Poster #170 - The efficacy of mindfulness training paired with a biofeedback device in reducing stress: a RCT

• In Event: 2-163 - Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Section - Prevention and Interventions

Integrative Statement

Background. Stress and anxiety are prevalent issues facing college students today (American College Health Association [ACHA], 2018). Indeed, when surveyed, almost 89% of college counseling centers in the United States reported an increase in the number of students seen for anxiety disorders compared to five years previous (Gallagher, 2015). This is an alarming trend considering the host of negative associations related to stress and anxiety such as decreased academic performance (ACHA, 2018) and school satisfaction (Lee & Jang, 2015), depression (Boynton Health Service, 2015), and health problems (Härter, Conway, & Merikangas, 2003).
Clinical interventions based on developing mindfulness skills are an effective treatment type for addressing stress and anxiety (Grossman, Niemann, Schmidt, & Walach, 2004). However, psychologists often treat patients in a more rational and calm setting during therapeutic sessions; it may be hard for some patients to apply the techniques they learned during the therapy in situations when they are actually emotional and experiencing a lack of control of intrusive thoughts. A solution would be to have therapeutic settings closely resemble or simulate the real life situations that patients experience their problems in.
Notably, wearable biofeedback devices are increasingly marketed as ways to monitor our daily health. Self- tracking of health factors such as weight, exercise, blood pressure, sleep, and blood sugar are now relatively commonplace (Norris, 2012). At relative low-cost, such wearable devices can deliver prompts based on continuously monitored physiological responses. Wearable mind-body interfaces may offer unexplored possibilities to combat the transfer problem encountered by many health providers. With very few exceptions (e.g. Heaman, 1995), the use of portable biofeedback devices in the extant biofeedback-aided interventions is scarce. The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of a wearable biofeedback device on reducing stress in high stress college students above and beyond mindfulness training.
Methods. Data were collected from 39 college students at a midwestern university. Students were randomized into either a control group without a biofeedback device (n= 21), or an experimental group with biofeedback device (n = 18). Pretest and posttest procedures were conducted two weeks apart. Main outcomes included the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). A repeated measures analysis of variance was conducted to compare treatment arms across time for each of the main outcome measures.
Results. These analyses showed strong main effects of Time for state anxiety (F(1,37) = 9.370, p = .004 , ηp2 = .202 ), trait anxiety (F(1,37) = 23.602, p = .000 , ηp2 =.389 ), perceived stress (F(1,37) = 13.715 , p = .001 , ηp2 = .270), and emotion regulation (F(1,37) = 5.343, p = .026 , ηp2 = .126 ). No main effects of Group were identified nor was the Group x Time interaction significant.
Discussion. The addition of a biofeedback device did not improve students’ abilities to regulate stress. As these devices become more commonplace, the authors recommend FDA approval and public-private partnerships in order to bridge commercial and public interests.

Authors

• Brenna Lin, Texas A&M University
  Presenting Author

• Chris Prickett, Texas A&M University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Steven Woltering, Texas A&M University
  Non-Presenting Author