Objectives
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on health, economy, and social networks had an impact on the whole population’s mental health, including students. The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a brief online mindfulness- and compassion-based inter-care intervention for medical students.
Methods
A randomized controlled trial was conducted with medical students (n=360) from a Chilean university with no prior meditation experience. An online assessment of well-being, anxiety, and depression symptoms was completed at the beginning, 1 month, and 3 months later. A general intervention (GI) was offered to the whole group including academic flexibility, breaks, and individual psychological help. For specific intervention, enrolled participants (n=120) were randomly assigned to (1) mindfulness-based inter-care intervention (IBAP, n=60) or (2) psychoeducational intervention (PSE, n=60) as an active control. Both interventions lasted 1 hr per week along 4 weeks, with homework assignments. The non-randomized third group (n=240) received only the GI, as a treatment-as-usual control group (TAU-GI).
Results
At baseline, IBAP and PSE groups had higher scores in depression symptoms than TAU-GI. IBAP and TAU-GI showed a significant reduction in depression (F(2)=17.44, p<0.001) and anxiety symptoms (F(2)=18.06, p<0.001), but not for the PSE group at first and 3 months. Compared to TAU-GI, IBAP showed a substantial reduction in depression symptoms at first month (U=24.89, p<0.05). An analysis of secondary variables showed improvements in the factors of mental health continuum and common humanity on the Self-Compassion Scale.
Conclusions
Our findings suggest that brief online mindfulness- and compassion-based inter-care intervention, with academic flexibility and break, effectively promoted mental health among medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic.