The Effects of Clinical Meditation Programs on Stress and Well-Being An Updated Rapid Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) With Active Comparison Groups

Many people suffer from chronic conditions, such as cancer, diabetes, or depression. The use and development of meditation interventions to offer complementary psychological treatment for such patients is increasing, as is criticism of research on this topic. Therefore, the aim of the present rapid review and meta-analysis is to investigate the effects of meditation interventions in randomized controlled trials of clinical populations on perceived stress and well-being. A search was conducted in MEDLINE, Web of Science, PsycInfo, CINAHL, PsycArticles, and PSYNDEX between July 2013 and April 13, 2021. Three-level random effect models were estimated. Based on 316 effect sizes, small effects of meditation interventions were found (stress: g = 0.18; well-being: g = 0.25) largely paralleling findings of a previous meta-analysis. An important limitation is the potentially high risk of bias for individual studies. Overall, meditation interventions appear to be beneficial for complementary treatment of chronic clinical conditions.