Mindfulness Interventions in Older Adults for Mental Health and Well-Being: A Meta-Analysis.

This meta-analysis evaluates the effectiveness of mindfulness interventions on the mental health and well-being of older adults (average age 60+), analyzing 46 controlled studies involving 2,442 participants. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and other non-MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) protocols showed small but statistically significant benefits (Hedges' g ≈ 0.33–0.36), whereas MBSR effects were not significant. Positive effects were observed primarily for mental functioning, depression, sleep, anxiety, stress, and mindfulness, with stronger outcomes when interventions targeted specific symptoms. Despite these modest benefits, the overall effect size (Hedges' g = 0.25) is smaller than that typically found in younger adults or other psychological interventions, and adaptations made to standard protocols for older adults have not been empirically validated. The findings suggest mindfulness interventions are safe and may modestly improve mental health in older adults, but their clinical utility remains limited pending further research on optimized, age-appropriate protocols.