Integrated online fantasy football platform promotes meditation activity among male-identifying undergraduate students

Given the growing burden of mental health disorders, the use of smartphone-based mindfulness meditation applications has drastically increased. However, such applications have failed to attract a substantial base of male users and suffer from poor adherence across genders, which might be due to a lack of basic psychological need satisfaction (BPNS), a determinant of intrinsic motivation. It was theorized that online fantasy sports could compensate for possible shortcomings of conventional meditation apps by inspiring consistent usage among men. Using a randomized control trial design, this study tested an eight-week, gamified meditation program linking the mechanics of fantasy sports to weekly meditation goals (termed “mindful fantasy sports”) against using a mindfulness-based meditation app alone in a sample of men (n = 24). A secondary aim of the study was to determine whether mindful fantasy sports were more intrinsically motivating than conventional meditation apps by measuring BPNS. The current findings showed participants in the mindful fantasy sports group meditated significantly more often (Mexp = 36.73 sessions, Mcon = 22.46 sessions, p = .03) and for a significantly longer cumulative duration (Mexp = 404.00 min, Mcon = 277.31 min, p < .01) than peers in the control condition. In addition, those playing mindful fantasy sports reported higher degrees of BPNS, specifically higher competence satisfaction (Mexp = 5.19, Mcon = 4.54, p = .03). These findings support the contention that mindful fantasy sports can effectively promote male engagement with meditation apps. Mindful fantasy sports are a tool that could be deployed to address growing mental health issues, and the current study provides insight into motivational and behavioral factors of male undergraduate students interacting with a digital mental health tool that can be applied to future interventions.