ABSTRACT

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has been a highly stressful period where post-secondary education moved to online formats. Coping skills like decentering and reappraisal appear to promote stress resilience, but limited research exists on cultivating these skills in online learning contexts.

Methods: In a three-arm randomized trial design, we evaluated three-week, web-based interventions to gauge how to best cultivate mindfulness and stress-reappraisal skills and whether the proposed interventions led to improved mental health. Undergraduate participants (N = 183) were randomly assigned to stress mindset, mindfulness meditation, or mindfulness with choice conditions.

Results: At the study level (baseline vs. post-intervention), decentering improved across all conditions. Mindfulness with choice significantly decreased negative affect and rumination compared to stress mindset, while stress mindset significantly enhanced stress mindset skills compared to both mindfulness groups. At the daily level (three sessions per week), stress mindset significantly increased positive affect compared to mindfulness meditation.

Conclusions: Results suggest that student mental health can be remotely supported through brief web-based interventions. Mindfulness practices seem to be effective in improving students' negative mood and coping strategies, while stress mindset training can help students to adopt a stress-is-enhancing mindset. Additional work on refining and better matching students to appropriate interventions is needed.

摘要

背景： COVID-19 大流行是一个压力很大的时期，高等教育转向在线形式。诸如去中心化和重新评估之类的应对技巧似乎可以促进抗压能力，但关于在在线学习环境中培养这些技能的研究还很有限。

方法：在一项三臂随机试验设计中，我们评估了为期三周的基于网络的干预措施，以衡量如何最好地培养正念和压力重新评估技能，以及所提议的干预措施是否会改善心理健康。本科生参与者 ( N = 183) 被随机分配到压力心态、正念冥想或有选择条件的正念。

结果：在研究层面（基线与干预后），去中心化在所有条件下都有所改善。与压力心态相比，有选择的正念显着减少了负面影响和沉思，而与两个正念组相比，压力心态显着增强了压力心态技能。在日常层面（每周三次），与正念冥想相比，压力心态显着增加了积极影响。

结论：结果表明，可以通过基于网络的简短干预措施远程支持学生的心理健康。正念练习似乎可以有效改善学生的消极情绪和应对策略，而压力心态训练可以帮助学生养成压力正在增强的心态。需要做更多的工作来改进和更好地使学生适应适当的干预措施。