Immediate mood changes and practice adherence during a self-directed SKT1 meditation program in university students: An intensive longitudinal study

AI Summary

SKT1 produced immediate, large reductions in negative mood after sessions (b = 0.572; paired Cohen's d = 1.00; p < .001).
Immediate mood improvements were consistent across all 28 sessions and did not vary by practice adherence.
Participants showed high engagement (mean 26.3 of 28 sessions), supporting SKT1 feasibility as a per-session mood support for students.

PLoS One. 2026 May 29;21(5):e0350556. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0350556. eCollection 2026.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: University students frequently report elevated stress, yet access to formal mental health services is often constrained. Self-directed mind-body practices, such as the Somporn Kantharadussadee Triamchaisri program (SKT1), may offer low-intensity mood management; however, real-world evidence based on repeated within-person assessments remains limited.

OBJECTIVES: To examine immediate within-session mood changes, practice adherence, temporal stability, and individual differences associated with self-directed SKT1 practice among university students.

METHODS: Twenty-seven university students (n = 19 female, 70.37%) completed 28 self-directed SKT1 sessions over 14 days, yielding 710 within-person observations. Negative mood was rated on a 0-10 numeric rating scale (NRS) immediately before and after each session. Data were analyzed using Linear Mixed Models (LMM) with a Diagonal covariance structure, which provided a superior model fit compared to simpler variance components.

RESULTS: Participants demonstrated high engagement, completing a mean of 26.3 sessions (SD = 2.8). LMM analysis revealed a highly significant decrease in negative mood immediately following SKT1 practice (b = 0.572, t(522.79) = 42.12, p < .001), representing a large effect size (Paired Cohen’s d = 1.00, 95% CI [0.91, 1.09]). These immediate mood changes were consistently observed across all 28 sessions (p = .367) and did not vary by practice adherence (p = .587). While baseline stress showed a marginal trend toward mood reduction (b = -0.128, p = .074), baseline anxiety and resilience were not significantly associated with immediate outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS: Self-directed SKT1 practice might be associated with consistent, immediate mood reductions that are stable over time and accessible within this specific university sample. These preliminary findings suggest the potential of SKT1 as a feasible ‘per-session’ resource for supporting mood management among students in similar academic contexts. The protocol was registered in the Thai Clinical Trials Registry (TCTR20231016002).

PMID:42213705 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0350556

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