Study Status
Ongoing
Project Team
Principal Investigator(s): Sona Dimidjian, PhD
Research Team: Caitlin McKimmy, MTS, MA; Winnie Zhuang, PhD; Sofia Barnes-Horowitz; Kourtney Kelly; Cody Moxam
Alignment with Crown Institute Vision
Mindfulness programs designed with and for undergraduate students can be powerful tools for building resilience, connection, and mental health. When rooted in compassion and adapted to real campus life, these programs can help students not only cope with stress but also flourish academically, socially, and emotionally.
Background & Context
College students experience significant mental health concerns, with more than 60% meeting criteria for at least one mental health condition in 2020 — a significant increase from prior years (Lipson et al., 2022). At the same time, many campus counseling centers are overburdened, often lacking the capacity to meet rising student needs (LeViness et al., 2019). There is an important opportunity for mindfulness and compassion practice to support student mental health and wellness and address gaps in existing campus resources. Additionally, programs that are developed with meaningful input from the students they aim to serve offer the possibility of being relevant and accessible.
Primary Aims
We used a longitudinal, open trial design across three time points to address key aims such as: To what extent is the Mindful Campus Program associated with participant engagement and satisfaction, and with improvements in mindfulness, compassion, and wellness outcomes. Additionally, we explore to what extent does attendance in the Mindful Campus Program moderate changes in mindfulness, compassion, and wellness outcomes.
Research Methods
Participants were undergraduate students who enrolled in the Mindful Campus Program (MCP) from 2021 to 2022. MCP is an 8-session mindfulness and compassion program for undergraduates that promotes individual and collective well-being through experiential learning. Participants who consented to study procedures completed baseline (T1) surveys before participating in MCP, self-report surveys after their participation in MCP (T2), and a final set of surveys approximately three months following their completion of MCP (T3). Surveys measured program engagement and satisfaction, mindfulness, compassion, mental health and wellness, and qualitative feedback at each time point.
Key Findings & Publications /
Presentations
McKimmy, C., Zuang, W., Kelley, K., Barnes-Horowitz, S., Dimidjian, S. (in preparation). Associations between demographic factors, attendance, and outcomes in a novel 8-week mindfulness program. To be submitted to Mindfulness.
McKimmy, C., Gutiérrez, J., Anjom, A., Anwar, H., Dao, H., Kaufman, J., . . . Dimidjian, S. (in preparation). Barriers and facilitators to the implementation of mindfulness programming on college campuses: A youth participatory action research study. To be submitted to Journal of American College Health.
The manuscript detailing study findings is currently in preparation.
The Mindful Campus program is currently offered at the Crown Institute under the direction of Shubham Sapkota (Research Associate) and Michele Simpson (Teaching Professor).
Contact to Learn More
References
LeViness, P., Gorman, K., Braun, L., Koenig, L., & Bershad, C. (2019). The Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors Annual Survey: 2019. Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors. Retrieved from https://www.aucccd.org
Galante, J., Friedrich, C., Dawson, A. F., Modrego-Alarcón, M., Gebbing, P., Delgado-Suárez, I., Gupta, R., Dean, L., Dalgleish, T., White, I. R., & Jones, P. B. (2021). Mindfulness-based programmes for mental health promotion in adults in nonclinical settings: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. PLOS Medicine, 18(1), e1003481. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003481
Verhaeghen, P. (2023). Mindfulness and Academic Performance Meta-Analyses on Interventions and Correlations. Mindfulness. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-023-02138-z
Worsley, J. D., Pennington, A., & Corcoran, R. (2022). Supporting mental health and wellbeing of university and college students: A systematic review of review-level evidence of interventions. PLOS ONE, 17(7), e0266725. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0266725