Online Mindfulness-Based College for Young Adults

Summary

MB-College (MBC) is an 9-week, 9 session program (i.e., the study intervention being tested in the RCT) providing systematic and intensive training in mindfulness meditation practices, applied to health behaviors relevant to college students and young adults.

The MBC intervention will be administered live, online via the free video conferencing platform, Zoom, to all eligible study participants enrolled in the active arms of the study. In addition to the 9-week, 9 session MBC class, referred to as "standard dose MBC" from here on out, investigators will also be testing a "low-dose MBC" version of the intervention, where each weekly session will run 1.5 hours in length rather than 2.5 hours.

This is a 3-arm randomized controlled trial. The standard-dose and low-dose versions of the MBC intervention will be compared to a third arm of the study, a health education active control group. Members of the control group will be offered the MBC class upon completion of the research study.

The Study Aims are to: (1) Evaluate feasibility and acceptability of MBC delivered in two online formats (standard dose vs. low dose). (2) Evaluate impacts of MBC standard-dose vs. MBC low-dose vs. health education control group on health conditions relevant for emerging adults, demonstrated to be influenced by MBC in a prior study, specifically depressive symptoms, loneliness, and sedentary activity. (3) Explore mechanisms by which MBC may exert effects on aforementioned health conditions, including interoceptive awareness, decentering, and perceived stress.

Participant Population: young adults aged 18-29 years of age, residing in the United States who screen eligible will be invited to enroll. Students will be screened using a two-part process taking place online. Research assessments at baseline and 3-month will take place digitally using Qualtrics, LLC (Provo, UT, USA) survey management tool. Participants will be sent secure links via email that can be accessed with their participant identification number.

Enrolled participants will be randomly assigned to one of three groups: (1) standard MBC; (2) low-dose MBC or (3) health education control group. The control group will be given the opportunity to participate in the intervention after the study MBC course is completed and follow-up assessments have been administered.

Conditions

• Depressive Symptoms
• Loneliness
• Sedentary Behavior
• Mindfulness
• Physical Activity
• Diet
• Sleep
• Emotional Regulation
• Alcohol Consumption, Youth
• Stress, Psychological

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Mindfulness-Based College for Young Adults

MB-College (MBC) is a 9-week, 9 session curriculum providing systematic and intensive training in mindfulness meditation practices, applied to health behaviors relevant to young adults (18-29). The curriculum, which is based on the manualized and standardized Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) curriculum is designed to teach participants how to integrate and apply mindfulness in their everyday lives to the range of challenges arising from medical and psychological conditions and life stresses. MBC will be administered live, online via a video conferencing platform to participants enrolled in the active arms of the study: (1) standard dose MBC and (2) low-dose MBC. Standard dose MBC meets once a week for 2.5 hours for 9 weeks, while low-dose MBC meets for 1.5 hours per week for 9 weeks. There is an all-day retreat that takes place around week six of the program that applies to both MBC programs.

OTHER

Health Education for Young Adults

The health education control group will receive young adult-specific online health resources offered through www.youngwomenshealth.org and www.youngmenshealthsite.org. Both websites provide resources to improve mental and physical health, and include opportunities to ask health questions, and learn ways to improve mental and physical well-being.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Eric Loucks

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Eric B Loucks, PhD · Mindfulness Center at Brown University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

TRIPLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

29 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2020-10-09

Primary Completion

2021-12-31

Completion

2021-12-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations