Boosting Psychological Well-Being through a Social Mindfulness-Based Intervention in the General Population

• Main Authors: Teresa Fazia, Francesco Bubbico, Gerardo Salvato, Giovanni Berzuini, Salvatore Bruno, Gabriella Bottini, Luisa Bernardinelli
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-11-01
• Series: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Subjects: mindfulness-based meditation; psychological well-being; healthy subjects; public health
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/22/8404
• ISSN: 1661-7827; 1660-4601

The benefits of mindfulness meditation among clinical and non-clinical populations have been largely reported in literature. Existing mindfulness-based programs are particularly useful in targeting specific populations while researchers have pointed out the possibility of developing programs adapted to the audience and the context. In this two-groups pre-post experimental design we developed a mindfulness-based social intervention program to target individuals from the general population. Here we present a two-groups pre-post experimental design to investigate its effectiveness on participants’ psychological functioning assessed by eight self-reported questionnaires (CORE-OM, FFMQ, SWLS, PANAS, PSS, SCS, WEMWBS, SHS) which encompass different domains of well-being, mindfulness and emotional functioning. Participants, recruited on voluntary basis, were randomly allocated to treated or passive control groups and were aware of group allocation. The intervention comprises a 12-week meditation training in a big group that represents the social aspect of meditation. Data were analysed via a linear mixed effect model and intention to treat. Statistically significant results were obtained for global score of CORE-OM (β = −0.20 [−0.30; −0.10], <i>p</i> = 0.0002), FFMQ (β = 0.20 [0.12; −0.28], <i>p</i> < 0.0001), SWLS (β = 1.43 [0.42; 2.45], <i>p</i> = 0.006), positive PANAS (β = 1.99 [0.95; 3.04], <i>p</i> = 0.0002), negative PANAS (β = −1.67 [−2.92; −0.43], <i>p</i> = 0.009), PSS (β = −2.98 [−4.25; −1.71], <i>p</i> < 0.0001), WEMWBS (β = 4.38 [2.93; 5.83], <i>p</i> < 0.0001) and SHS (β = 1.43 [0.42; 2.45], <i>p</i> = 0.006). Our intervention is causally associated with an improvement of the psychological functioning and hence can be considered as a preventive measure that may potentially reduce the risk of developing psychological problems and improve the subject’s general well-being. Given the voluntary recruitment, our inference only applies to those individuals who have decided to experience meditation as a way to well-being and not to a random person from the general population.