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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Mindfulness
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1508934
This article is part of the Research Topic The Interplay of Stress, Health, and Well-being: Unraveling the Psychological and Physiological Processes - Volume II View all 35 articles

Effect of a Mindfulness Program on Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Sleep Quality, Social Support, and Life Satisfaction: A quasi-experimental study in college students

Provisionally accepted
Paul Alan Arkin Alvarado-García Paul Alan Arkin Alvarado-García 1*Marilú Roxana Soto-Vásquez Marilú Roxana Soto-Vásquez 1Francisco Mercedes Infantes Gomez Francisco Mercedes Infantes Gomez 1Natalia Mavila Guzman Rodriguez Natalia Mavila Guzman Rodriguez 2William Gil Castro-Paniagua William Gil Castro-Paniagua 3
  • 1 School of Medicine, Cesar Vallejo University, Herrera, Peru
  • 2 School of Psychology, Cesar Vallejo University, Herrera, Peru
  • 3 Universidad Nacional José María Arguedas, Andahuaylas, Peru

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The university experience often brings various personal and academic challenges that can negatively impact students' mental health. This research aimed to evaluate the effect of a mindfulness program on stress, anxiety, depression, sleep quality, social support, and life satisfaction among university students.A quasi-experimental study was conducted with 128 participants, divided into experimental and waiting list control groups. The experimental group participated in a mindfulness meditation program consisting of 12 weekly sessions. Pre-test and post-test measurements were performed using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey (MOS-SS), and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) to assess the variables. Results: The experimental group showed statistically significant differences between the study phases and the groups after the intervention for all the variables examined (p<0.05). The effect sizes calculated using the HC3 model were stress (η² = 0.376), anxiety (η² = 0.538), depression (η² = 0.091), sleep quality (η² = 0.306), social support (η² = 0.704), and life satisfaction (η² = 0.510). The mindfulness program was shown to be effective in reducing levels of stress, anxiety, and depression while also improving sleep quality, social support, and life satisfaction in college students.These findings indicate that mindfulness meditation may be valuable for enhancing psychological well-being in educational settings.

    Keywords: mindfulness, stress, Anxiety, Depression, sleep quality, social support, life satisfaction, college students

    Received: 10 Oct 2024; Accepted: 30 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Alvarado-García, Soto-Vásquez, Infantes Gomez, Guzman Rodriguez and Castro-Paniagua. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Paul Alan Arkin Alvarado-García, School of Medicine, Cesar Vallejo University, Herrera, Peru

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