Changes in subjective well-being with brief intervention meditation training on college students

Abstract

This study was designed to determine the relationships between changes in self-reported General Well-Being (GWB) scores with brief intervention meditation training among college students. Data was collected from 227 students enrolled in Personal Health classes at the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse. Two intact classes were used, with members from both classes deciding to either volunteer for a treatment condition, (meditation group), or stay in a no-treatment condition as the comparison group. Treatment was conducted over a four-week period. A quasi-experimental design was employed, using the GWB as the dependent variable. Each subject completed the GWB as a pre-test and post-test. Methodological control was established by using a form of meditation that was relatively unknown; training time was reduced to a minimal intervention that still allowed subjects to learn the technique. Application of a stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed significant changes in perceived subjective levels of stress in the experimental group. However, testing revealed no significant differences between the meditation group and the comparison group on the GWB measure. The study suggests that brief intervention meditation provides a reduction in self-reported stress levels, yet was not able to produce any measurable group changes in self-reported subjective well-being. Based on this observation, a recommendation was made that meditation instruction may be better implemented through longer intervention training, and better explored through in-depth objective and subjective styles of inquiry.