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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Mindfulness
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1597264
Long-term effectiveness of the Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) programme compared to a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) intervention: A quasi-randomised controlled trial involving regular mindfulness practice for one year
Provisionally accepted
Antonio Crego*
José Ramón Yela*
Maria Angeles Gomez Martínez
Elena Sanchez Zaballos
Aitor Vicente-Arruebarrena- Pontifical University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
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Introduction: This study compares the Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) programme with the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), a well-established intervention, and a control group, and includes one year of continuous practice. Methods: A longitudinal quasi-RCT was conducted with measurements at baseline, post-training, 6 months and 1 year. A total of 170 individuals (75.9% female) were randomly assigned to the MSC (n=48) and MBSR (n=65) groups, with a non-fully randomised wait-list CG (n=57). Results: Using intention-to-treat (ITT) and per-protocol (PP) analysis strategies, results consistently indicated that standard 8-week MSC and MBSR trainings produced benefits on anxiety, depression, perceived stress, and positive and negative affect, as well as on variables related to psychological flexibility, compared with CG. These gains were maintained over a year of continuous practice in both training groups. Overall, the two programmes, MSC and MBSR, showed a similar trajectory over the measurement periods. Discussion: The 8-week MSC programme and the regular practice of mindfulness and self-compassion appear to be an effective intervention for promoting mental health in the general population, with benefits similar to those derived from the practice of exercises from well-known mindfulness programmes such as MBSR.
Keywords: Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC), Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), longitudinal research, quasi-RCT, Mental Health, Psychological flexibility, Anxiety, Depression
Received: 20 Mar 2025; Accepted: 14 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Crego, Yela, Gomez Martínez, Zaballos and Vicente-Arruebarrena. 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:
Antonio Crego, Pontifical University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
José Ramón Yela, Pontifical University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
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