Publicação
Developing and evaluating a Portuguese-language meditation App for medical students: motivation, adherence, and emotional effects
| Resumo: | The well-being of medical students is affected by high stress levels. The relevance of a mindfulness mediation app (Med@Med) specifically produced to help medical students at a Portuguese medical school cope with stress was evaluated. The app, consisting of 21 short meditations, was totally developed in Portuguese to fulfill with the needs of some of the students. The motivations to use the app, adherence to it, and its emotional benefits were evaluated. A total of 147 medical students were enrolled in the study. Students completed questionnaires related to emotional regulation (Emotion Regulation of Others and Self) and emotional thermometers before the first meditation and at the end of the project. Before and after each meditation, the students were invited to identify their basic emotion (joy, fear, disgust, anger, or sadness), no perceived emotion, or no reply. Participants received daily motivational messages (scientific or in lay language) or no message during the first 7 days of the project and the retention was registered. The main motivations to use the Med@Med app were to experience meditation (33%), decrease stress/anxiety (25%), or implement a daily meditation routine (16%). The remaining motivations of the students were sleep improvement or enhancement of academic performance. The self-motivation to use the app was high (7.3 ± 3.2 on a 1–10 scale). Participants that received daily messages in lay language, which summarized scientific findings about the benefits of meditation, were more likely to continue to use the app. The emotions changed from pre- to post-practice, with an increase in self-identification with joy and decrease of fear and sadness. An improvement in the intrinsic emotional regulation subscale (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> &lt; 0.01) was detected. In comparison with age-matched students that did not use the Med@Med app, the students that used the app presented less emotional distress and anxiety as evaluated by emotional thermometers. This study shows that medical students are motivated to use a meditation app. The improvement of emotion-related parameters after the use of the Med@Med app is a promising result. The benefits of using the Med@Med meditation app prepared in Portuguese keeping in mind the needs of medical students should be evaluated in other Portuguese-speaking medical schools. |
|---|---|
| Autores principais: | Soares, Ana Rita |
| Outros Autores: | Soares, Sandra; Brandão, Tânia; Teixeira, Ricardo João; Tavares, Isaura |
| Assunto: | Stress Anxiety Mindfulness Meditation Self-care Well-being Health Online resources |
| Ano: | 2025 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | artigo |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso aberto |
| Instituição associada: | Ispa-Instituto Universitário |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | Repositório do Ispa - Instituto Universitário |
| _version_ | 1863888753819385856 |
|---|---|
| author | Soares, Ana Rita |
| author2 | Soares, Sandra Brandão, Tânia Teixeira, Ricardo João Tavares, Isaura |
| author2_role | author author author author |
| author_facet | Soares, Ana Rita Soares, Sandra Brandão, Tânia Teixeira, Ricardo João Tavares, Isaura |
| author_role | author |
| contributor_name_str_mv | Repositório do ISPA |
| country_str | PT |
| creators_json_str | [{\"Person.name\":\"Soares, Ana Rita\"},{\"Person.name\":\"Soares, Sandra\"},{\"Person.name\":\"Brandão, Tânia\"},{\"Person.name\":\"Teixeira, Ricardo João\"},{\"Person.name\":\"Tavares, Isaura\"}] |
| datacite.contributors.contributor.contributorName.fl_str_mv | Repositório do ISPA |
| datacite.creators.creator.creatorName.fl_str_mv | Soares, Ana Rita Soares, Sandra Brandão, Tânia Teixeira, Ricardo João Tavares, Isaura |
| datacite.date.Accepted.fl_str_mv | 2025-03-05T00:00:00Z |
| datacite.date.available.fl_str_mv | 2025-09-22T19:20:52Z |
| datacite.date.embargoed.fl_str_mv | 2025-09-22T19:20:52Z |
| datacite.rights.fl_str_mv | http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 |
| datacite.subjects.subject.fl_str_mv | Stress Anxiety Mindfulness Meditation Self-care Well-being Health Online resources |
| datacite.titles.title.fl_str_mv | Developing and evaluating a Portuguese-language meditation App for medical students: motivation, adherence, and emotional effects |
| dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv | Repositório do ISPA |
| dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv | Soares, Ana Rita Soares, Sandra Brandão, Tânia Teixeira, Ricardo João Tavares, Isaura |
