Engagement With Meditation Apps: Cross-Sectional Survey of Use and Associations.

Résumé

BACKGROUND: Meditation apps are increasingly popular, yet there is limited understanding of how much users actually engage with them. While meditation apps show promise for supporting mental health, engagement in real-world settings appears to be notably low. The patterns of app use and the factors that influence usage remain relatively unclear.OBJECTIVE: This study aims to examine the extent of meditation app use and the factors associated with user engagement.METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 536 recent meditation app users across 5 English-speaking countries. Engagement data were collected via self-report and app-verified screenshots. Assessed factors included user characteristics (age, education, income, sex, country, personality, self-efficacy, readiness and expectations for change, self-compassion, and quality of life), mental health (distress, well-being, life satisfaction, anxiety, depression, support, and stress), and app-related elements (therapeutic alliance, appeal, functionality, aesthetics, information, quality, and perceived impact). The 4 outcome variables representing engagement were app-verified minutes, self-reported minutes, app-verified minutes per year (adjusted for app download date), and self-reported minutes per year (adjusted for app download date). Associations between app use and variables of interest were examined using correlations. Factors with significant associations were then included in multivariable regression models to identify those most strongly associated with engagement.RESULTS: Age (ρ=0.13-0.15, PP, where FDR is false discovery rate), expectations for sleep (ρ=0.12-0.33, P