Stress Reduction Among College Students

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Table of Contents

Article Summary
Key Takeaways
Definitions
Findings
Conclusion
Reference

Elevated stress among college students is detrimental because it can negatively affect their physical and mental health. Undergraduate learners with distress are likely to experience such behaviors as increased alcohol consumption, unhealthy eating habits, less exercise, and poor sleep. Therefore, there is an increasing demand for appropriate distress management approaches to counter the aforementioned outcomes. Developing distress decreasing programs, such as mindfulness meditation intervention, on campuses might be an efficient methodology for minimizing stress among students in higher institutions (Huberty et al., 2019). This essay provides a summary of an article on mindfulness meditation, outlines key takeaways from the presentation, defines terms from the piece, and describes findings related to “Calm,” a mobile application that encourages mindfulness meditation.

Article Summary

Since it can impact learners’ mental and physical health, developing distress reduction strategies on campuses is of significant precedence. Mindfulness interventions are increasingly becoming popular in colleges because they might help lower stress levels among undergraduates. Huberty et al. (2019) conducted this research to examine mindfulness meditation’s efficacy delivered through “Calm,” a client-centered mobile application for eight weeks. The study also tested the program’s feasibility through a mobile app and examined the possible implications it has on health behaviors. The methodology included a randomized wait-list control experiment with evaluations at baseline, eight weeks (post-intervention), and twelve weeks (follow-up) (Huberty et al., 2019). The findings revealed considerable modifications in all outcomes between the placebo and treatment grouping following covariate adjustments (post-intervention). Many learners in the group testified that “Calm” was instrumental in reducing stress since they were satisfied with the app and would recommend it to their schoolmates (Huberty et al., 2019). In conclusion, “Calm” is useful in mindfulness meditation to decrease stress and enhance self-compassion and mindfulness among students. As a health and physical educator, this research equips me with mindfulness knowledge to design future projects and help learners reduce stress levels.

Key Takeaways

There seems to be a similar degree of improvement in smartphone-based mindfulness applications compared to in-person attendance programs. However, “Calm” had a greater opportunity for continued use and convenient compliance. Another significant takeaway from the study is that mobile app mindfulness intervention is a promising approach to improving students’ quality of sleep by reducing disturbances. The finding is supported by Greeson and colleagues, who claim that there is a significant decrease in sleep problems after engaging in mindfulness meditation programs (Huberty et al., 2019). Thirdly, the change magnitude in perceived stress or mental health is greater after participating mindfulness meditation, especially at the follow-up stage. Finally, meditation has a sustained potential of improving mindfulness, even in the absence of a follow-up period. However, the mindfulness effect is more significant at the aforementioned assessment.

Definitions

Stress is defined as feelings of psychological, physical, or emotional tension that result from any challenge that makes one feel overwhelmed or frustrated. According to Huberty et al. (2019), college students have reported feeling overwhelmed due to the demands and stressors they encounter as they learn how to manage their finances, obtain autonomy from their families, make career choices, and balance extracurricular activities and an increased academic workload. Huberty et al. (2019) hold that anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts are the predictors of distress amid learners in college. Based on this survey, 60.8% of learners experienced overwhelming anxiety, and 38.2% reported being depressed, a condition that negatively impacted their functioning capability (Huberty et al., 2019). The research also claimed that 10.4% of undergraduates had suicidal ideation, which is among the leading causes of death among young adults and teenagers.

Mindfulness is described as a condition which involves paying attention to and being knowledgeable of the current occurrences with no judgments. There are two primary mindfulness-based interventions: mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) (Huberty et al., 2019). Mindfulness meditation, a constituent of MBCT and MBSR, effectively manages stress among college students (Huberty et al., 2019). However, the intervention is costly, rigorous, and time-consuming. In this study, the variables that were measured include the intervention and the control groups. In the intervention group, the efficacy of the mindfulness meditation intervention on college-going learners with high distress levels, the feasibility of delivering the program through the “Calm” mobile app, the sustained mindful meditation impacts on self-compassion, mindfulness, and distress, and the possible intervention’s effects on health deportments was evaluated. These variables were measured within twelve weeks of assessment. The effectiveness of the intervention was compared to a stress wait-list placebo category.

Findings

There were considerable variations in self-compassion, distress, and mindfulness between the intervention group and the control set; similar results were found for self-compassion and mindfulness. Across all outcomes, the effect sizes ranged from 0.50 (moderate) to 1.24 (large). There were substantial grouping and time interactions in sleep disturbance frameworks but no severe effects for other health behaviors (Huberty et al., 2019). Participants engaged in meditation for about thirty-eight minutes weekly during the treatment’s course and twenty minutes weekly during the scheduled follow-up sessions. Most learners in the intervention category reported the application’s effectiveness in minimizing their distress levels. Moreover, most of them were gratified with the mobile app and promised to endorse it to their schoolmates.

Conclusion

In summation, this survey demonstrated the mobile application’s effectiveness in minimizing distress and improving self-compassion and mindfulness in overwhelmed college students. Although there were no direct comparisons, it seems the efficacy degree of app-based mindfulness is congruent with that of in-person attendance; it can also be used continually by clients. However, there is constrained information regarding the palatability and effectiveness of delivering mindfulness meditation interventions through mobile applications. Therefore, more research should be conducted in the aforementioned area to establish the sustainability degree and efficacy in both long-term and short-term.

Reference

Huberty, J., Green, J., Glissman, C., Larkey, L., Puzia, M., & Lee, C. (2019). Efficacy of the mindfulness meditation mobile app “calm” to reduce stress among college students: Randomized controlled trial. JMIR MHealth UHealth, 7(6), 1-26. Web.

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Stress Reduction Among College Students

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