Mindfulness Meditation Training and Graduate Student Wellness

Background/Purpose:  Mindfulness meditation is characterized by the cultivation of acceptance and non-judgmental attention to the present moment, and it has been found to alleviate symptoms for a wide variety of conditions, bringing cost-effective improvements in both physical health and psychological wellbeing. The purpose of this study to offer an 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction training to a sample of graduate students, in order to reduce perceived stress, improve coping skills, and reduce physical illness symptoms.

Methods:29 graduate students were assigned to the meditation group (n=15) or the control group (n-14).The meditation group participated in weekly hour-long mindfulness meditation sessions over 8 weeks. All subjects completed the Perceived Stress Scale, the Brief COPE, and the Symptoms of Illness Checklist before and after the eight-week period.

Findings: The meditation group showed significantly reduced stress scores (change from pre to post) as compared to the control group (t=2.29, p=0.03). In addition, the meditation group showed changes in coping such that their religious/spiritual coping scores increased and self-blaming coping scores decreased as compared to controls (t=-3.35, p=0.0025; t=2.35, p=0.027). Although not statistically significant, illness symptoms decreased among meditation students and increased among controls  (t=1.73, p=0.09).

Implications: Eight weeks of mindfulness meditation has the capacity to reduce stress and improve certain coping skills among graduate students. Further study is needed to determine the effects of mindfulness meditation training on symptoms of illness.