Study suggests apps may improve wellbeing
CELLPHONES are often ‘‘scorned as devices of distraction’’, but a University of Otago study has found they can also support mindfulness apps and improve mental health.
‘‘I feel really positive about it,’’ study lead author Jayde Flett said of the research.
The apps represented ‘‘a promising opportunity for improving mental health’’ given the limited time needed for trial participants to use the apps, and their availability, and accessibility.
‘‘One of the benefits is that [users] can pick it up or put it down when they want,’’ she said.
The study involved 208 Otago undergraduate students aged 1849 who were randomly assigned to use one of three apps: Headspace, Smiling Note, or Evernote, the latter a nonmindfulness control group.
The mindfulness meditation apps provided new opportunities to practice mindfulness, which was associated with many mental health benefits when practised facetoface.
The two groups who used the mindfulness apps reported at the end of the trial that their anxiety levels had fallen by 14% and 17%.
Mobile phones were often criticised as distracting, but, ‘‘paradoxically, they may serve as a good platform to practise being in the moment and being mindful’’, given their wide use, she said.
Ms Flett is a PhD candidate at Otago’s department of psychology and department of psychological medicine.
The study, ‘‘Mobile Mindfulness Meditation’’, was published in the journal Mindfulness.
People concerned about their mental health should seek advice from their doctor, and the apps should not replace traditional facetoface mindfulness programmes, she emphasised.
Study participants were asked to use the app for ten minutes a day for the first 10 days of the 40 day trial, and to use the app as desired over the next 30 days.