The Evaluation of a Mind-Body Intervention (MBT-T) for Stress Reduction in Academic Settings: A Pilot Study

Abstract

This study is aimed at evaluating the outcomes of mind-body transformation therapy (MBT-T), previously known as the creative psychosocial genomic healing experience© (CPGHE). The intervention was aimed at reducing the perceived level of stress in two non-clinical groups of students with different educational levels and different expertise in the domain of well-being. Whereas participants from the first group were first-year university students, participants from the second group were students attending a post-graduate program in psychotherapy. All participants (<i>n</i> = 159) were exposed to a single session of MBT-T, each group in a separate session. The results of two paired-samples <i>t</i>-tests, conducted separately on the two samples, showed that there was a statistically significant reduction in the participants' perceived level of stress between pre- and post-intervention states in both samples (t₈₈ = 5.39, <i>p</i> < 0.001; t₅₃ = 4.56, <i>p</i> < 0.001 respectively). The results, therefore, showed that a single session of MBT-T was beneficial in reducing the perceived level of stress in both first-year university students and students attending a post-graduate program in psychotherapy, regardless of educational level and expertise in the domain of well-being.