Published Paper Details:

This scoping review maps a decade of empirical research on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and related mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) in India, covering 2016 to 2026. PubMed, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Google Scholar were searched, and reference lists of the retrieved articles were checked by hand so that relevant studies were not missed. Because the literature draws on quite different methodological traditions, studies were sorted by research design rather than lumped together: randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental comparisons, single-group pre-post evaluations, cross-sectional surveys, and descriptive institutional reports. For every study, design, population, setting, outcome measures, and the statistics actually reported were charted, and where a standardized effect size was simply absent from the source, that was recorded as 'not reported' rather than estimated. Indian MBI research has grown considerably since 2020, reflecting rising academic and institutional interest, but the resulting evidence map is methodologically uneven. Randomized controlled trials exist, yet they are concentrated almost entirely among clinical and health populations: chronic pain, diagnosed anxiety, pregnancy, and community adults. Research on working professionals and students depends mainly on quasi-experimental or uncontrolled pre-post designs, which constrains what the findings can actually establish. One study frequently cited as occupational evidence turns out, on inspection, to be a correlational survey with no intervention at all. Of every occupational study charted, only one, Mitra (2025), reported a usable standardised effect size for work stress (Cohen's d = 0.64), and even that came from an uncontrolled design. Taken as a whole, the literature suggests MBSR is culturally workable and practically feasible in India. What it does not yet offer is rigorous, design-appropriate evidence for occupational and corporate populations, particularly within the IT sector, and closing that gap is the clearest priority for future research.