The Effect of Religious Practices on Mental and Spiritual Health

NCT ID: NCT05622604

Last Updated: 2025-10-10

Study Results

Results available

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Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

312 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2022-11-30

Study Completion Date

2023-03-10

Brief Summary

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The goal of this clinical trial is to test the effects of using a religious mobile app (i.e., Pray.com) in participants who have high levels of stress. The main question it aims to answer is:

•What are the effects of using Pray.com on stress in individuals who report high levels of stress?

Participants will complete measures at baseline (i.e., Time 1), four-weeks (i.e., Time 2), and eight weeks (i.e., Time 3). Participants will be randomly assigned one of three conditions: (1) autonomous use (directed to use the app daily), (2) meditative prayer condition (directed to use this feature of the app daily), or (3) wait-list control condition.

Detailed Description

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Participants (N = 300) will be adults recruited through social media and faith-based organizations. Participants will first complete a brief screener to determine eligibility for the study.

Eligible participants will be invited to participate in the study. Participants will read an informed consent document that will give information about the study and their rights as participants. Participants will be given the opportunity to contact the research team and ask questions. If they agree to participate, participants will be randomly assigned to one of three conditions. Condition 1 is the control condition (i.e., no intervention condition). In Condition 2, participants will be given a free subscription to the Pray.com app and will be directed to use the app five days per week (i.e., autonomous use condition). In Condition 3, participants will be given a free subscription to the Pray.com app and will be directed to listen to a meditation prayer five days per week (i.e., meditative prayer condition). Participants will receive periodic reminders on their phone if they have not used the app.

All participants will fill out a series of online questionnaires monthly for a two-month time-period (i.e., Baseline / Time 1, Time 2, and Time 3). Participants will receive a link from the research team when it is time for them to fill out their questionnaire via a secure online data collection portal. After finishing the study, participants will be debriefed and given the opportunity to ask questions about their participation.

Conditions

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Stress

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Participants will be randomly assigned to one of three conditions. Condition 1 is the control condition (i.e., no intervention condition). In Condition 2, participants will be given a free subscription to the Pray.com app and will be directed to use the app five days per week (i.e., autonomous use condition). In Condition 3, participants will be given a free subscription to the Pray.com app and will be directed to listen to a meditation prayer five days per week (i.e., meditative prayer condition).
Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

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no intervention condition

no intervention

Group Type NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

autonomous use condition

Participants will be given a free subscription to the Pray.com app and will be directed to use the app five days per week.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

pray.com app (autonomous use)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Participants will be given a free subscription to the Pray.com app and will be directed to use the app five days per week.

meditative prayer condition

Participants will be given a free subscription to the Pray.com app and will be directed to listen to a meditation prayer five days per week.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

pray.com app (meditative prayer condition)

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Participants will be given a free subscription to the Pray.com app and will be directed to listen to a meditation prayer five days per week.

Interventions

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pray.com app (autonomous use)

Participants will be given a free subscription to the Pray.com app and will be directed to use the app five days per week.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

pray.com app (meditative prayer condition)

Participants will be given a free subscription to the Pray.com app and will be directed to listen to a meditation prayer five days per week.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* over the age of 18
* own a smart phone and be willing to download a mobile app
* willing to engage in a Christian practice on a mobile app
* score of 14 or greater on the Perceived Stress Scale (indicating at least a moderate level of stress)

Exclusion Criteria

* n/a
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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Biola University

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Todd Hall

Professor

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

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Todd Hall, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Biola University

Locations

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Biola University

La Mirada, California, United States

Site Status

Countries

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United States

Provided Documents

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Document Type: Study Protocol, Statistical Analysis Plan, and Informed Consent Form

View Document

Other Identifiers

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F22-011

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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