Affiliations: [a] Biomedical Institute for Global Health Research and Technology, National University of Singapore, Singapore | [b] Department of Psychological Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore | [c] Department of Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Malaysia
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Melvyn W.B. Zhang, National Addictions Management Service, 10 Buangkok Green Medical Park, 539747 Singapore. Tel.: +65 63892504; Fax: +65 63892222; E-mail: melvynzhangweibin@gmail.com.
Note: [1] All the authors contributed equally.
Abstract: In psychiatry, mindfulness based intervention has been increasingly popular as a means of psychosocial intervention over the last decade. With the alvanche of technological advances, there has been a myriad of mindfulness based applications. Recent reviews have highlighted how these applications are lacking in functionalities and without demonstrated efficacy. Other reviews have emphasized that there is a need to take into consideration the design of an application, due to placebo effects. It is the aim of this technical note to illustrate how the 5-Minutes Mindfulness application, which is an application designed to provide mindfulness exercises to relieve distress and suffering amongst palliative patients, have been conceptualized. The conceptualized application builds on previous evidence of the efficacy of 5-Minutes Mindfulness demonstrated by pilot and randomized trials. In terms of design, the currently conceptualized application has been designed such that placebo effects could be controlled for.
Keywords: Mindfulness, smartphone, palliative care
