Psychological Mediators of Reduced Distress: Preregistered Analyses from a Randomized Controlled Trial of a Smartphone-Based Well-Being Training.

ABSTRACT: Understanding why interventions work is essential to optimizing them. Although mechanistic theories of meditation-based interventions (MBIs) exist, empirical evidence is limited. We randomly assigned 662 adults (79.9% reported clinical levels of anxiety or depressive symptoms) to a four-week smartphone-based MBI or wait-list control condition early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychological distress and four theory driven preregistered psychological mediators of well-being (mindful action, loneliness, cognitive defusion and purpose) were assessed five times during the intervention period and at three-month follow-up. In preregistered analyses, assignment to the intervention predicted significant gains on all mediators which in turn significantly mediated follow-up distress (21.9%-62.5% of int

SUBMITTER: Hirshberg MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11877121 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature