Evaluating an Instructional Resource Used for Teaching and Learning Meditation: a Pilot Study

Abstract

Millions of Americans have learned some form of meditation, including mindfulness, mantra, and spiritual meditation. The majority of them learned on their own, comparatively few consulting a practitioner or attending a meditation class to receive instruction. Despite persistent consumer interest, there is limited research on meditation instruction. As interest in meditation continues to grow, the need for information on instructional best practices becomes increasingly important. For this reason, an instructional resource was developed that provided a simple heuristic for understanding and navigating meditation practice. A consumer-oriented pilot study was conducted to evaluate the resource in terms of perceived benefit, memorability, and satisfaction. The majority of participants reported it to be beneficial for understanding and practicing meditation and were able to recall the four elements of the resource correctly following a 3-week latency period and indicated general satisfaction with the resource. Meditation practice on days using versus not using the resource was also longer. Results suggest that a simple meditation resource can be of benefit in meditation instruction and practice.