Mind, Body, and Well-being in Young Men and Women: Exploring the Efficacy of a Brief Meditation Intervention

INTERVENTION: Summary: This study involves a 3‐week intervention period during which participants will listen to audio recordings of brief self‐compassion meditations each day. Pre‐ and post‐intervention measures of body dissatisfaction, body appreciation, and psychological wellbeing will be administered via an online survey, and these measures will be administered again 6 weeks after the intervention. The purpose of the study is to investigate whether regular listening to self‐compassion meditations decreases body dissatisfaction, increases body appreciation, and improves psychological wellbeing. Brief name: Self‐compassion meditation Materials: All audio recordings of the self‐compassion meditations are freely available at www.self‐compassion.org. The specific meditations are: Week 1, Compassionate Body Scan (24 minutes); Week 2, Affectionate Breathing (21 minutes); Week 3: Loving Kindness (20 minutes). Procedures: Participants randomly allocated to the intervention group following the pre‐intervention online survey will be given a commencement date for the intervention period. They will be provided the links to the relevant meditations via email and text reminders each day during the intervention period, and will be asked to listen to the relevant meditation each day. Who: The research team will send the email and text reminders. The meditation recordings were made by Dr Kristen Neff, a leading expert in self‐compassion. It will be up to participants to access and listen to these recordings. Mode of delivery: Participants will access the recordings online. Duration and intensity: Participants will listen to the relevant meditation recordings (approximately 20 minutes) once a day for three weeks. Location: All participants will complete online surveys an CONDITION: Body dissatisfaction;Psychological wellbeing; ; Body dissatisfaction ; Psychological wellbeing Mental Health ‐ Other mental health disorders PRIMARY OUTCOME: Change in body appreciation scores as determined by the Body Appreciation‐2 Scale (BAS‐2; Tylka & Wood‐Barcalow, 2015) [(1) Baseline, (2) 3 weeks post‐intervention commencement (primary endpoint), (3) 6 weeks post‐intervention completion (i.e., 9 weeks following intervention commencement).] Changes in body dissatisfaction levels as determined by the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ; Cooper et al. 1987).[(1) Baseline, (2) 3 weeks post‐intervention commencement (primary endpoint), (3) 6 weeks post‐intervention completion (i.e., 9 weeks following intervention commencement).] SECONDARY OUTCOME: Changes in psychological wellbeing as determined by the Warwick‐Edinburgh Mental Well‐Being Scale (WEMWBS; Tennant et al., 2007) [(1) Baseline, (2) 3 weeks post‐intervention commencement, (3) 6 weeks post‐intervention completion (i.e., 9 weeks following intervention commencement).] Changes in self‐compassion levels as determined by the Self‐Compassion Scale (SCS; Neff, 2003).[(1) Baseline, (2) 3 weeks post‐intervention commencement, (3) 6 weeks post‐intervention completion (i.e., 9 weeks following intervention commencement).] INCLUSION CRITERIA: Participants will be young adults in the Australian general population