Reducing Stress to Increase Student Wellbeing: Validating a Brief Mindfulness Intervention

Abstract

Students face many adjustment challenges and their mental health is plummeting during the Corona pandemic. This research aimed to identify suitable points of intervention and subsequently develop and validate such an intervention. Study 1 revealed that stress impacts students’ ability to psychologically adjust to their circumstances, suggesting stress as an advantageous point for intervention. Study 2 aimed to validate a low-threshold boosting intervention combining mindfulness and psychoeducation to combat student stress. Forty-one students of Radboud University (54% female, Mage = 23) took part in a mixed 2 (condition: intervention vs. control) by 2 (time: pre vs. post) online study featuring an interactive stress training and three mindfulness exercises as the intervention. The hypothesis that stress would be reduced over time in the intervention condition was not supported. However, psychological adjustment increased significantly due to the intervention. These findings suggest that this low-threshold intervention combining mindfulness with psychoeducation does not reduce stress, but can still benefit students in terms of psychological adjustment. Implications on the working mechanisms of mindfulness and directions for future research are discussed.

Key words: psychological adjustment, mindfulness, psychoeducation, mindfulness-based stress reduction, university students