Mindful Student Study: An evaluation of the provision of mindfulness training to support university students' wellbeing and resilience to stress

INTERVENTION: The delivery of a mindfulness course called “Mindfulness Skills for Students”, a secular, manualised, group‐based skills training programme based on the course book Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Finding Peace in a Frantic World, by Mark Williams and Danny Penman, and adapted for university students. The course is free but students need to buy the course book. Seven courses are offered to students each term, two terms a year (Michaelmas, which runs from October to December, and Lent, which runs from January to March). Courses are not offered during the exam period (Easter term, which runs from April to June). The following process measures will assess how the course is being delivered: (a) Registering attendance to mindfulness courses and asking why sessions were missed; (b) Asking students about their compliance with their mindfulness homework. CONDITION: Academic performance Psychological distress Use of mental health services Wellbeing PRIMARY OUTCOME: Psychological distress with CORE‐OM SECONDARY OUTCOME: Exam grades (data linkage) Helping behaviour (donations) Interference with academic life: special circumstances requests for exams, intermissions and degrading (data linkage) Mental health services use during exam period (single question) Perceived impact of students' problems on their academic performance (bespoke questionnaire) Physical activity and sleep patterns (sensor‐assisted data collection) Stress and coping level (ecological momentary assessment) Use of the University Counselling Service (data linkage) Wellbeing with Warwick‐Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale INCLUSION CRITERIA: (a) Undergraduate and graduate University of Cambridge students; (b) Who consider they can realistically attend at least seven sessions of the course (courses timetables will be available for potential participants to assess availability). The sessions last for 90 minutes for the first session, and 75 minutes for the remaining sessions. There are eight weekly sessions. The sessions are run by Dr Elizabeth English, a certified Mindfulness trainer with over 30 years’ experience of practising and teaching meditation. The sessions include two mindfulness meditations, the first embedding the meditation that the students have practised at home throughout the week; the second, introducing them to the new meditation that they will practice at home in the coming week. There are also periods of reflection and inquiry, helping the students to understand the nature of mindfulness, to deepen their learning and embed it into their everyday lives. A few simple models are used and developed throughout the course, to give the students some theoretical understanding of the points developed experientially. Each session also includes interactive exercises, so that the students share their experience and get to know each other throughout the course, building a sense of safety and community. Before and after each class, students receive an email from their Mindfulness teacher. This reminds them of the themes covered in the previous class, and lets them know the topics coming up in the next class. These emails also include handy tips, poems and video clips. There is also a course handout available in hard copy at each class, which describes the home practice for the coming week (this handout is also available as a download in the post class email, and the home practice is also described in the course book.) The home practice time varies through the course, starting at eight minutes, and increasing to about 15‐25 minutes per week, plus ongoing reflection through the day. More practice is possible for those who want it, and students are encouraged not to miss a day, and therefore to consider doing less on days when they are very busy, rather than missing the practice altogether. The home practice includes meditations from the CD by Mark Williams, as described in the course book above. Other mindfulness practices are recommended by the authors of the course book, such as a mindful walk, mindful eating, habit breakers, and so on.