Using a Randomized Clinical Trial to Test the Efficacy of a Culturally Responsive Mobile Health Application in African Americans.
Study Goal
The researchers aimed to determine if a culturally responsive mindfulness mHealth app could reduce stress-related outcomes and enhance self-compassion, resilience, and mindfulness behaviors among African Americans.
Results Summary
The intervention group reported increased self-compassion, mindfulness use, and self-efficacy, but no significant differences were found in stress, depressive symptoms, anxiety, or emotional regulation compared to the control group. Participants rated the app highly for relevance and satisfaction.
Population
170 Black/African American adults
Effective Dosage
Not specified
Duration
12 weeks
Interactions
None mentioned
| Intervention | Direction | Endpoint | Population | Dosage | Impact | Claim # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
culturally responsive mindfulness mHealth app | increase | self-compassion | Black/African American participants | - | reported more | #1 |
culturally responsive mindfulness mHealth app | increase | mindfulness | Black/African American participants | - | used more | #2 |
culturally responsive mindfulness mHealth app | increase | self-efficacy using mindfulness | Black/African American participants | - | had greater | #3 |
culturally responsive mindfulness mHealth app | no change | stress, depressive symptoms, anxiety, emotional regulation difficulties, resilience, mindfulness attitudes and behaviors | Black/African American participants | - | no other differences were evident | #4 |
culturally responsive mindfulness mHealth app | increase | satisfaction with the app | Black/African American participants | - | expressed high levels of satisfaction | #5 |
culturally responsive mindfulness mHealth app | increase | relevance to their lives | Black/African American participants | - | gave it a positive rating | #6 |
Mindfulness is a promising health promotion strategy for African Americans, and it is imperative that culturally responsive mindfulness approaches be accessible to this population. One way to address this need is to develop and test if culturally responsive mobile health (mhealth) applications are efficacious in reducing stress-related outcomes in this population. With this goal in mind, we employed a repeated-measures randomized control trial (RCT) across a 12-week intervention period to evaluate if participants in the intervention group outperformed a wait-list control group in reductions in stress, depressive symptoms, anxiety, emotional regulation difficulties as well as in increases in self-compassion, resilience, and mindfulness attitudes and behaviors. Our sample included 170 Black/African American participants who were randomly assigned to either the intervention condition (n = 84) or the wait-list control group (n = 86). Participants in the intervention condition reported more self-compassion, used more mindfulness, and had greater self-efficacy using mindfulness; yet, no other differences were evident. Participants expressed high levels of satisfaction with the app and gave it a positive rating for its relevance to their lives. These findings support the efficacy of a culturally responsive mindfulness mHealth app to enhance self-compassion and increase the use of health-promoting behaviors, like mindfulness, among African Americans. Implications for future research are discussed.