Background The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted psychological health. Mindfulness training, which helps individuals attend to the present moment with a nonjudgmental attitude, improves sleep and reduces stress during regular times. Mindfulness training may also be relevant to the mitigation of harmful health consequences during acute crises. However, certain restrictions may necessitate the web-based delivery of mindfulness training (ie, rather than in-person group training settings). Objective The objective of our study was to examine the effects of mindfulness interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic and to evaluate the effectiveness of web-based interventions. Methods Data from an ongoing study were used for this retrospective equivalence analysis. Recruited participants were enrollees from mindfulness courses at a local charity organization that promoted mental wellness. This study had no exclusion criteria. We created three groups; two groups received their training during the COVID-19 pandemic (in-person training group: n=36; videoconferencing group: n=38), and a second control group included participants who were trained before the pandemic (n=86). Our primary outcomes were self-reported stress and sleep quality. Baseline levels and changes in these variables due to mindfulness training were compared among the groups via an analysis of covariance test and two one-tailed t tests. Results Baseline perceived stress (P=.50) and sleep quality (P=.22) did not differ significantly among the three groups. Mindfulness training significantly reduced stress in all three groups (P<.001), and this effect was statistically significant when comparing videoconferencing to in-person training (P=.002). Sleep quality improved significantly in the prepandemic training group (P<.001). However, sleep quality did not improve in the groups that received training during the pandemic. Participants reported that they required shorter times to initiate sleep following prepandemic mindfulness training (P<.001), but this was not true for those who received training during the pandemic. Course attendance was high and equivalent across the videoconferencing and comparison groups (P=.02), and participants in the videoconferencing group engaged in marginally more daily practice than the in-person training group. Conclusions Web-based mindfulness training via videoconferencing may be a useful intervention for reducing stress during times when traditional, in-person training is not feasible. However, it may not be useful for improving sleep quality.

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Objectives Mindfulness-based training has shown potential in reducing anxious and ruminative thoughts before sleep, and improving sleep quality. A majority of experiments on this topic have studied Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, or related 8-week programs. In this study, we measured the effects of a 4-week Mindfulness Foundation course on sleep quality assessed via subjective report and actigraphic recording. Methods Ninety-six participants were recruited from a pool of Mindfulness Foundation course attendees and studied in a waitlist-control design. Results Although sleep complaints were not an inclusion criterion for this study, sleep quality was poor in the sample as a whole at baseline. We found that sleep quality improved in both groups across the study period (η p 2 = 0.22), with no statistical difference between groups. In contrast, pre-sleep cognitive arousal was significantly reduced in the treatment, but not the waitlist group (η p 2 = 0.058). Exploratory analysis revealed that reductions in cognitive arousal were correlated with improvements in sleep quality in the treatment group, but not the waitlist group. In the actigraphy data, a small but statistically significant interaction favoring the treatment group was found in the amount of time spent awake during the night (i.e., wake after sleep onset) (η p 2 = 0.070). Conclusions Overall, our data demonstrate that some of the benefits to sleep commonly seen over 8 weeks of mindfulness practice can also be observed over a shorter intervention period, and add to the growing body of evidence that mindfulness can help those with poor sleep quality.

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on psychological health. Mindfulness training, which helps individuals attend to the present moment with a non-judgmental attitude, improves sleep and reduces stress in regular times, and may be relevant in mitigating harmful health consequences during acute crises. However, restrictions may necessitate this training being delivered online, rather than in in-person group settings. OBJECTIVE The objective of our study was to establish equivalence of mindfulness interventions delivered via videoconferencing during the COVID-19 pandemic with similar programs delivered in person. METHODS Data from an ongoing study were used for this retrospective equivalence trial. Participants were recruited (with no exclusion criteria) from enrollees in mindfulness courses at a local charity organization promoting mental wellness. Three groups were created, two that received their training during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic (in-person (N = 36) and videoconferencing (N = 38)), and a second control group of participants tested before the pandemic (N = 86). Primary outcomes were self-reported stress and sleep quality. Baseline levels, and changes in these variables due to mindfulness training were compared among the groups using analysis of covariance and two one-sided t-tests. RESULTS Perceived stress and sleep quality did not differ significantly between groups at baseline. Mindfulness training significantly reduced stress in all three groups, and this effect was statistically equivalent for videoconferencing compared to in-person training. Sleep quality improved significantly in the pre-pandemic group, but in neither of the groups during the pandemic. Participants reported shorter times to initiate sleep following mindfulness training pre-pandemic, but not during the pandemic. Course attendance was high and equivalent across the online and comparison groups, and participants engaged in marginally more daily practice in the online condition. CONCLUSIONS Online mindfulness training via videoconferencing may be a useful intervention for stress reduction but not sleep improvement during times when traditional in-person training is not feasible. CLINICALTRIAL The aims for this study were retrospectively registered as part of an ongoing protocol at ClinicalTrials.gov with registration number NCT04417153