The Healthy Minds Program Research Snippets
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Center for Healthy Minds · University of Wisconsin-Madison
The Healthy Minds Program:
Who Has It Been Tested With?
A summary of research populations, study designs, practice durations, and key findings. Podmates can download and use the free app here.
Davidson, Dahl & colleagues
Please note: This is prepared for informal reference for Born to Flourish podmates. For the exact context, we recommend you refer to the original studies.
General Adults
Key Findings
- Reduced depression (24%), anxiety (18%), stress (28%)
- Increased social connection
- 70% showed meaningful improvement vs. 49% on waitlist
Practice Duration
Median ~6–7 min/session; only 4 sessions over 8 weeks (~26 min total). Mean user: ~10–11 sessions (~102 min total).
School Employees & Teachers
Reference
Hirshberg et al., 2022
Journal of Educational Psychology
Who & How Long
662 school employees (64% teachers) · 4-week Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) during COVID-19
Key Findings
- Significant reductions in distress
- Improvements in all 6 wellbeing skills
- Gains held at 3-month follow-up
- Equally effective for those with elevated baseline symptoms
Practice Duration
App-based sessions of 5–20 min each, self-paced over 4 weeks. No minimum daily time requirement.
Preservice Teachers
Reference
Hirshberg et al. (attrition RCT)
Who & How Long
98 undergraduate preservice teachers (k=8 clusters) · 9-week intervention · followed up ~4 years later (3 years into teaching careers)
Key Findings
- Teachers who received training were 6× more likely to still be in the classroom 3 years later
- Estimated ROI: $3.43 saved per $1 spent (in replacement teacher costs)
Practice Duration
Standard HMP app sessions; 5–20 min each, self-paced. Duration mirrors the general adult protocol.
Healthcare Professionals
Reference
Hirshberg et al., 2025
JAMA Internal Medicine
Who & How Long
2,315 healthcare workers · 762 facilities · 7 Mexican states · 13-week RCT
Key Findings
- Significant reductions in distress, increases in wellbeing
- Effects persisted for 37 weeks (9 months) post-intervention
- One of the largest and longest-running HMP trials
Practice Duration
App-based sessions of 5–20 min each, self-paced over 13 weeks. No lengthy training sessions required.
Preschool Children (Kindness Curriculum)
Reference
Flook, Goldberg, Pinger & Davidson, 2014
Developmental Psychology
Who & How Long
68 preschool children (avg. age 4.67) · 12-week RCT · 6 public schools
Key Findings
- Higher end-of-year grades in Learning (d=0.54), Health (d=0.56), and Social-Emotional Development (d=0.97)
- Improved social competence; control group grew more selfish over time while KC group held steady
- Children with lowest baseline functioning showed largest gains
- Grade effects held 3 months after the intervention ended
Note: This is the Kindness Curriculum (classroom-based), not the HMP app.
Practice Duration
2 classroom sessions of 20–30 min per week × 12 weeks ≈ 10 hours total. Delivered by mindfulness instructors during regular school hours.
All HMP studies use the same Healthy Minds Program app framework: Awareness, Connection, Insight, and Purpose.