Thirty-seven youth between the age of 18 and 35 participated in the 1-day MINDFULGym REST-Shop held in Subang Jaya Buddhist Association (SJBA) on 7th July 2019.
Conducted by Dr. Phang Cheng Kar (consultant psychiatrist and president of Malaysia Association for Mindfulness Practice & Research), the program was attended by an equal number of males and females; the majority were Chinese (97%), Buddhists (89%), and single (87%).
Two weeks after the mindfulness workshop, the participants (n = 37) reported significant improvement with moderate effect sizes in their mindfulness level (10% increase) and stress symptoms (20% reduction).
There were no significant changes in subjective happiness, depression, and anxiety symptoms (could have been worse without the program).
Among those participants who practiced the MINDFULGym exercises regularly for at least half of the days in two weeks (n = 21), there was a significant improvement as well in perceived stress symptoms (20% reduction).
The percentage of participants who ‘strongly agreed’ or ‘agreed’ that the course was easy to understand, practical, and useful were 81%, 68% & 74% respectively. The mindfulness intervention study, first of its kind among youth in Malaysia, is part of Venerable Indaratana's Masters in Counselling research project in Help University.