| dc.date.Accepted.fl_str_mv | 2025-03-05T00:00:00Z |
| dc.date.available.fl_str_mv | 2025-09-22T19:20:52Z |
| dc.date.embargoed.fl_str_mv | 2025-09-22T19:20:52Z |
| dc.format.none.fl_str_mv | application/pdf |
| dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv | http://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/13620 |
| dc.language.none.fl_str_mv | eng |
| dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv | Frontiers Media SA |
| dc.rights.cclincense.fl_str_mv | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv | http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 |
| dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv | Stress Anxiety Mindfulness Meditation Self-care Well-being Health Online resources |
| dc.title.fl_str_mv | Developing and evaluating a Portuguese-language meditation App for medical students: motivation, adherence, and emotional effects |
| dc.type.none.fl_str_mv | http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 |
| description | The well-being of medical students is affected by high stress levels. The relevance of a mindfulness mediation app (Med@Med) specifically produced to help medical students at a Portuguese medical school cope with stress was evaluated. The app, consisting of 21 short meditations, was totally developed in Portuguese to fulfill with the needs of some of the students. The motivations to use the app, adherence to it, and its emotional benefits were evaluated. A total of 147 medical students were enrolled in the study. Students completed questionnaires related to emotional regulation (Emotion Regulation of Others and Self) and emotional thermometers before the first meditation and at the end of the project. Before and after each meditation, the students were invited to identify their basic emotion (joy, fear, disgust, anger, or sadness), no perceived emotion, or no reply. Participants received daily motivational messages (scientific or in lay language) or no message during the first 7 days of the project and the retention was registered. The main motivations to use the Med@Med app were to experience meditation (33%), decrease stress/anxiety (25%), or implement a daily meditation routine (16%). The remaining motivations of the students were sleep improvement or enhancement of academic performance. The self-motivation to use the app was high (7.3 ± 3.2 on a 1–10 scale). Participants that received daily messages in lay language, which summarized scientific findings about the benefits of meditation, were more likely to continue to use the app. The emotions changed from pre- to post-practice, with an increase in self-identification with joy and decrease of fear and sadness. An improvement in the intrinsic emotional regulation subscale (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> &lt; 0.01) was detected. In comparison with age-matched students that did not use the Med@Med app, the students that used the app presented less emotional distress and anxiety as evaluated by emotional thermometers. This study shows that medical students are motivated to use a meditation app. The improvement of emotion-related parameters after the use of the Med@Med app is a promising result. The benefits of using the Med@Med meditation app prepared in Portuguese keeping in mind the needs of medical students should be evaluated in other Portuguese-speaking medical schools. |
| dirty | 0 |
| eu_rights_str_mv | openAccess |
| format | article |
| fulltext.url.fl_str_mv | https://repositorio.ispa.pt/bitstreams/9796f941-e84d-44d8-8e8d-6b2e0e4f0ebd/download |
| id | ispa_d829ad178c3bbf53a5afece2b59e0ca0 |
| identifier.url.fl_str_mv | http://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/13620 |
| instacron_str | ispa |
| institution | Ispa-Instituto Universitário |
| instname_str | Ispa-Instituto Universitário |
| language | eng |
| network_acronym_str | ispa |
| network_name_str | Repositório do Ispa - Instituto Universitário |
| oai_identifier_str | oai:repositorio.ispa.pt:10400.12/13620 |
| organization_str_mv | urn:organizationAcronym:ispa |
| person_str_mv | Soares, Ana Rita Soares, Sandra Brandão, Tânia Teixeira, Ricardo João Tavares, Isaura |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publisher.none.fl_str_mv | Frontiers Media SA |
| reponame_str | Repositório do Ispa - Instituto Universitário |
| repository_id_str | urn:repositoryAcronym:ispa |
| service_str_mv | urn:repositoryAcronym:ispa |
