Mind the T-Square: Mindfulness-Based stress reduction for design students and its modes of action on studio performance and critique anxiety

This study investigates the effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on the studio performance and critique anxiety of design students. Nine interior architecture students in their fourth year at a private university in Istanbul, Turkey, were recruited for the study. Qualitative data related to their perceived stress levels as well as studio performance were collected both during and after a standard, eight-week MBSR program. The data were then coded and analyzed per the principles of grounded theory, until thematic saturation was reached. The results show that MBSR has the potential to improve students’ studio performance as well as their well-being in general. Over the eight weeks of MBSR intervention, study participants observed a steady reduction in their stress and anxiety levels, better focus on design problems, a motivation to work more, a reduction in seeking perfectionism, having obsessive thoughts, and indulging in self-censoring, better sleep patterns, as well as less fatigue and chronic pain.