Background As the need for effective scalable interventions for mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, and stress has grown, the digital delivery of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) has gained interest as a promising intervention in this domain. Objective This study aims to evaluate the changes in perceived stress following a 10-week digital MBSR program that combined an app-based digital program with weekly one-on-one remote sessions with a health coach. Methods This study used a retrospective, observational design. A total of 229 participants with moderate-to-high perceived stress scores as assessed by the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)-10 enrolled in the 10-week Vida Health MBSR program. The program included weekly remote sessions with a certified health coach and digital content based on concepts fundamental to mindfulness practice. The PSS-10 was used to evaluate perceived stress. Of the 229 participants, 131 (57.2%) were considered program completers and provided at least one follow-up PSS-10. A secondary analysis examined the changes in stress scores at 6 months. This analysis was restricted to participants who had been enrolled in the program for at least 6 months (n=121). To account for random and fixed effects, linear mixed effects modeling was used to assess changes in stress scores over time. An intention-to-treat approach was used to evaluate the changes in perceived stress across the entire study cohort, including those who were lost to follow-up. In addition, a reliable change index was computed to evaluate the changes in scores from the baseline. Results The findings revealed a significant positive association between program time and stress reduction (B=−0.365; P<.001) at 12 weeks. We observed an average reduction in stress scores of 3.17 points (95% CI −3.93 to −2.44) by program week 6 and 4.86 points (95% CI −5.86 to −3.85) by program week 12. Overall, 83.2% (109/131) of participants showed a reduction in stress scores by week 12, with 40.5% (53/131) of participants showing reliable improvement at 12 weeks and 47.8% (56/131) of participants showing a shift to a lower stress level category (ie, moderate-to-low stress). The intention-to-treat analysis revealed a significant, although attenuated, reduction in stress scores at 12 weeks (B=−0.23; P<.001). Participants who completed more lessons had an increased likelihood of moving down at least one stress level category (odds ratio 1.512, 95% CI 1.056 to 2.166; P=.02). In assessing medium-term outcomes, among participants who had completed at least 6 months in the program, 48.8% (59/121) of members provided a 6-month assessment. We observed a significant reduction in stress scores at 6 months (t58=10.24; P<.001), with 61% (36/59) of participants showing reliable improvement. Conclusions The findings of this retrospective, observational study suggest that a blended, digital mindfulness-based intervention may support program uptake and meaningful, sustained reduction in stress outcomes.
BACKGROUND As the need for effective, scalable interventions for mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety and stress has grown, the digital delivery of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) has gained research interest as a promising intervention in this domain. OBJECTIVE In the present study, we evaluate changes in perceived stress following a 10-week digital mindfulness-based stress reduction program that combined an app-based digital program with weekly one-on-one remote sessions with a health coach. METHODS The study utilized a retrospective, observational design. 229 participants with moderate to high perceived stress score as assessed by the PSS-10 enrolled in the 10-week Vida Health mindfulness-based stress reduction program. The program included weekly remote sessions with a certified health coach and digital content based on core concepts fundamental to mindfulness practice. The clinically validated Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) was used to evaluate perceived stress. Of the 229 participants, 131 (57.2%) were considered program completers and provided at least one follow-up PSS-10. A secondary analysis examined changes in stress scores at 6 months. This analysis was restricted to participants who had been enrolled in the program for at least 6 months (N = 121). To account for random and fixed effects, linear mixed effects modeling (MLM) was employed to assess changes in stress scores over time. Additionally, the reliable change index was computed to evaluate changes in stress scores from baseline. RESULTS The results revealed a significant positive association of program time on stress reduction (B = -0.365, P = .000) at 12 weeks. We observed an average reduction in stress scores of 3.17 points (95% CI -3.93 to -2.44) by program week 6 and 4.86 points (95% CI -5.86 to -3.85) by program week 12. Overall, 83.2% (109/131) of participants showed a reduction in perceived stress scores by week 12 with 40.46% (53/131) of participants showing reliable improvement in 12 weeks and 47.75% (56/131) participants showing a shift to a lower stress level category (i.e., moderate to low stress). Participants who completed more lessons had an increased likelihood of moving down at least one stress-level category (OR = 1.512, 95% CI 1.056 to 2.166, P = .024). In assessing medium-term stress outcomes, among participants who had completed at least 6 months since starting the program, 59 (48.76%) members provided a 6-month assessment. We observed a significant reduction in stress scores at 6 months, t(58) = 10.24, P =.000, with 61.01% of participants (36/59) showing a reliable improvement. CONCLUSIONS The findings in this retrospective, observational study suggest that a blended digital mindfulness-based intervention may support program uptake and meaningful, sustained reduction in stress outcomes.
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