Effectiveness of a Brief Online Mindfulness-Based Intervention for University Students

Sabrina Fagioli; Susanna Pallini; Stefano Mastandrea; Barbara Barcaccia

doi:10.1007/s12671-023-02128-1

Effectiveness of a Brief Online Mindfulness-Based Intervention for University Students

Mindfulness (N Y). 2023;14(5):1234-1245. doi: 10.1007/s12671-023-02128-1. Epub 2023 May 2.

Authors

Sabrina Fagioli¹, Susanna Pallini¹, Stefano Mastandrea¹, Barbara Barcaccia^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Education, Roma Tre University, Via Di Castro Pretorio N.20, 00185 Rome, Italy.
² Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via Dei Marsi N.78, 00185 Rome, Italy.
³ Associazione Di Psicologia Cognitiva APC and Scuola Di Psicoterapia Cognitiva Srl SPC, Viale Castro Pretorio N. 116, 00185 Rome, Italy.

Abstract

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a dramatic increase in Web-based education, lacking face-to-face student-teacher and student-student interaction, and consequently impairing students' sense of belonging to a community, interoceptive awareness, and academic self-efficacy. This study examined how a brief mindfulness-based intervention in an online university course can be effective in enhancing attention resources, developing a stronger sense of academic self-efficacy, and improving the sense of belonging to a community, which represent critical factors affecting students' participation in online and blended courses.

Method: Four-hundred and eighty-six participants (M_age 22.88) completed a battery of measures at pre- and post-treatment. One class (experimental group) participated in a brief online mindfulness-based intervention (42%), whereas the other one (control group) did not take part in the intervention (58%). The intervention included breathing meditation at the beginning of class, sharing of experiences, mini-lectures on mindfulness, and daily practice, and lasted for 28 consecutive days.

Results: Participants in the experimental group when compared to controls showed a significant increase in the feeling of influencing the course activities (F = 9.628; p < 0.005), in the self-regulation of attention (F = 19.133; p < 0.001), in academic self-efficacy (F = 9.220; p < 0.005), and, particularly, in their self-efficacy in regulating learning (F = 12.942; p < 0.001). The students' adherence to the assigned practice could partially explain the effectiveness of the intervention.

Conclusions: This study offers useful clues about the effectiveness of mindfulness interventions in the classroom in enhancing sense of belonging to a community, attention grounded in bodily sensations, and academic self-efficacy.

Preregistration: This study is not preregistered.

Keywords: Academic self-efficacy; Attention related to interoceptive awareness; Online mindfulness intervention; Online university class; Sense of community.