(PS7-A9) Assessing the Effectiveness and Utility of a Mindfulness-based Ecological Momentary Intervention

Mental health problems are common in college students (Auerbach et al., 2016, 2018; Blanco et al., 2008) and yield poor outcomes, such as worse academic performance (Olmstead et al., 2016) and limited social support (Alsubaie et al., 2019). Barriers such as stigma and lack of resources also prevent some students from seeking treatment (Ennis et al., 2019; Kuhlman et al., 2019; Tang et al., 2014; Xiao et al., 2017). College students prefer web-based to in-person services (Levin et al., 2018), and thus, mobile health interventions may be a viable and accessible option to increase treatment engagement and disseminate evidence-based psychotherapies (EBPs). Ecological Momentary Interventions (EMI) incorporate technology to administer interventions and are both widely applied for heterogeneous psychological problems and effective (Dvorakova et al., 2017; Heron & Smyth, 2010; Versluis et al., 2016). Mindfulness-based interventions are one EBP that can ameliorate numerous psychological difficulties and promote psychological well-being in college students (Bamber & Morpeth, 2019; Taylor et al., 2014). Therefore, the current study examined the effectiveness and perceived utility of an EMI intervention incorporating mindfulness-based text messages, including psychoeducation of emotions and mindfulness and active mindfulness exercises (e.g., body scans). Participants were 161 undergraduate students (70.19% female; 80.75% White) randomized to either the mindfulness-based EMI or mood monitoring condition (i.e., Ecological Momentary Assessment [EMA]) for 21 days (2812 total daily surveys). Contrary to expectations, students receiving mindfulness-based text messages did not report greater reductions in negative affect or emotion dysregulation or greater increases in positive affect and mindfulness relative to those in the EMA condition. However, higher engagement in the mindfulness activities was related to higher levels of positive affect. Participants found the mindfulness messages useful and helpful for building emotional awareness on average, but those who did not derive awareness from the intervention had higher emotion dysregulation throughout the study. This lack of awareness was also related to decreased usage of messages and a lower likelihood of recommending skills to a friend, whereas those reporting increased usage of the mindfulness messages were more likely to recommend mindfulness skills. Results have important implications for future longitudinal research and designing and disseminating EMIs, particularly within the context of creating more idiographic evidence-based interventions incorporating participant preferences and various evidence-based procedures.