindfulness practice can lead to tangible benefits. Therefore, mindfulness proponents should not recommend daily practice, should increase awareness of the potential for negative outcomes, and resist the idea that mindfulness practice works for everyone. Developers of mindfulness apps ought to make specific features customisable in order to enhance their effectiveness.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.