Who fares best with mindfulness meditation - v2
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Who fares best with mindfulness meditation – understanding the individual effects of mindfulness
IRAS ID
313533
Contact name
Barney Dunn
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
KU Leuven
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Despite the beneficial effects of mindfulness on mental health and wellbeing, a recent meta-analysis shows that participants also experience negative effects in controlled, curricula-based mindfulness courses. For more generally available meditation practices, the risk of adverse events is even higher, with 33.2% of participants reporting adverse events in less controlled, observational studies. These findings suggest that mindfulness may not be efficacious for everyone, but may be harmful for some individuals, highlighting the need to study the personalised effects of mindfulness.
Therefore, we aim to investigate how individual characteristics influence the effects of mindfulness training on our mental health. For whom does mindfulness have which effects and why? That's what we want to find out. The study was set up by KU Leuven and the University of Exeter and is funded by the Research Foundation Flanders.
Adult who signed up for an 8-week mindfulness course at the AccEPT clinic will be recruited for participation. Before the start of the course, after half of the sessions, at post-course and at 3-months follow-up, they will complete self-report questionnaires. These questionnaires will assess symptoms of anxiety and depression, quality of life, and potential adverse effects resulting from the mindfulness course. A subset of participants will be invited for an interview after the course.
This study is part of a larger research project involving other sites in Belgium which will be analysed separately and ethical approval will be sought separately at ethics committees in Belgium. The main ethics committee is EC Research UZ/KU Leuven.
This project has important implications for research and clinical practice. The project will clarify for whom mindfulness may be beneficial and for whom it may be harmful. This is particularly relevant given the increasing popularity of mindfulness as a tool for treatment and prevention of mental health issues and the often unguided mindfulness practice lacking support of a trainer. Specifically, this project will result in a list of recommendations informing mindfulness trainers, practitioners, and researchers about the (contra-)indications of mindfulness.REC name
West Midlands - Black Country Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/WM/0237
Date of REC Opinion
16 Dec 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion