21. The synergistic effect of mindfulness training combined with employment guidance on the mental health of college graduates

Abstract Background With the continuous intensification of social competition and the rapid changes in the market, the employment pressure on college graduates after completing their studies is becoming increasingly severe. This pressure not only stems from the uncertainty of the job market, but also includes anxiety about the transformation of social roles and future career paths. Under the combined effect of these factors, college students have developed serious mental health problems. Mental health issues not only affect college students' personal social skills, but also their long-term career development and personal growth. Therefore, this study explores the promoting effect of mindfulness training combined with employment guidance on the mental health of college graduates, with the aim of providing a scientific basis for mental health education and career development guidance in colleges and universities. Methods The study adopted a randomized controlled trial design, randomly dividing 300 college graduates into the mindfulness training group + employment guidance group, the employment guidance group and the control group, with 100 students in each group. The mindfulness training group received an 8-week mindfulness training course, the employment guidance group received an 8-week employment guidance course, and the control group received no intervention at all. Before and after the intervention, the mental health status of the participants was evaluated using anxiety scales and depression scales. Results The test results of each group on different mental health indicators are shown in Table 1. As shown in Table 1, both the mindfulness training group and the employment guidance group demonstrated significant improvements in all mental health indicators, with the improvement in the mindfulness training + employment guidance group being even more remarkable (p<.001). The anxiety score and depression score of the mindfulness training + employment guidance group decreased from 49.2 ± 5.3 and 50.2 ± 6.7 before the intervention to 37.4 ± 4.9 and 38.4 ± 5.5 after the intervention, respectively. The improvement effect was significantly better than that of the other two groups. This result indicates that the combined use of the two intervention methods has a synergistic effect. Mindfulness training combined with employment guidance not only helps alleviate psychological problems such as anxiety and depression among college graduates, but also effectively promotes their mental health. Discussion The results of this study indicate that the combined use of mindfulness training and career guidance can provide support simultaneously from both psychological and career aspects, helping graduates better cope with employment pressure and life challenges. Future research can further explore the synergy between mindfulness training and employment guidance, as well as how to better integrate these two intervention methods into mental health education in colleges and universities.