Adult Colouring Books and their impact on Mindfulness, Stress and Depression Abstract Research has never been conducted supporting the validity and effectiveness of Adult colouring books. Despite similar research supporting a logical basis for its effect. The current study used a sample of Coventry University Undergraduate students to test how it effects Mindfulness, Stress and Depression levels in Students. Jodie L. Enderby, enderbyj@uni.coventry.ac.uk, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Supervised by Karen Maher Average differences between the dependent variables at baseline compared to post-intervention Background Adult colouring books became a fast-emerging trend in 2015, however have never been supported. Although they work on a sound basis and can be supported through existing therapies. E.g. Art therapy (Karkou and Sanderson 2006), Mindfulness-Based Art Therapy (Monti et al. 2005) and Mindfulness therapy (Keng, Smoski and Robins 2013), which have all been found to help with stress and depression. They have also been found to help with depression in students (McIndoo et al. 2016). As they work on a similar theoretical basis's to Adult colouring books it suggests that Adult colouring books may help with Stress and Depression in Students as a valid cheaper form of therapy. The current hypothesis states that there will be a difference between the scores in depression, stress and mindfulness for students’ scores in the Baseline condition compared to the scores in the Post- intervention condition. Discussion Similar results to the support of the basis studies (Monti et al. 2005; Kim 2013; Bozcuk 2017; Kim, Kim and Nomura 2016). No control group Can’t account that every time slot was used Students and busy- may not have had time However, first study of its kind Ensures promising results for future investigation. Methods 44 Ppts (4 male- 40 female) Range from 18 to 33 (SD= 2.81, M= 20.3). Coventry undergraduates studying 93% HLS and 7% EEC. Using a within participants design. 3 questionnaires were Administered pre- and post- intervention for: Becks Depression Inventory (Beck et al 1961) Perceived Stress scale (Cohen, Kamarck and Mermelstein 1983) Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (Brown and Ryan 2003) Participated in 15 minutes of colouring, every other day, for 4 weeks. Results Bonferroni's adjustment revealed that p= <0.005 should be lowered to p= <0.0016. T-tests reveal a significant difference between Mindfulness t (43) = -5.94, p = .000), Stress (t (44) = 5.03, p= 0.000) and Depression (t (44) = 5.05, p= .000), between pre-and post- intervention. This supports the current hypothesis. References Beck, A.T., Ward, C.H., Mendelson, M.M., Mock, J.J., and Erbaugh, J.J. (1961) ‘An Inventory for Measuring Depression.’ Archives of General Psychiatry 4 (6), 561 Bozcuk, H., Ozcan, K., Erdogan, C., Mutlu, H., Demir, M. and Coskun, S. (2017) "A Comparative Study of Art Therapy in Cancer Patients Receiving Chemotherapy and Improvement In Quality Of Life By Watercolor Painting". Complementary Therapies in Medicine 30, 67-72 Brown, K. and Ryan, R. (2003) "The Benefits of Being Present: Mindfulness and Its Role in Psychological Well-Being.". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 84 (4), 822-848 Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., and Mermelstein, R. (1983) ‘A Global Measure of Perceived Stress.’ Journal of Health and Social Behavior 24 (4), 385 Karkou, V. and Sanderson, P. (2006) Arts Therapies - A Research-Based Map of The Field. 1st edn. Churchill Livingstone Keng, S., Smoski, M. and Robins, C. (2011) "Effects of Mindfulness on Psychological Health: A Review of Empirical Studies". Clinical Psychology Review 31 (6), 1041-1056 Kim, H., Kim, K. and Nomura, S. (2016) "The Effect of Group Art Therapy on Older Korean Adults with Neurocognitive Disorders". The Arts in Psychotherapy 47, 48-54 Kim, S. (2013) "A Randomized, Controlled Study of The Effects of Art Therapy on Older Korean-Americans’ Healthy Aging". The Arts in Psychotherapy 40 (1), 158-164 McIndoo, C., File, A., Preddy, T., Clark, C. and Hopko, D. (2016) "Mindfulness-Based Therapy and Behavioral Activation: A Randomized Controlled Trial with Depressed College Students". Behaviour Research and Therapy 77, 118-128 Monti, D.A., Peterson, C., Kunkel, E.J.S., Hauck, W.W., Pequignot, E., Rhodes, L., and Brainard, G.C. (2006) ‘A Randomized, Controlled Trial of Mindfulness-Based Art Therapy (MBAT) for Women with Cancer.’ Psycho-Oncology 15 (5), 363–373