Participants, recruitment process and allocation procedure
word of mouth
RECRUITMENT
The study was promoted by the Universities of Pavia and Brescia, but the participation was extended to every Italian university. Participants were recruited via digital (social networks and mailing) and non-digital means (word of mouth) in two different recruitment calls (spring and summer calls) therefore representing two different cohorts. Participation was on a voluntary basis; this implies that most students who joined the study were probably inclined and interested towards mindfulness and/or meditation. To promote the participation of many people we offered prizes to a small group of participants drawn by lot.The inclusion criteria were: (Due to the nature of the intervention, participants were aware of their group assignment, were invited to complete all the online questionnaires, and as for the subjects assigned to the intervention group, they were also invited to attend the training sessions on the given dates. In both cohorts, the individuals assigned to the passive control group did not attend any training session and were only asked to complete the same questionnaires as the treatment group. For ethical reasons, to the control group was offered the same intervention at a subsequent time.