The effectiveness of self-help mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in a student sample: A randomised controlled trial.
Author: Lever Taylor B1, Strauss C2, Cavanagh K3, Jones F4.
Affiliation:
1School of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK. Electronic address: b.levertaylor@surrey.ac.uk. 2School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Falmer, UK; Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, UK. Electronic address: c.y.strauss@sussex.ac.uk. 3School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Falmer, UK. Electronic address: kate.cavanagh@sussex.ac.uk. 4Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, UK; Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, UK. Electronic address: fergal.jones@canterbury.ac.uk.
Conference/Journal: Behav Res Ther.
Date published: 2014 Sep 22
Other:
Volume ID: 63C , Pages: 63-69 , Special Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2014.09.007 , Word Count: 179
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) involves approximately twenty hours of therapist contact time and is not universally available. MBCT self-help (MBCT-SH) may widen access but little is known about its effectiveness. This paper presents a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of MBCT-SH for students. Eighty students were randomly assigned to an eight-week MBCT-SH condition or a wait-list control. ANOVAs showed significant group by time interactions in favour of MBCT-SH on measures of depression, anxiety, stress, satisfaction with life, mindfulness and self-compassion. Post-intervention between-group effect sizes ranged from Cohen's d = 0.22 to 1.07. Engagement with MBCT-SH was high: participants engaged in mindfulness practice a median of two to three times a week and 85% read at least half the intervention book. Only 5% of participants dropped out. This is the first published RCT of MBCT-SH and benefits were found relative to a control group. MBCT-SH has the potential to be a low-cost, readily available and highly acceptable intervention. Future research should include an active control condition and explore whether findings extend to clinical populations.
Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
KEYWORDS:
Bibliotherapy; MBCT; Mindfulness; Self-help; Students
PMID: 25302763
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