The effects of an online mind-body training program on stress, coping strategies, emotional intelligence, resilience and psychological state

Abstract

The goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of an online mind-body training (MBT) program on participants' stress, anger, coping strategies, emotional intelligence, resilience, and positive and negative affect. Forty-two healthy women participated in an online MBT program for approximately 8-10 minutes a day for 8 weeks; a control group of 45 healthy women did not participate in the program. Self-report psychological questionnaires were administered before the beginning of the program and at 4 and 8 weeks following its onset. Data from the MBT group and the control group were compared using repeated measures ANOVA and Student's t-tests. Significant time x group interaction effects were found with respect to stress, coping strategies, anger, emotional intelligence, negative affect and resilience. These results demonstrate beneficial effects of the online MBT program and significant improvements in the psychological capabilities of participants compared with the control group. The effects of online MBT program were similar with those of the previous offline MBT in psychological aspects, suggesting further studies for neuroscientific evidence related stress and emotion of online MBT effects.