Table 3.
Home-practice characteristics
| Study | Guidance for home-practice | Resources given to participants | Measurement of home-practice | Total reported practice | Proportion of recommended practice achieved | Home-practice findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bondolfi et al. (2010) | Frequency of practice not specified | 2 CDs with recordings of body scan, sitting meditation, mindful movement and 3-min breathing space | Retrospective ad hoc self-report questionnaire |
% practice once per week: Body scan = 65.4% Sitting meditation = 88% 3-min breathing = 91.7% Informal practice = 76% |
Could not be calculated | Amount of home-practice did not significantly differ between those who relapsed and those who did not (Fisher’s exact test, N.S.) Following treatment the frequency of informal home-practice remained unchanged over 14 months but longer formal meditation practice decreased over time |
| Cash et al. (2015) | 45 min × 6 days a week, practice of body scan, sitting meditation, yoga positions | Workbook and audio-tapes of mindfulness exercises | Self-report weekly log of home-practice and qualitative assessment of how much practice completing at follow-up | Reported practice 4.8 times per week at 2-month follow-up | Could not be calculated | Greater home-practice at follow-up was associated with reduced pain (R 2 = 0.42; p < 0.01, partial r = −0.45) and symptom severity of fibromyalgia (R 2 = 0.24; p < 0.05, partial r = −0.40) |
| Crane et al. (2014) | 40 min × 6 days a week, both formal and informal practices required | CD of formal mindfulness exercises | Self-report weekly diary of home-practice | Reported formal practices on average 3.36 days per week, average duration was 21.31 min. Mean no. of units of informal practice was 80.44 over treatment | 26.51% | A significant positive association between mean daily duration of formal home-practice and outcome in MBCT was found. Those who practiced on an average of 3 or more days per week were approximately half as likely to relapse to depression over 12 months of follow-up as those who practiced less frequently [B = −0.03, SE = 0.013, Wald (1) = 5.51, p = 0.018, HR = 0.97, Cl = 0.947 to 0.995] No association between amount of informal home-practice and time to relapse was found [B = −0.002 (SE = 0.002), Wald 1.74, p = 0.19, HR = 1.00, Cl = 0.99 to 1.00] |
| Day et al. (2016) | 45 min × 6 days a week, practice | No information noted | Self-report daily meditation practice diary (online administration) | Reported a mean total of 21.69 h of practice throughout MBCT programme | 60.25% | In-session engagement significantly positively predicted client attendance (β = 0.454; R 2 = 0.207; F 1,19 = 4.945; p = 0.038; power = 0.6) and time spent in at-home meditation practice throughout treatment (β = 0.482; R 2 = 0.232; F 1, 19 = 5.749; p = 0.027; power = 0.7). Fidelity ratings were not associated with amount of home-practice (p > 0.05) |
| Davidson et al. (2003) | Assigned formal and informal practices 1 h × 6 days a week | Guided audio-tapes to guide mindfulness practices | Self-report daily log of the frequency, number of minutes and techniques of formal meditation practice | Reported mean practice on 2.48 days out of 6 and mean practice 16.19 min per time after intervention, after 4 month follow-up reported mean practice on 1.70 days out of 6 and mean practice 14.21 min per time | 14.87% | There were no significant associations between the measures of practice and brain activity or biological or self-report measures |
| Dimidjian et al. (2016) | Specific practices assigned for 6 days each week but amount of time not specifically reported | Audio-files to guide mindfulness practices and a DVD to guide yoga practice | Self-report weekly log of no. of times and type of home-practice | 67% provided practice data, on average practicing 30 out of the 42 assigned days, with a higher total frequency of informal practice than formal practice | Could not be calculated | None reported |
| Gross et al. (2011) | 45 min of meditation × 6 days a week for 8 weeks and 20 min daily for 3 months follow-up | Audio-files of recorded meditations and handouts of assignments | Tracked electronically using a pocket size logger which participants turned on every time they began a meditation | 17 patients reported practice data mean 23.7 min per day during intervention and 16 participants reported 21.8 min per day during follow-up | 61.44% | Reductions in DBAS-16 and activity limitation due to insomnia scores were significantly predicted by home-practice during intervention period (Spearman’s rho correlations = 0.62 and 0.71, ps < 0.02) |
| Johns et al. (2015) | 20 min practice of body scan, sitting meditation and yoga, no specific guidance reported on number of days per week to practice | Audio-recordings of guided meditations. Participants received $5 for each weekly log submitted | Self-report weekly log of home-practice minutes per day and type of practice | 16/18 submitted practice logs every week, average 35 min practice per day during programme, 6 month follow-up 20 min formal practice on 2 days and informal practice on 3.8 days per week | 45.37% | None reported |
| King et al. (2013) | 15–20 min of formal and informal practice 5 days a week, guidance on informal practice given | Received audio-files of formal mindfulness exercises | Self-report weekly log of home-practice minutes per day and what recordings they had listened to | Reported on average 102.3 min of formal practice per week and 12.2 additional minutes of informal practice on days practice was reported | 37.88% | None reported |
| MacCoon et al. (2012) | 45 min practice 6 days a week, no guidance on what exercises to practice reported | None reported | Self-report weekly log of minutes and sessions of informal home-practice during the MBSR programme and for the 4 month follow-up period | Average 1849 min of practice reported (44 min over 6 days), average 4394 min of practice reported during 4 month follow-up period (25 min 6 days a week) | 85.6% | Home-practice was not related to change in outcome measures for pain or psychological distress (R 2s ≤ 0.06, p > 0.05) |
| Perich et al. (2013) | Formal practice for 5 weeks of programme was 40 min body scan or sitting meditation with CD and 2 weeks without aid of CD for 30–40 min | Received audio-files of formal mindfulness exercises | Self-report weekly log of daily practice. Recorded whether they had engaged in practicing particular exercises, did not measure time spent practicing | 67% provided practice data, mean number of days engaged in at least 1 meditation practice per day was 26.4 days (range 5–44 days) during MBCT programme. 13 noted to continue practice at 12-month follow-up | Could not be calculated | The number of prior bipolar episodes was negatively correlated with number of days practicing [r(23) = −0.512, p = 0.013]. Number of days practicing was not significantly correlated with any of the post-treatment symptoms scores A greater no. of days practicing during the MBCT programme was negatively correlated with depression scores at 12-month follow-up [r(16) = −0.559, p = 0.024] Evidence to suggest that practice was associated with improvements in depression and anxiety symptoms if a minimum of 3 days a week practice was completed during MBCT programme |
| Speca et al. (2000) | Specific weekly guidance on what exercises to practice reported but no information on the duration of practice or how many days a week to practice was stated | Received workbook and audio-tape of guided meditation | Self-report record form of duration of participant’s daily meditation practice | Average total daily practice MBSR group during programme was 32 min | 82.96% | Number of minutes spent engaging in home-practice significantly predicted POMS change scores [F(2, 43) = 3.94, p < 0.03] and accounted for 15.5% of the variance in mood improvement. Number of minutes of practice significantly predicted changes in total mood disturbance [r(81) = 2.73, p < 0.01] |
| Wells et al. (2014) | 45 min per day, 5 days a week | Given guided audio-recordings to follow during practice | Self-report daily logs of home-practice | Daily meditation average 34 ± 11 min, range 16–50 min per day | 88.14% | None reported |
| Whitebird et al. (2012) | No specific guidance reported | Given CDs and written material of home-practice | Self-report measure of minutes per day practice in health behaviour calendars | Reported an average of 6.8 sessions of practice per week and averaged 29.4 min per session during the MBSR programme | 74.04% | None reported |