Bu, D., Chung, P., Zhang, C., & Liu, J. (2020). The effect of mindfulness training on mental health in Chinese elite badminton players: A randomized controlled trial. Chinese Journal of Sports Medicine, 39(12), 944-952.
Objective
To evaluate the effectiveness of applying the mindfulness-acceptance-insightcommitment approach(MAIC) on improving the mindfulness,acceptance and mental health of Chinese elite badminton players.
Methods
A randomized controlled trial was conducted in this research. A total of 49 Chinese elite badminton players(29 males and 20 females) were recruited and randomly assigned to either the intervention group(n=25) or the control group(n=24). The intervention group underwent a seven-week MAIC training program, while the control group received no intervention. All psychological variables (mindfulness, acceptance, anxiety, depression, and satisfaction with daily training and competition) were assessed before as well as right after and 3 months after the intervention.
Results
The two-way repeated measures ANOVA analysis revealed that comparing with the control group, the MAIC group significantly improved in the mindfulness, acceptance, as well as training and competition satisfaction. In addition, significant reduction of anxiety and depressive symptom was found in the intervention group. The post-hoc test indicated that only the intervention group had significant enhancements in all variables when comparing the difference between pre-and post-test, as well as between pre-and follow-up test. It is notable that the intervention effects for intervention group further improved in depression, training and competition satisfaction, and acceptance when comparing the difference between post-and follow-up test. However, such residual effects were not additionally enhanced in mindfulness and anxiety between post-and follow-up test.
Conclusions
The MAIC mindfulness training was proven to be effective in improving the mindfulness, acceptance, and training’s and competition’s satisfaction, as well as reducing the depression symptom in the Chinese elite badminton players.The findings could contribute to future studies and applications aiming to improve mental health of Chinese badminton players.