Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Date Submitted: May 8, 2021
Date Accepted: Dec 20, 2021
Effects of a mindfulness app on employee stress: results of a randomised controlled trial in an Australian public sector workforce
ABSTRACT
Background:
Workplace-based mindfulness programs (WMPs) have good evidence for improving employee stress and mental health outcomes, although less is known about effects on employee productivity and citizenship behaviours. Most of the supporting evidence for WMPs is derived from randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of programs that use in-person or online class-based approaches. Mindfulness apps have potential to increase access to training for distributed workforces, but little is known about whether self-directed app use is sufficient to realise benefits equivalent to WMPs that include classes.
Objective:
This study primarily aimed to assess the effectiveness of a mindfulness app, both with and without supporting classes, for reducing employees’ perceived stress. Changes in participants’ mindfulness, mental health, quality of life, perceptions of job demand, control and support, productivity indicators, and observer-reported changes in citizenship and mindful behaviours at work were also investigated.
Methods:
A three-arm randomised controlled trial was conducted in an Australian public sector workforce. The app used in the Smiling Mind Workplace Program (SMWP) formed the basis of the intervention. The app has 43 elements, including lessons, activities and guided meditations, and is supported by four instructional emails delivered over eight weeks. Usage guides recommend 10-20 minutes engagement with the app, five days a week. Reported data were collected using online surveys at baseline (T0), three-months from baseline (T1), then at six-months follow-up (T2). At T0 respondents could nominate a work-based observer to answer some questions about the participant’s behaviours. Eligible participants (n=211) were randomly assigned to self-guided app use plus four one-hour classes (App+), self-guided app use (App-only), or wait-list control (WLC). Linear mixed effects models were used to assess changes in the two active groups compared with the WLC at T1, and for head-to-head comparison of the App+ and App-only groups at follow-up.
Results:
App engagement by the App+ group (35%) and App-only group (13%) was considerably lower than the recommended dose. Compared with the WLC at T1, no significant change in perceived stress was observed in either active group. However, the App+ group, but not the App-only group, reported lower psychological distress (= -1.77, SE=0.75, P=.02, d=0. -21) and higher mindfulness (=0.31, SE=0.12, P=.01, d=0.19). These beneficial effects were retained in the App+ group at six-months. No significant changes were observed in the other study outcomes. Compared with the WLC at T1, observers reported no significant changes in either active group, however, at T2 the App+ participants were more noticeably mindful and altruistic at work than App-only participants.
Conclusions:
Including classes in the training protocol appears to have motivated engagement and led to benefits, while self-guided app-use did not realise any significant results. Effect sizes were smaller and less consistent than meta-analytic estimates for class-based mindfulness training. Clinical Trial: ANZCTR Ref: 12617001386325
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.