Trial reportJournal of epidemiology and community health2021
Effectiveness of providing university students with a mindfulness-based intervention to increase resilience to stress: 1-year follow-up of a pragmatic randomised controlled trial.
Trial report in Journal of epidemiology and community health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 3 of them syntheses 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Stress management interventions for university students in low-and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in digital health · 2025Pooled it
- Mindfulness-based programmes for mental health promotion in adults in nonclinical settings: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.PLoS medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Altered states of consciousness caused by a mindfulness-based programme up to a year later: Results from a randomised controlled trial.PloS one · 2024Trial
- Trial
- Feasibility, Effectiveness, and Mechanisms of a Brief Mindfulness- and Compassion-Based Program to Reduce Stress in University Students: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Trial
- The Effectiveness and Exploratory Cost-Effectiveness of Regular Meditation for Improving Quality of Life: Protocol for a Prospective Longitudinal Cohort Study.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- Effects of Mindfulness-Acceptance-Insight-Commitment (MAIC) Training on Stress and Sleep Quality in Elite Swimmers: A Randomized Controlled Mixed-Methods Trial.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Digital and In-Person Mindfulness-Based Interventions for University Students' Mental Health: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- A scoping review of nursing interventions of improving resilience among university students during online learning.BMC nursing · 2025Article
- Development, Acceptability and Engagement with the Mind Tutor: Lessons Learned from Testing a Novel Digital Application for First Year UK Undergraduate Student Wellbeing.Psychological studies · 2025Article
- Comparing the effectiveness of mind-body practices (MBPs) and various psychological methods on occupational stress among healthcare workers: a network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- The role of mindfulness and resilience in Navy SEAL training.Military psychology : the official journal of the Division of Military Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2024Article
- Acceptability, engagement, and preliminary efficacy of a college human physiology course with integrated mindfulness practice to support student wellbeing.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Activity-based mindfulness: large-scale assessment of an online program on perceived stress and mindfulness.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Mind the app: more time spent on headspace leads to beneficial day-to-day changes in mindfulness, depression, anxiety and stress in college students.Cogent mental health · 2024Article
- Individual participant data systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials assessing adult mindfulness-based programmes for mental health promotion in non-clinical settings.Nature. Mental health · 2023Article
- A latent class analysis of resilience and its association with patient-reported symptoms in patients with esophageal cancer after esophagectomy.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- A workplace mindfulness training program may affect mindfulness, well-being, health literacy and work performance of upper-level ICT-managers: An exploratory study in times of the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Effectiveness of a Brief Online Mindfulness-Based Intervention for University Students.Mindfulness · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThere is concern that increasing demand for student mental health services reflects deteriorating student well-being. We designed a pragmatic, parallel, single-blinded randomised controlled trial hypothesising that providing mindfulness courses to university students would promote their resilience to stress up to a year later. Here we present 1-year follow-up outcomes.
methodsUniversity of Cambridge students without severe mental illness or crisis were randomised (1:1, remote software-generated random numbers), to join an 8-week mindfulness course adapted for university students (Mindfulness Skills for Students (MSS)), or to mental health support as usual (SAU).
resultsWe randomised 616 students; 53% completed the 1-year follow-up questionnaire. Self-reported psychological distress and mental well-being improved in the MSS arm for up to 1 year compared to SAU (p<0.001). Effects were smaller than during the examination period. No significant differences between arms were detected in the use of University Counselling Service and other support resources, but there was a trend for MSS participants having milder needs. There were no differences in students' workload management; MSS participants made more donations. Home practice had positive dose-response effects; few participants meditated. No adverse effects related to self-harm, suicidality or harm to others were detected.
conclusionLoss to follow-up is a limitation, but evidence suggests beneficial effects on students' average psychological distress that last for at least a year. Effects are on average larger at stressful times, consistent with the hypothesis that this type of mindfulness training increases resilience to stress. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ACTRN12615001160527.
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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.