Effects of Focused Meditation on Stress and Dispositional Mindfulness in College Students

ABSTRACT: Meditation based interventions have been used in universities to reduce stress. This study aimed to investigate the effect of a six-week focused meditation-training on stress (using Lipp´s Inventory of Stress Symptoms) and dispositional mindfulness (using the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire - Brazilian version) in college students from southern Brazil. A nonrandomized controlled trial was conducted to compare the experimental group and the waitlist control group before and after the training. Compared with controls, the experimental group demonstrated significant improvements for stress, and increases in mindfulness scores, particularly for the facets describe and non-react. The results suggest that meditative practice may be an alternative for interventions aiming to tackle stress and enhance mindfulness skills in the university context.