An interventional study of Guided Mindfullness Group and Breathing Exercise Group in Anxiety and Worry, Exam Anxiety and Self Esteem, sponsored by Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University. Completed at 1 site in Turkey (Türkiye). Open to participants aged 18 Years to 30 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-11-04.
Sponsored by Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
This study compared the effects of guided mindfulness and breathing exercises on mindfulness, self-esteem, and anxiety in university students. Mindfulness means paying attention to present-moment experiences without judgment. The researchers expected both programs to improve mindfulness and self-esteem and reduce anxiety compared with continuing usual daily activities.
The study included three groups: a mindfulness group, a breathing exercise group, and a no-intervention control group. Students in the two intervention groups attended face-to-face group sessions lasting 20-25 minutes each day for five days. The control group continued usual daily activities without receiving a study intervention.
Questionnaires were completed before and immediately after the five-day study period. These assessed mindfulness, self-esteem, anxiety at the time of assessment, the general tendency to experience anxiety, and examination-related anxiety. Changes were compared across the three groups.
University students face academic demands that may contribute to anxiety, including anxiety associated with examinations. Brief mindfulness and breathing programs offer approaches that can be delivered within a short period. Comparing programs with the same session frequency and duration allows their relative effects to be examined under a similar time commitment.
The study compared each active program with a no-intervention control group and compared the two active programs with each other. The control group provided a reference for changes occurring over the same assessment period.
Both active programs included attention to breathing. Their comparison therefore concerned the complete programs as delivered, including their shared and distinct components. The study also examined the hypothesis that guided mindfulness would produce greater improvements in mindfulness and anxiety than breathing exercises.
7,201 studies on the registry are indexed under Anxiety Disorders; 1,682 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 106 is above the median of 80 across 6,057 interventional studies indexed under Anxiety Disorders.
Browse Anxiety Disorders studies →Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University is the lead sponsor of 51 studies on the registry; 17 are open to participants now.
Compared within Anxiety Disorders, the registry's first condition term, which may not be this study's main condition. Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily. How we classify →
IInclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Participants received a guided mindfulness program consisting of face-to-face group sessions lasting 20-25 minutes daily for five consecutive days. Sessions focused on body awareness, breath awareness, and observing thoughts, emotions, and sensations in the present moment without judgment.
Behavioral: Guided Mindfullness Group
Participants received a guided breathing exercise program consisting of face-to-face group sessions lasting 20-25 minutes daily for five consecutive days. The program included breath awareness, diaphragmatic breathing, slow controlled breathing with equal inhalation and exhalation durations, and breathing with a prolonged exhalation. The final session focused on applying the techniques to examination-related stress.
Behavioral: Breathing Exercise Group
Participants continued their usual daily activities during the five-day study period. No study intervention was provided. Outcome questionnaires were completed at the same time points as in the intervention groups: before the study period and immediately after the five-day period.
Participants received a guided mindfulness program consisting of face-to-face group sessions lasting 20-25 minutes daily for five consecutive days. Sessions focused on body awareness, breath awareness, and observing thoughts, emotions, and sensations in the present moment without judgment.
Participants received a guided breathing exercise program consisting of face-to-face group sessions lasting 20-25 minutes daily for five consecutive days. The program included breath awareness, diaphragmatic breathing, slow controlled breathing with equal inhalation and exhalation durations, and breathing with a prolonged exhalation. The final session focused on applying the techniques to examination-related stress.
Change in Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire-Short Form (FFMQ-SF) Total Score
Dispositional mindfulness was assessed using the Turkish version of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire-Short Form (FFMQ-SF). This self-report questionnaire contains 20 items rated on a five-point scale from 1 to 5. After appropriate reverse scoring, total scores range from 20 to 100, with higher scores indicating greater mindfulness. Change was calculated as the post-intervention total score minus the baseline total score. Positive change values indicate increased mindfulness, whereas negative values indicate decreased mindfulness.
Time frame: Baseline (before the five-day study period) and Day 5 (immediately after completion of the five-day study period)
Change in State-Trait Anxiety Inventory State Anxiety Subscale (STAI-S) Total Score
State anxiety was assessed using the state anxiety subscale of the Turkish State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-S). This 20-item self-report scale measures anxiety at the time of assessment. Items are rated on a four-point scale from 1 to 4. After appropriate reverse scoring, total scores range from 20 to 80, with higher scores indicating greater state anxiety. Change was calculated as the post-intervention total score minus the baseline total score. Negative change values indicate reduced anxiety.
Time frame: Baseline (before the five-day study period) and Day 5 (immediately after completion of the five-day study period)
Change in State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Trait Anxiety Subscale (STAI-T) Total Score
Trait anxiety was assessed using the trait anxiety subscale of the Turkish State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T). This 20-item self-report scale measures the general tendency to experience anxiety across situations. Items are rated on a four-point scale from 1 to 4. After appropriate reverse scoring, total scores range from 20 to 80, with higher scores indicating greater trait anxiety. Change was calculated as the post-intervention total score minus the baseline total score. Negative change values indicate reduced anxiety.
Time frame: Baseline (before the five-day study period) and Day 5 (immediately after completion of the five-day study period)
Change in Multidimensional Test Anxiety Scale (MTAS) Total Score
Test anxiety was assessed using the Turkish version of the Multidimensional Test Anxiety Scale (MTAS). This 16-item self-report scale covers worry, cognitive interference, tension, and physiological indicators of test anxiety. Items are rated on a five-point scale from 1 to 5. Total scores range from 16 to 80, with higher scores indicating greater test anxiety. Change was calculated as the post-intervention total score minus the baseline total score. Negative change values indicate reduced test anxiety.
Time frame: Baseline (before the five-day study period) and Day 5 (immediately after completion of the five-day study period)
Change in Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) Total Score
Self-esteem was assessed using the 10-item Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES). Responses were scored from 0 to 3, with appropriate reverse scoring applied to obtain a summated total score ranging from 0 to 30. Higher scores indicate greater self-esteem. Change was calculated as the post-intervention total score minus the baseline total score. Positive change values indicate increased self-esteem, whereas negative values indicate decreased self-esteem.
Time frame: Baseline (before the five-day study period) and Day 5 (immediately after completion of the five-day study period)
Plan to share: No — De-identified individual participant data underlying the study results, together with the analysis code and data audit log, will be available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Sharing will be subject to the conditions of the ethics approval and participant consent, with appropriate measures to protect participant confidentiality.
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Ran from Apr 2026 to primary completion in Apr 2026, 0 months.
Of 3,836 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Anxiety Disorders, half reached primary completion within 12 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 5 and three quarters within 28. This study's 0 months is below that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 3,938 studies reached it within 12 months; a quarter within 5 and three quarters within 28.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
This study is completed, as verified in Oct 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University