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Objectives <p>The prevalence of mental health disorders globally is increasing, and contemplative practices (such as meditation/mindfulness) are recommended by many health professionals to address this issue. These practices now need to be carefully evaluated for safety, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness. We aimed to investigate key data to inform future economic evaluations in this area via a cross-sectional, nationally representative survey of the Australian population.</p> Method <p>We compared quality-of-life scores across groups using regression analysis to account for group differences. Self-reported health service use (general, mental, complementary) was compared across groups (not needed, unmet need, used service) and index-scores. Self-reported practice cost estimates were investigated across contemplative practices (e.g. meditation, yoga) for a range of cost types (e.g. classes, travel, donations).</p> Results <p>The sample included 445 meditators, 1034 other contemplative practitioners and 586 non-practitioners, with large demographic differences between groups. Unadjusted quality-of-life scores were significantly higher for non-practitioners compared to practitioners. Differences were maintained when demographic variables were added to the model, but not when mental health service use was included as a covariate. We estimated that 8.9% of the sample had unmet mental-health service need and that this was highest in the meditation group (13.9%) compared to the non-practitioner group (2.4%). The average cost of any contemplative practice (including meditation) was estimated at&#xa0;$1,281 per person.</p> Conclusions <p>This study provides preliminary evidence on potentially suitable variables for estimating costs and effects for conducting cost-effectiveness studies of contemplative practices. EQ-HWB-9 index scores performed well as an outcome measure in this population.</p> Preregistration <p>The initial study was preregistered at Open Science Framework osf.io/etkh4. The current paper is additional to the preregistered research questions.</p>

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Quality of Life, Healthcare Use and Cost of Practice From a Nationally-Representative Australian Survey to Inform Future Economic Evaluations of Contemplative Practices

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年2月25日

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  • Cate Bailey,
  • Nicholas Van Dam,
  • Jonathan N Davies,
  • Chris Schilling,
  • Julieta Galante

摘要

Objectives

The prevalence of mental health disorders globally is increasing, and contemplative practices (such as meditation/mindfulness) are recommended by many health professionals to address this issue. These practices now need to be carefully evaluated for safety, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness. We aimed to investigate key data to inform future economic evaluations in this area via a cross-sectional, nationally representative survey of the Australian population.

Method

We compared quality-of-life scores across groups using regression analysis to account for group differences. Self-reported health service use (general, mental, complementary) was compared across groups (not needed, unmet need, used service) and index-scores. Self-reported practice cost estimates were investigated across contemplative practices (e.g. meditation, yoga) for a range of cost types (e.g. classes, travel, donations).

Results

The sample included 445 meditators, 1034 other contemplative practitioners and 586 non-practitioners, with large demographic differences between groups. Unadjusted quality-of-life scores were significantly higher for non-practitioners compared to practitioners. Differences were maintained when demographic variables were added to the model, but not when mental health service use was included as a covariate. We estimated that 8.9% of the sample had unmet mental-health service need and that this was highest in the meditation group (13.9%) compared to the non-practitioner group (2.4%). The average cost of any contemplative practice (including meditation) was estimated at $1,281 per person.

Conclusions

This study provides preliminary evidence on potentially suitable variables for estimating costs and effects for conducting cost-effectiveness studies of contemplative practices. EQ-HWB-9 index scores performed well as an outcome measure in this population.

Preregistration

The initial study was preregistered at Open Science Framework osf.io/etkh4. The current paper is additional to the preregistered research questions.