| spelling | engFrontiers Media SAengThe well-being of medical students is affected by high stress levels. The relevance of a mindfulness mediation app (Med@Med) specifically produced to help medical students at a Portuguese medical school cope with stress was evaluated. The app, consisting of 21 short meditations, was totally developed in Portuguese to fulfill with the needs of some of the students. The motivations to use the app, adherence to it, and its emotional benefits were evaluated. A total of 147 medical students were enrolled in the study. Students completed questionnaires related to emotional regulation (Emotion Regulation of Others and Self) and emotional thermometers before the first meditation and at the end of the project. Before and after each meditation, the students were invited to identify their basic emotion (joy, fear, disgust, anger, or sadness), no perceived emotion, or no reply. Participants received daily motivational messages (scientific or in lay language) or no message during the first 7 days of the project and the retention was registered. The main motivations to use the Med@Med app were to experience meditation (33%), decrease stress/anxiety (25%), or implement a daily meditation routine (16%). The remaining motivations of the students were sleep improvement or enhancement of academic performance. The self-motivation to use the app was high (7.3 ± 3.2 on a 1–10 scale). Participants that received daily messages in lay language, which summarized scientific findings about the benefits of meditation, were more likely to continue to use the app. The emotions changed from pre- to post-practice, with an increase in self-identification with joy and decrease of fear and sadness. An improvement in the intrinsic emotional regulation subscale (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> &lt; 0.01) was detected. In comparison with age-matched students that did not use the Med@Med app, the students that used the app presented less emotional distress and anxiety as evaluated by emotional thermometers. This study shows that medical students are motivated to use a meditation app. The improvement of emotion-related parameters after the use of the Med@Med app is a promising result. The benefits of using the Med@Med meditation app prepared in Portuguese keeping in mind the needs of medical students should be evaluated in other Portuguese-speaking medical schools.application/pdfengDeveloping and evaluating a Portuguese-language meditation App for medical students: motivation, adherence, and emotional effectsSoares, Ana RitaSoares, SandraBrandão, TâniaTeixeira, Ricardo JoãoTavares, IsauraHostingInstitutionOrganizationalRepositório do ISPAe-mailmailto:repositorio@ispa.ptrepositorio@ispa.ptISSNIsPartOf1664-1078DOIIsPartOf10.3389/fpsyg.2025.14222052025-09-22T19:20:52Z2025-03-052025-03-05T00:00:00ZHandlehttp://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/13620http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2open accessStressAnxietyMindfulnessMeditationSelf-careWell-beingHealthOnline resources886321 bytesliteraturehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501journal article2025-03-05http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2application/pdffulltexthttps://repositorio.ispa.pt/bitstreams/9796f941-e84d-44d8-8e8d-6b2e0e4f0ebd/downloadFrontiers in Psychology16 |
| spellingShingle | Developing and evaluating a Portuguese-language meditation App for medical students: motivation, adherence, and emotional effects Soares, Ana Rita Stress Anxiety Mindfulness Meditation Self-care Well-being Health Online resources |
| subject.fl_str_mv | Stress Anxiety Mindfulness Meditation Self-care Well-being Health Online resources |
| title | Developing and evaluating a Portuguese-language meditation App for medical students: motivation, adherence, and emotional effects |
| title_full | Developing and evaluating a Portuguese-language meditation App for medical students: motivation, adherence, and emotional effects |
| title_fullStr | Developing and evaluating a Portuguese-language meditation App for medical students: motivation, adherence, and emotional effects |
| title_full_unstemmed | Developing and evaluating a Portuguese-language meditation App for medical students: motivation, adherence, and emotional effects |
| title_short | Developing and evaluating a Portuguese-language meditation App for medical students: motivation, adherence, and emotional effects |
| title_sort | Developing and evaluating a Portuguese-language meditation App for medical students: motivation, adherence, and emotional effects |
| topic | Stress Anxiety Mindfulness Meditation Self-care Well-being Health Online resources |
| topic_facet | Stress Anxiety Mindfulness Meditation Self-care Well-being Health Online resources |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/13620 |
| visible | 1 |