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Mindfulness interventions delivered by technology without facilitator involvement : what research exists and what are the clinical outcomes?

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Fish2016_Article_MindfulnessInterventionsDelive.pdf (435.8Kb)
Date
10/2016
Author
Fish, James
Brimson, James
Lynch, Siobhan
Keywords
Clinical
Facilitator
MBCT
MBSR
Meditation
Mindfulness
Online
Systematic review
Technological platform
Technology
Web-based
BF Psychology
RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
T Technology
Applied Psychology
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Social Psychology
Health(social science)
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Abstract
New cost-effective psychological interventions are needed to contribute to treatment options for psychiatric and physical health conditions. This systematic review aims to investigate the current literature on one potentially cost-effective form of mindfulness-based therapy, those delivered through technological platforms without any mindfulness facilitator input beyond the initial design of the programme. Three electronic databases (Ovid Medline, PsychINFO and Embase) were searched for relevant keywords, titles, medical subject headings (MeSH) and abstracts using search terms derived from a combination of two subjects: ‘mindfulness’ and ‘technology’. Overall, ten studies were identified. The majority of studies were web-based and similar in structure and content to face-to-face mindfulness-based stress reduction courses. Clinical outcomes of stress (n = 5), depression (n = 6) and anxiety (n = 4) were reported along with mindfulness (n = 4), the supposed mediator of effects. All eight studies that measured significance found at least some significant effects (p <.05). The highest reported effect sizes were large (stress d = 1.57, depression d =.95, both ps >.005). However, methodological issues (e.g. selection bias, lack of control group and follow-up) which reflect the early nature of the work mean these largest effects are likely to be representative of maximal rather than average effects. Whilst there are important differences in the construction, length and delivery of interventions, it is difficult to draw firm conclusions about the most effective models. Suggestions of key characteristics are made though, needing further investigation preferably in standardised interventions. Given the existing research and the speed at which technology is making new platforms and tools available, it seems important that further research explores two parallel lines: first, refinement and thorough evaluation of already established technology-based mindfulness programmes and second, exploration of novel approaches to mindfulness training that combine the latest technological advances with the knowledge and skills of experienced meditation teachers.
Citation
Fish , J , Brimson , J & Lynch , S 2016 , ' Mindfulness interventions delivered by technology without facilitator involvement : what research exists and what are the clinical outcomes? ' , Mindfulness , vol. 7 , no. 5 , pp. 1011-1023 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-016-0548-2
Publication
Mindfulness
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-016-0548-2
ISSN
1868-8527
Type
Journal item
Rights
Copyright © 2016 the Author(s). This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
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  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/20496

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