Developing and validating a localised, self-training mindfulness programme for older Singaporean adults

Year Submitted: 2025
Published Date: 06 November 2025

Tags: Care Continuum, Population Health, Mental Health, Quality Of Life, Training ＆ Education, Learning Approach, Self-Directed Learning

About this Content

Aims

There is a paucity of research available on the effect of mindfulness on cognitive function. However, the topic has recently gained more attention due to the ageing population in Singapore, catalysed by recent findings on brain function and cellular ageing. Recognising the potential benefits of practising mindfulness, we aimed to develop a localised, self-training mindfulness programme, guided by expert practitioners and usability testing, for older Singaporean adults.

Methods

We recruited 30 participants (English- or Mandarin-speaking) who were aged 55 years. A total of 23 participants who met the eligibility criteria (Mini-Mental State Examination score 25 and Geriatric Depression Scale score 5) were eventually included in the study. 13 of the participants were from a senior activity centre and ten were from a database of research participants. Participants were assigned to the experimental group or active control group based on a randomised block design using an online research
randomiser. Before testing, participants baseline performance for the cognitive outcome measures (Table I) was assessed. During the two-week intervention, the experimental group practised mindfulness exercises following the guided DVD programme for about 20 minutes per day, five days per week, while the active control group watched an educational video series on the history of kungfu. Participants from the Centre for Ageing Studies database did the training at home using the DVD, with a training log to monitor their training compliance. The participants recruited from the senior activity centre, who had healthy function, did the same training at the centre following the assigned DVD programme, with experimenters present to set up the audio-visual equipment, record training attendance and provide minimal prompts. After testing, participants underwent the same cognitive assessments.

Results

At baseline, there were no significant differences between the experimental and active control groups for both demographic variables (years of education: experimental 5.00 4.00 vs. control 7.18 5.60, p = 0.29; and age: experimental 72.92 9.37 vs. control 72.45 9.32, p = 0.91) and cognitive performance (Table II). Taken together, there was an overall improvement in the mindfulness and executive functions of the participants. Nonetheless, the improvement in the training group was not significantly greater than in the control group (p = 0.34). In order to conduct a manipulation check, we included the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale to measure the level of mindfulness of participants before and after training; the results suggested a general improvement. Although the training group improved as hypothesised following the mindfulness programme, the improvement was not significantly greater than that of the active control group. This could be due to the limitations of the self-report method, which a significant proportion of participants had some difficulty understanding.

Lessons Learnt

This pilot study has partially shown that short-term gains from mindfulness training are possible, which is consistent with studies from Mrazek et al and Zeidan et al.(19,22)
Nonetheless, future studies are needed to determine the long-term impact of consistent mindfulness training over a longer period of time. More empirical evidence is needed from the nascent but burgeoning research on the effects of mindfulness on cognition. The present study is an attempt to answer this need. It makes an incremental contribution to the field as a pilot study to show the feasibility and potential cognitive benefits of a self-training mindfulness programme that merits further investigation on a larger scale. Future research can explore other training formats, including mobile applications, to propagate mindfulness training.

Additional Information

This study was supported by internal funding from Temasek Polytechnic, Singapore. We thank Chan Ying Ying, Lim Ayaka, Muhhamad Syafiq Md Yusof, Poh Wei Jun and Saloni Shirish Balekundri for the development of the training material. We are grateful to Dr Ong Seh Hong, Eelin Ong and Dr Phang Cheng Kar for their valuable advice in developing the materials; AWWA Senior Activity Centre for support in recruitment and the training facility; Wei Kong, Chua Ping Tzeun, and Dr Tan Wah Pheow for their advice in project planning; and more importantly, all the research participants who made this study possible.

Keywords

ageing, cognition, mindfulness, pilot study

Innovators' Details

Connect with this contributor!

Devin Chew Sim Chee - chee_chew_sim@tp.edu.sg

Project Attachment

169_TP_TPCABS_Developing_and_validating_a_localised_self-training_mindfulness_programme_for_older_Singaporean_adults.pdf