Abstract
The federal government of Malaysia recently implemented a nationwide Movement Control Order (MCO) to control the COVID-19 outbreak. However, the MCO has had a negative impact on people’s mental well-being. Interventions that can improve people’s mental health when their movement is restricted are therefore urgently needed. The present study investigated the impact of an ultra-brief online mindfulness-based intervention on mental health using a two-arm randomized controlled trial design. A total of 161 participants self-reported their distress, anxiety, psychological insecurity, and well-being at baseline and post-treatment, while 61 of them answered the same set of measures and the fear of COVID-19 scale in a follow-up study two weeks later. A multivariate analysis of covariance found the intervention reduced psychological insecurity levels measured during post-treatment. Moreover, gender, the experience of practicing mindfulness, and participants’ experiences of undergoing quarantine were found to play a role in post-treatment measures. No significant difference was found between the baseline and follow-up treatment. However, hierarchical multiple regression found that psychological insecurity measured at baseline positively predicted the level of fear after controlling for demographic variables. Overall, the findings suggest that an online mindfulness intervention is a potentially useful tool for alleviating people’s mental health difficulties
Bahasa Abstract
Wabah COVID-19. MCO, bagaimanapun, telah ditemukan memiliki dampak negatif pada kesejahteraan mental orang. Oleh karena itu intervensi yang dapat meningkatkan kesehatan mental dalam kondisi pergerakan terbatas sangat diperlukan. Penelitian ini menyelidiki dampak dari intervensi berbasis kesadaran online singkat pada kesehatan mental menggunakan rancangan percobaan terkontrol acak dua-lengan. Sebanyak 161 peserta melaporkan sendiri kesusahan, kecemasan, ketidakamanan psikologis mereka, dan kesejahteraan pada awal (baseline) dan post-test (post-treatment), sementara 61 dari mereka menjawab serangkaian tindakan dan ketakutan yang sama dengan COVID-19 skala dalam studi tindak lanjut dua minggu kemudian (follow-up treatment). Analisis multivariat kovarians mendukung intervensi dalam mengurangi tingkat ketidakamanan psikologis yang diukur pada post-treatment. Selain itu, jenis kelamin, pengalaman berlatih mindfulness, dan contoh dari para peserta yang menjalani karantina ditemukan memainkan peran dalam tindakan post-treatment. Tidak ada perbedaan signifikan yang ditemukan antara baseline dan follow-up treatment. Namun, regresi berganda hierarkis menemukan bahwa ketidakamanan psikologis yang diukur pada baseline secara positif memprediksi tingkat ketakutan setelah mengendalikan variabel demografis. Secara keseluruhan, temuan ini menyarankan intervensi mindfulness online sebagai alat yang berpotensi berguna untuk mengurangi kesehatan mental orang.
Erratum
A wrong copy-edited version is uploaded online during our migration to scholarhub.ui.ac.id in July 2021. This mistake was rectified and a correct version is uploaded in December 2021.
Recommended Citation
Pheh, K., Tan, H., & Tan, C. (2020). Ultra-Brief Online Mindfulness-Based Intervention Effects on Mental Health During the Coronavirus Disease Outbreak in Malaysia: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Makara Human Behavior Studies in Asia, 24(2), 118-128. https://doi.org/10.7454/hubs.asia.2140920