Impact Of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Intervention On Psychological Distress Among Youth

Abstract

The purpose of the current study is to determine the impact of Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction Intervention on psychological distress among youth. The research design was a pre-post randomized control design. For this purpose, participants (age range:15-24years) were randomly assigned to control (n=60) and intervention groups (n=60) after a baseline assessment of psychological distress. MBSR was practiced by participants for 8 weeks in the intervention group with no intervention given to the control group (waitlist). At the end of the intervention, participants in both groups were assessed (post-intervention). Furthermore, the intervention group was assessed after 3 months (follow-up). Analysis of the data using repeated measure ANOVA revealed that participants scored higher at pre-intervention as compared to post-intervention and follow-up (p<.001). In addition, it was found that participants in the control group were significantly higher in psychological distress as compared to the intervention group (p<.05). These findings concluded that MBSR is an effective intervention to reduce psychological distress among youth which implies that higher education institutions should introduce such kind of interventions to help students deal with the ongoing stressors of their lives.