Mindful Response to Adversity: A Brief Stress Resilience Training

NCT ID: NCT04064372

Last Updated: 2020-03-03

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 114 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2019-08-26
• Study Completion Date: 2019-12-13

Brief Summary

The investigators will conduct an intervention study with the aim of improving stress resilience and mental health outcomes in at-risk freshman students. Participants will attend a group training session, led by a professional instructor, about responding to adversity, which will include a description of the skills, a writing and sharing activity focused on the proposed approach, and a practice session. Following the training, participants will be instructed to practice the skills that the participants just learned during a group version of a standard stress-induction task called the Trier Social Stress Task (the TSST-G).

Detailed Description

The investigators will conduct an intervention study with the aim of improving stress resilience and mental health outcomes in at-risk freshman students. The investigators will also work closely with institutional officials to assess whether the intervention can improve student well-being. Specifically, the project aims to teach freshman students (who are at high risk for depression) skills in how to foster a mindful response to adversity at the beginning of the school term, along with periodic support reminders (via text message) during high stress/vulnerability periods over the course of the semester. The investigators will adopt a randomized controlled trial approach to rigorously evaluate whether this intervention can be adopted as a standard onboarding program for all incoming freshman students during the first weeks of orientation on the CMU campus. Participants will come for the study session and provide a dried blood spot sample and complete a battery of self-report questionnaires.

Participants will attend a group training session, led by a professional instructor, about responding to adversity, which will include a description of the skills, a writing and sharing activity focused on the proposed approach, and a practice session. Following the training, participants will be instructed to practice the skills that the participants just learned during a group version of a standard stress-induction task called the Trier Social Stress Task (the TSST-G). Salivary cortisol measures will be collected throughout the TSST-G.

The treatment condition will be trained in techniques designed to teach a "mindful approach to adversity". These techniques will include: normalizing, attention, equanimity, non-judgment, de-centering, accepting of experiences, and impermanence. Participants will be instructed on the mindset, asked to write about an instance of non-judgment and share with a partner, and then guided through a short training designed to practice each skill.

The control condition will be trained in techniques designed to teach a typical narrative self-analysis / strengths-based approach to adversity. These techniques will include: choosing the best approach, minimizing stress, and identifying and enhancing personal strengths. Participants will be instructed on the mindset, asked to write about an instance of personal strength and share with a partner, and then guided through a short training designed to practice each skill.

Daily diary measures will be collected for 7 days following the study session and 1 week before the follow-up session. Microhit boosters will be sent to participants at self-identified high stress periods, which remind participants of the training session skills.

Participants will come for the follow-up session and provide a dried blood spot sample and complete a battery of self-report questionnaires.

Conditions

Loneliness; Depression

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

Mindful Response to Adversity

The treatment condition will be trained in techniques designed to teach a "mindful approach to adversity". These techniques will include: normalizing, attention, equanimity, non-judgment, de-centering, accepting of experiences, and impermanence. Participants will be instructed on the mindset, asked to write about an instance of non-judgment and share with a partner, and then guided through a short training designed to practice each skill.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Mindful response to adversity brief training

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Participants will attend a group training session, led by a professional instructor, about responding to adversity with an approach of mindfulness, equanimity, and non-judgment, which will include a description of the skills, a writing and sharing activity focused on the proposed approach, and a practice session. Following the training, participants will be instructed to practice the skills that they just learned during a group version of a standard stress-induction task called the Trier Social Stress Task (the TSST-G).

Strength-based approach to adversity

The control condition will be trained in techniques designed to teach a typical narrative self-analysis / strengths-based approach to adversity. These techniques will include: choosing the best approach, minimizing stress, and identifying and enhancing personal strengths. Participants will be instructed on the mindset, asked to write about an instance of personal strength and share with a partner, and then guided through a short training designed to practice each skill.

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Strengths-based response to adversity brief training

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Participants will attend a group training session, led by a professional instructor, about responding to adversity with an approach of strengths-based, narrative self-analysis, which will include a description of the skills, a writing and sharing activity focused on the proposed approach, and a practice session. Following the training, participants will be instructed to practice the skills that they just learned during a group version of a standard stress-induction task called the Trier Social Stress Task (the TSST-G).

Interventions

Mindful response to adversity brief training

Participants will attend a group training session, led by a professional instructor, about responding to adversity with an approach of mindfulness, equanimity, and non-judgment, which will include a description of the skills, a writing and sharing activity focused on the proposed approach, and a practice session. Following the training, participants will be instructed to practice the skills that they just learned during a group version of a standard stress-induction task called the Trier Social Stress Task (the TSST-G).

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Strengths-based response to adversity brief training

Participants will attend a group training session, led by a professional instructor, about responding to adversity with an approach of strengths-based, narrative self-analysis, which will include a description of the skills, a writing and sharing activity focused on the proposed approach, and a practice session. Following the training, participants will be instructed to practice the skills that they just learned during a group version of a standard stress-induction task called the Trier Social Stress Task (the TSST-G).

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Full-time first-year student at Carnegie Mellon University.
• Adult (age 18+)
• Must own a data-enabled smartphone
• Scores indicating moderate to high levels of depressive symptomatology (composite score > or equal to 2 on the short-form (6-item) Beck Depression Inventory).

Exclusion Criteria

• Potential participants who score a 0 or a 1 on the 6-item BDI section will not be eligible.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Carnegie Mellon University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Locations

Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Countries

United States

References

Kunzler AM, Helmreich I, Konig J, Chmitorz A, Wessa M, Binder H, Lieb K. Psychological interventions to foster resilience in healthcare students. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2020 Jul 20;7(7):CD013684. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD013684.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 32691879 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

182R07SM

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id