Effects of a brief mindfulness induction on psychological outcomes : a dose-response investigation

Abstract

Mindfulness is a form of mental training that affects cognitive processes and its popularity is increasing in sports psychological training approaches. However, few interventions studies have examined the effects of a brief single-session of mindfulness on psychological performance. This study examined the effects of a brief mindfulness induction on psychological outcomes namely, state anxiety and state flow. 40 university students were recruited. They were randomly assigned to one of the 2 groups: a group consisting of 5 minutes mindfulness induction (n=20) or 10 minutes mindfulness induction intervention (n=20). Results of their psychological states were compared using independent samples t-tests. No significant differences were observed for state anxiety (p=0.09, d=0.55) and state flow (p=0.18, d=0.44). Significant difference was found in relaxation scores between the 2 groups (p=0.01). The findings suggest that a brief 10 minutes of mindfulness may be more effective than 5 minutes of mindfulness in reducing state anxiety, which may enhance performance. Further studies may expand on this current study by incorporating both subjective and objective measures to increase the reliability of the findings.