2016/11/11 by Jeffrey M. Rogers, Madeleine Ferrari, Kylie Mosely +2 · 1 citation
Psychology · Medicine · #Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions #Eating Disorders and Behaviors #Physical Activity and Health #Mindfulness #Overweight #Psychological intervention #Meta-analysis #Body mass index #Medicine #Anxiety #Randomized controlled trial #Weight loss #Cohort study #Clinical psychology #Obesity #Physical therapy #Psychiatry #Internal medicine
paper · doi:10.1111/obr.12461
openalex publication_date 2016/11/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of mindfulness-based interventions on psychological and physical health outcomes in adults who are overweight or obese. METHODS: We searched 14 electronic databases for randomized controlled trials and prospective cohort studies that met eligibility criteria. Comprehensive Meta-analysis software was used to compute the effect size estimate Hedge's g. RESULTS: Fifteen studies measuring post-treatment outcomes of mindfulness-based interventions in 560 individuals were identified. The average weight loss was 4.2 kg. Overall effects were large for improving eating behaviours (g = 1.08), medium for depression (g = 0.64), anxiety (g = 0.62) and eating attitudes (g = 0.57) and small for body mass index (BMI; g = 0.47) and metacognition (g = 0.38) outcomes. Therapeutic effects for BMI (g = 0.43), anxiety (g = 0.53), eating attitudes (g = 0.48) and eating behaviours (g = 0.53) remained significant when examining results from higher quality randomized control trials alone. There was no efficacy advantage for studies exceeding the median dose of 12 h of face-to-face intervention. Studies utilizing an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy approach provided the only significant effect for improving BMI (g = 0.66), while mindfulness approaches produced great variation from small to large (g = 0.30-1.68) effects across a range of psychological health and eating-related constructs. Finally, the limited longitudinal data suggested maintenance of BMI (g = 0.85) and eating attitudes (g = 0.75) gains at follow-up were only detectable in lower quality prospective cohort studies. CONCLUSIONS: Mindfulness-based interventions may be both physically and psychologically beneficial for adults who are overweight or obese, but further high-quality research examining the mechanisms of action are encouraged.