The uptake and outcomes of an online self-help mindfulness programme during COVID-19

ABSTRACT

Objectives

The COVID-19 pandemic has had negative mental health impacts. Online psychological interventions can facilitate rapid access to mental health resources. This study examined the outcomes of a 4-lesson, self-help online mindfulness course during the early months of the pandemic in Australia.

Methods

5058 adults commenced the Introduction to Mindfulness course and completed measures of psychological distress (Kessler-10) and wellbeing (Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale). 3696 individuals commenced their course between 2016 and 2019 (“pre-COVID” group), while 1362 started their course between 12 March 2020 and 31 July 2020 (“during-COVID” group).

Results

Participants in the during-COVID-pandemic group reported slightly lower levels of psychological distress and higher levels of wellbeing compared to the pre-COVID group. In both groups, the mindfulness course was associated with medium effect size reductions in psychological distress (g = .49-.55) and small effect size improvements in wellbeing (g = .27-.41).

Conclusions

The mindfulness course was associated with reduced psychological distress before and during the pandemic. Results underscore the generalisability of online mindfulness interventions to pandemic situations.

KEY POINTS

What is already known about this topic:

1. The mental health impacts associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have been substantial.

2. Mental health service provision has adapted to meet community health needs in the wake of the pandemic.

3. It is unclear if the effectiveness of online mental health interventions will generalise to pandemic conditions.

What this paper adds:

1. The outcomes of an online mindfulness course were explored.

2. The course was associated with improved psychological distress and wellbeing both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.

3. Results highlight the utility of digital mental health services during COVID-19.

KEYWORDS:

• Online mindfulness
• self-help
• distress
• wellbeing
• internet intervention
• outcomes
• pandemic

Contributors

IL, AC and AM analysed the data and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. JN, NK, HH and MM contributed to the design of the study, supported data collection and collation, and revised the draft manuscripts. All authors contributed to and approved the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, AM. The data are not publicly available due to ethical/privacy restrictions.

Notes

^1. The 29 September 2016 was when the course was made available to the Australian public. As users could access the course for 90 days, the end date of 26^th of November 2019 ensures that the pre-COVID-pandemic user group was a separate set of users to the during-COVID-pandemic group.

^2. In April 2020, THIS WAY UP was featured in three media promotions.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.