Advisor Information
Dr. Lisa Scherer
Location
UNO Criss Library, Room 225
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Start Date
2-3-2018 9:30 AM
End Date
2-3-2018 9:45 AM
Abstract
College students are stressed out! Majority of students tend to use maladaptive mechanisms to cope with stress, which can potentially impact their academics and career planning. This study focused on the potential benefits of two mainstream Mindfulness Training interventions in reducing stress for college students. Specifically, Mindful Meditation and Mindful Gratitude Journaling were implemented into two separate conditions, in which data was collected from 30 Organizational Psychology students online who were randomly assigned to each condition. Students were required to answer a series of questionnaires at times one (pre-test) and times two (post-test) that measured demographics, levels of stress, and stress overall. Participants in each mindful condition were given a power point link used to guide them in meditating for five minutes. After students were done meditating, participants in the Mindful Meditation condition were asked to write down three things they observed versus the Mindful Gratitude Journaling group, who wrote down three things they were grateful for. One-Way-Analysis-of-Variance was used to test the hypothesis of a possible interaction between time and intervention, such that both interventions would show an effect in reducing stress. However, the Mindful Meditation group would have a stronger effect in reducing stress than Mindful Gratitude Journaling. We then hypothesized that there would be a main effect of time regardless of mindfulness condition. Results rejected the hypotheses, showing little to no significance of all predictions. Although results showed no significant effects, future directions for research include collecting more data from diverse students and implementing face-to-face interventions.
Effect of Mindful Meditation and Gratitude Journaling on College Student Stress and Well-being Overtime
UNO Criss Library, Room 225
College students are stressed out! Majority of students tend to use maladaptive mechanisms to cope with stress, which can potentially impact their academics and career planning. This study focused on the potential benefits of two mainstream Mindfulness Training interventions in reducing stress for college students. Specifically, Mindful Meditation and Mindful Gratitude Journaling were implemented into two separate conditions, in which data was collected from 30 Organizational Psychology students online who were randomly assigned to each condition. Students were required to answer a series of questionnaires at times one (pre-test) and times two (post-test) that measured demographics, levels of stress, and stress overall. Participants in each mindful condition were given a power point link used to guide them in meditating for five minutes. After students were done meditating, participants in the Mindful Meditation condition were asked to write down three things they observed versus the Mindful Gratitude Journaling group, who wrote down three things they were grateful for. One-Way-Analysis-of-Variance was used to test the hypothesis of a possible interaction between time and intervention, such that both interventions would show an effect in reducing stress. However, the Mindful Meditation group would have a stronger effect in reducing stress than Mindful Gratitude Journaling. We then hypothesized that there would be a main effect of time regardless of mindfulness condition. Results rejected the hypotheses, showing little to no significance of all predictions. Although results showed no significant effects, future directions for research include collecting more data from diverse students and implementing face-to-face interventions.