ArticleInternational journal of environmental research and public health2021
The Mental Health and Wellbeing of University Students: Acceptability, Effectiveness, and Mechanisms of a Mindfulness-Based Course.
Article in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 60 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mindfulness to improve the mental health of university students. A systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2023Pooled it
- Enhanced Stress-Resilience Training (ESRT) for graduate-entry medical students: a randomised-controlled, mixed-method investigation.BMC medical education · 2025Trial
- Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy-Taking it Further (MBCT-TiF) compared to Ongoing Mindfulness Practice (OMP) in the promotion of well-being and mental health: A randomised controlled trial with graduates of MBCT and MBSR.Behaviour research and therapy · 2024Trial
- 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
- A randomized controlled trial comparing Mindfulness and Heartfulness meditation programmes on stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms and wellbeing among distance-learning postgraduates.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Article
- Addressing Psychological Distress in College Students Through Mindfulness Training: A Pre-Post Intervention Across Three Cohorts with Different Delivery Methods.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Article
- Article
- The Mindful Way From Information to Knowledge, to Wisdom, and to Life: Perspectives on Mindfulness (-Based Cognitive Therapy) for Higher Education.Mindfulness · 2025Article
- Analysis of the current situation of college students' achievement motivation and influencing factors-an empirical analysis based on a college in Shandong Province.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Article
- Do Adolescents Like School-Based Mindfulness Training? Predictors of Mindfulness Practice and Responsiveness in the MYRIAD Trial.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry · 2023Article
- Mindfulness among lebanese university students and its indirect effect between mental health and wellbeing.BMC psychology · 2023Article
- How mindfulness, self-compassion, and experiential avoidance are related to perceived stress in a sample of university students.PloS one · 2023Article
- Mindfulness skills and experiential avoidance as therapeutic mechanisms for treatment-resistant depression through mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and lifestyle modification.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Effectiveness of attachment-based compassion therapy to reduce psychological distress in university students: a randomised controlled trial protocol.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- The State- and Trait-Level Effects and Candidate Mechanisms of Four Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) Practices: Two Exploratory Studies.Mindfulness · 2023Article
- The Relationship between Mindful Attention Awareness, Perceived Stress and Subjective Wellbeing.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Frequency of Self-reported Unpleasant Events and Harm in a Mindfulness-Based Program in Two General Population Samples.Mindfulness · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Mental health problems are relatively common during university and adversely affect academic outcomes. Evidence suggests that mindfulness can support the mental health and wellbeing of university students. We explored the acceptability and effectiveness of an 8-week instructor-led mindfulness-based course ("Mindfulness: Finding Peace in a Frantic World"; Williams and Penman, 2011) on improving wellbeing and mental health (self-reported distress), orientation and motivation towards academic goals, and the mechanisms driving these changes. Eighty-six undergraduate and post-graduate students (>18 years) participated. Students engaged well with the course, with 36 (48.0%) completing the whole programme, 52 (69.3%) attending 7 out of 8 sessions, and 71 (94.7%) completing at least half. Significant improvements in wellbeing and mental health were found post-intervention and at 6-week follow-up. Improvements in wellbeing were mediated by mindfulness, self-compassion, and resilience. Improvements in mental health were mediated by improvements in mindfulness and resilience but not self-compassion. Significant improvements in students' orientation to their academic goal, measured by "commitment" to, "likelihood" of achieving, and feeling more equipped with the "skills and resources" needed, were found at post-intervention and at 6-week follow-up. Whilst exploratory, the results suggest that this mindfulness intervention is acceptable and effective for university students and can support academic study.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.