Examining equity in access and utilization of a freely available meditation app

Abstract

Digital interventions have the potential to alleviate mental health disparities for marginalized and minoritized communities. The current study examined whether disparities in access and utilization of meditation in the United States (US) were reduced for a freely available meditation app. We analyzed demographic and usage data from US-based users of the Healthy Minds Program (HMP; N = 66,482) between October 2019 and July 2022. College education was associated with a greater likelihood of accessing (65.0% of users vs. 32.9% of the US population) and continuing to utilize the app (β = 0.11–0.17). Conversely, identifying as African American was associated lower likelihood of accessing (5.3% vs. 13.4% of the US population) and continuing to utilize the app (β = −0.02–0.03). African Americans were more likely to access content from an African American meditation teacher, but this did not appear to increase utilization. Additional efforts are warranted to identify factors that might reduce disparities.