TY  - JOUR
AU  - Henning, Marcus A.
AU  - Lu, David
AU  - Ng, Lillian
AU  - Sundram, Frederick
AU  - Chen, Yan
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/01/23
TI  - The Cost-Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Medical Students: A Scoping Review
JO  - OBM Integrative and Complementary Medicine
SP  - 007
VL  - 10
IS  - 01
AB  - This scoping review aims to understand the available research and the quality of evidence about the cost-effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions when applied to the medical student context. There is considerable literature pertaining to the application of mindfulness-based interventions in this context. However, the links between cost and effectiveness need to be established to ensure the relative integrity of these therapeutic systems. The participants included in the study were medical students (undergraduate and postgraduate). The concept under inspection concentrated on mindfulness-based interventions' cost-effectiveness, and the context was defined within the medical education setting—exclusion criteria required focusing on empirical studies published in peer-reviewed English language journals. Initially, a search protocol using the SPIDER system (Sample, Phenomenon of Interest, Design, Evaluation, Research type) was employed, followed by the development of a search algorithm. The literature search employed seven online databases, and the quality of evidence revealed within the final articles was analyzed. A summary table was developed classifying the first author, year of study, research design, cost and effectiveness. More specifically, the cost was evaluated in terms of financial outlay, acquisition of resources, and time involvement. In addition, effectiveness was determined by the impact of the intervention on students’ well-being and learning. A final review of 12 English language articles was conducted. The various costs identified included financial outlay on specialist personnel, venue provision, acquisition of measurement instruments, and time spent on the intervention. In reference to effectiveness, the evidence from the randomized or nonrandomized control studies indicated reduced perceived stress scores, reduced anxiety, alleviation of depression, and improved psychological health with some indication of improved learning management skills. Two nonrandomized cohort studies reported positive changes in levels of exam-induced salivary cortisol concentration. This scoping review revealed that no studies had comprehensively linked the costs of the intervention with purported levels of effectiveness. Future research needs to itemize the costs of the intervention and explicitly assess their links to effectiveness, such as well-being and learning.
SN  - 2573-4393
UR  - https://doi.org/10.21926/obm.icm.2501007
DO  - 10.21926/obm.icm.2501007
ID  - Henning2025
ER  -