The Effect of Mindfulness on Psychophysiological Stress in a Population With Elevated Stress Symptoms

Summary

Stress-related disorders have over the last decade increased and contributed to a worldwide disease burden. At the same time there is limited treatment access for mental health disorders, which has left many people without necessary care. However, in recent years there has been a rise in digital mindfulness interventions. Specifically, these interventions have focused on smartphone-based applications as an effective format for mindfulness training programs. Thus, the goal of this randomized controlled trial is to test the effects of three types of mindfulness programs in a population with elevated stress. The three formats of mindfulness interventions are identical in total training duration but varies in content and intervention length. Specifically, the first intervention consists of programmatic mindfulness content that progress over the course of 30 sessions with a duration of 10 min per session. The second intervention consists of single succinct breathing exercises with no programmatic content over the course of 30 sessions with a duration of 10 min per session. The third intervention consists of mindfulness-based content specifically targeted to people with elevated stress that progress over the course of 20 sessions with a duration of 15 min per session. An active control group listening to an audiobook over the course of 30 sessions with a duration of 10 min per session will be employed and a passive control group.

The study will evaluate outcomes related to subjective stress, sleep quality, mindfulness and physiological effects of stress using HRV.

Conditions

• Psychological Stress
• Physiological Stress

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Headspace Basics Program

30-day smartphone-based mindfulness intervention consisting of 10 minutes per day. The program consist of generic mindfulness techniques such as breath awareness, body scans, mindful noting of thoughts and emotions.

BEHAVIORAL

Headspace Breathing Exercises

30-day smartphone-based breathing exercises. Each exercise consists of box breathing for 1 minute and participants are instructed to complete 10 sessions corresponding to 10 minutes per day.

BEHAVIORAL

Headspace Stress Program

20-day smartphone-based mindfulness intervention consisting of 15 minutes per day. The Stress program content is based on well-established concepts and practices within stress management, and mindfulness, and is targeted to people with elevated stress.

BEHAVIORAL

Active Control (Audiobook)

30-day smartphone-based Audiobook book consisting of 10 minutes per day.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Headspace Health

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• University of Southern Denmark

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Ulrich Kirk, PhD · University of Southern Denmark

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

60 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-11-08

Primary Completion

2022-10-04

Completion

2023-03-01

Countries

• Denmark

Study Locations