Objective To examine the effects of a mindfulness intervention on mental and physical quality of life (QOL) among male collegiate athletes. Participants 327 male Division I collegiate athletes. Methods QOL was measured among 527 participants using the Veterans Rand-12 survey twice annually from 2017-2020. 101 athletes underwent 6-week mindfulness training in spring 2019. The influence of mindfulness on mental and physical QOL scores (MCS, PCS) was evaluated using linear mixed effects models with season (winter, summer), group (mindfulness, control), time (pre/post-intervention) and time*group interaction as fixed effects and individual as a random effect. Results PCS was associated with the interaction between time and group (B=1.05 +/- 0.51, p=0.04) and season (B=-0.80 +/- 0.24, p=0.001), but not time (B=-0.40 +/- 0.37, p=0.27) or group (B=0.43 +/- 0.44, p=0.33). Conclusion Mindfulness training is associated with improved physical QOL among male collegiate athletes, but did not appear to be associated with differences in mental QOL.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

This study did not receive any funding.

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The Institutional Review Board of the University of Wisconsin - Madison gave ethical approval for this work.

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