Participants
bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, psychotic disorders
Our investigation comprises two distinct phases of studies: Phase 1 was conducted over the course of one academic year at a single large public university (University of Wisconsin-Madison, denoted as University A) with one intervention group and one wait-list control group. Phase 2 was conducted over the course of multiple years at University A with a larger participant population (in comparison to Phase 1) and at a second large public university (University of Virginia, denoted as University B), with an intervention group and a wait-list control group in each of two cohort years (Year 1 and Year 2). University A is classified by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education as a research doctoral university with very high research activity, located in the Midwest of the United States; University B is in the same Carnegie classification, but located in the Mid-Atlantic.The human subject participation was approved and overseen by the Education and Social/Behavioral Science Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (ID#2016–0917 for Phase 1 and ID#2018–1055 for Phase 2). All research was performed in accordance with relevant guidelines/regulations and informed consent was obtained from all participants. The IRB granted a waiver of signed consent so that the Research Participation Information and Consent Form could be obtained online.The Phase 1 participants were recruited from the general population of M.S. and Ph.D. graduate students in engineering departments at University A who identified themselves as being engaged in engineering research. People with a history of schizophrenia spectrum, bipolar disorders, or other psychotic disorders were excluded from participation. Participants were recruited through paper and electronic advertisements citing the general benefits of mindfulness training. The participants were randomly assigned to either an intervention group or a wait-list control group. This strategy enabled all participants to eventually receive the training while allowing for the control of many variables during data collection [