The Impact of a Race-Based Stress Reduction Intervention

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn whether a stress reduction program called Resilience, Stress, and Ethnicity (RiSE) improves well-being, inflammation, and the epigenome in African American (AA) women who have risk factors for heart or metabolic disease.

The main question it aims to answer is whether an intervention that integrates cognitive-behavioral strategies focused on the impact that social stress, such as racism, has on the body, racial identity development, and empowerment.

Participants will placed in one of the two following groups:

* The RiSE program will focus on teaching participants how to reduce their stress levels and will meet online weekly for approximately 2 hours each week for 8 consecutive weeks.
* The Health Education program will include education on how to improve general health and will meet online weekly for approximately 2 hours each week for 8 consecutive weeks.

Participants will provide saliva to measure cytokines and DNA methylation (DNAm), complete questionnaires, and have blood pressure, heart rate, and weight measured at the following clinic visits:

1. Prior to starting the intervention
2. Mid-way through the intervention (Week 4)
3. End of the intervention (Week 8)
4. Six (6) months after the completion of the intervention

Conditions

• Racism
• Stress
• Inflammation

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

RiSE

RiSE provides participants with a platform to share the emotional impact of race-based stress and to offer supportive listening to their peers. Participants explicitly discuss the experiences they have as African American women, taking into account the ways which the interaction between their racial and gender identities shapes their experiences. Facilitators review difficulties associated with addressing racism and unique experiences of Black women at interpersonal and structural levels, and provide evidence of strategies to promote effective communication and internal emotional regulation regarding experiences of racism. Facilitators provide psychoeducation on intersectionality, structural racism, overt racism, microaggressions, and internalized racism. Following this education, facilitators help participants utilize cognitive-behavioral strategies to understand consequent thoughts, feelings, and actions associated with such experiences.

BEHAVIORAL

HEP

The HEP group will consist of classes focusing on wellness promotion. Expert speakers provide the HEP classes (e.g dietician, pharmacist).

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Columbia University

  collaborator OTHER

• Loyola University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Karen Saban, RN, PhD · Loyola University Chicago

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

50 Years

Max Age

75 Years

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-10-18

Primary Completion

2028-01-31

Completion

2028-01-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations