Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Management in The Mental Health of Iranian University Students: A Comparison of Blended Therapy, Face-to-Face Sessions, and mHealth App (Aramgar)

Abstract

Background: Stress is an important part of a college student's life. Psycho-technology has greatly helped students cope more effectively with stress. Objectives:The aim of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of three methods of intervention for stress management in students based on mindfulness-based stress reduction, including blended therapy, smartphone mobile application, and face-toface therapy. Methods: A quasi-experimental study was designed with pretests, posttests, and follow-ups for a month on randomly selected students. The first group was treated by the Aramgar application only, the second group by both the face-to-face therapy and Aramgar application, and the third group by the face-to-face therapy only. The DASS-21 was utilized for both pretest and posttest administration. The ANOVA and post hoc tests were applied to analyze the data. Results:The mean age of the participants was 24.29 ± 3.21 years. There was a significant difference in the mean score reduction of depression, stress, and anxiety between the three groups (P < 0.001). The post hoc test showed that the blended therapy group had the greatest mean score reduction on stress, depression, and anxiety among the three groups. Conclusions:The blended approach could improve the mental health of students more than the two other approaches. Therefore, the use of mobile platforms of new technologies is highly suggested along with face-to-face interventions in clinics to support people within their daily routine.

Effectiveness of Mobile App-Based Psychological Interventions for College Students: A Systematic Review of the Literature

“…Tables 2 , 3 resumes the methodological characteristics of the included studies. Eleven studies are randomized controlled trials (RCT) (Witkiewitz et al, 2014 ; Gajecki et al, 2017 ; Harrer et al, 2018 ; Lee and Jung, 2018 ; Fish and Saul, 2019 ; Huberty et al, 2019 ; Bruehlman-Senecal et al, 2020 ; Flett et al, 2020 ; McCloud et al, 2020 ; Newman et al, 2020 ; Ponzo et al, 2020 ) and two studies are considered quasi-experimental trials (Benton et al, 2016 ; Borjalilu et al, 2019 ). Four studies considered a single-arm pre-test-post-test study design (Jackson et al, 2016 ; Leonard et al, 2017 ; Haeger et al, 2020 ; Lattie et al, 2020 ; Reyes et al, 2020 ) and one study included two groups through an iterative process (Kazemi et al, 2018 ).…”

“…The studies by Benton et al ( 2016 ) and Borjalilu et al ( 2019 ) were considered as quasi-experimental studies. The first study included a large sample size ( n = 1,241) with overall duration of the intervention of 7 weeks.…”

“…This study presented many missing data and the linear mixed-effects models was utilized to estimate parameters for missing values. As for Borjalilu et al ( 2019 ), they conducted a study with three conditions and 68 college students, who were randomly assigned into the three groups, but no further detailed information was given about the randomization process. There were pre- a post-assessments and follow up was complete.…”

“…Appropriate trial design, and any deviates from the standard RCT accounted for in the conduct and analysis of the trial 11/11 2016; Borjalilu et al, 2019). Four studies considered a singlearm pre-test-post-test study design (Jackson et al, 2016;Leonard et al, 2017;Haeger et al, 2020;Lattie et al, 2020;Reyes et al, 2020) and one study included two groups through an iterative process (Kazemi et al, 2018).…”

Mobile Apps That Promote Emotion Regulation, Positive Mental Health, and Well-being in the General Population: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

“…A randomized study design was used to examine the effectiveness, acceptability or feasibility of 18 apps targeting mental health outcomes (e.g. anxiety, depression and stress) across 10 articles [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15].…”