ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Educational Psychology
A randomized controlled trial of mindfulness: Effects on academic stress, academic burnout, and psychological resilience in university students
Provisionally accepted
Shan Wei Chen*
Xiuzhi Qi- Baoji University of Arts and Sciences, Xi'an, China
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A randomized controlled trial (RCT) examined the effects of an 8-week structured mindfulness training program on academic stress (primary outcome), academic burnout, and psychological resilience in university students during examination periods. A total of 153 undergraduate and graduate students were randomly assigned to the mindfulness intervention (n=77) and minimal-contact control (n=76). Intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis using linear mixed models with likelihood-based estimation under the missing-at-random assumption was conducted. At the primary endpoint (Week 8), the between-group difference in academic stress favored the intervention group (B = 14.79, 95% CI [12.96, 16.62], p < .001, Cohen's d = -1.89). Secondary outcomes also showed significant benefits: academic burnout reduced (B = 11.31, 95% CI [8.62, 14.00], p < .001, d = -1.26) and psychological resilience increased (B = -18.42, 95% CI [-20.94, -15.90], p < .001, d = 2.02). Effects were largely sustained at 2-week follow-up. These findings indicate that mindfulness training significantly alleviates academic stress and burnout while enhancing resilience in Chinese university students, supporting its integration into higher education mental health programs.
Keywords: mindfulness training, Academic stress, Academic burnout, psychological resilience, randomized controlled trial, university students
Received: 11 Oct 2025; Accepted: 12 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Chen and Qi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Shan Wei Chen, chensw_bj@163.com
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