Hi, I am doing a online mindfulness-based programme involving positive psychology for my 3rd year dissertation. It starts towards the end of September and is just over a month (it has been modified, as it is normally two months). I am thinking of doing a follow-up of 2 weeks.
In my supervisors original study, he did a 1month follow up; I think I should do a follow-up because it adds rigour to the study and there are few long-term mindfulness-based programmes.
After speaking to him, he said it would be interesting but because this is for a dissertation (thus, having limited time to conduct and write up), it may be stressful for me because it adds pressure i.e. I won’t be able to analyse the data until the end of November.
He also said it is not necessary because a RCT (randomised controlled trial – that is the design of the programme) already exceeds what is expected from a psychology undergraduate. He said this as I asked would it affect my grade (increase) if I included one, and he said not necessarily.
In any case, he has adapted the programme so it is now shorter, so I thought perhaps I should add a follow-up, but I still am not entirely comfortable with having a 1month follow up, so I thought of two weeks to see if there are maintained effects of the programme.
What constitutes as mid/long-term experimentally? Would 2 weeks be sufficient? I thought of 2 weeks as I am testing teachers, and the 2 weeks would involve half term and then their first stressful week back at school to see if they experience maintained effects.
It can constitute maintaining effects for two weeks. Whether this is worthwhile is another question. You would expect a mindfulness intervention to lead to some lasting change. We're currently about to roll out a programme with a year of follow-up.
All you can say after two weeks is whether there were hopeful signs that change would be maintained. Even a month is pretty short. If you compare it to programmes designed to achieve smoking cessation, or weight loss, then the kind of time frame for follow-up should be at least 3 months (much recidivism occurs inside 3 months) and ideally a year.
I agree with the other before me. Also I would like to add. Yes you may find effects after two weeks. See Weng et al (2013) who showed effects after two weeks compassion training based on mindfulness meditation of tibetan tradition changes even on neurological level!
I agree that there might be some difference after two weeks. But a reasonable number of control group design studies with clinical groups showed that a significant difference cannot be observed before several month.
Thank you for all of your contributions - they are greatly appreciated and have decided to go against doing a follow-up, and will note it as a limitation in the discussion and method section. @ Ronan Michael Conroy - do you have a citation for the idea that recidivism tends to occur in 3 months?
@David Fresco, I deeply appreciate your response. Do you know of many mindfulness-based interventions with follow ups? I think they are few and far between.
Having done research on another form of meditation, I would say that two weeks is enough time to declare the beginning of a significant effect of a meditation practice. To show that the effects last, you must follow the subjects for a year or more. Just my opinion.
It is too easy for placebo effects to be reported as significant. If you report only placebo effects, such as the results of expectation, your research will not be taken seriously.
I hope this helps. It is important for meditation research to be as rigorous as possible, to overcome the objections that naturally arise, especially in the West, concerning any mental technique.
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