Trial Outcomes & Findings for Effects of a Wellbeing Intervention on Inflammation Through Reward and Threat Processes (NCT NCT06294145)

Recruitment was conducted on a rolling basis from February 2024 through March 2025. Participants were recruited via advertisements on the UCLA campus. Thirty undergraduate students meeting eligibility criteria were enrolled into the single-arm intervention study.

Effects of a Wellbeing Intervention on Inflammation Through Reward and Threat Processes

Post-intervention positive affect. Positive affect was assessed via the 10-item positive affect subscale of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS-X). Greater scores indicate higher positive affect (range: 10-50).

Post-intervention negative affect. Negative affect was assessed via the 10-item negative affect subscale of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS-X). Greater scores indicate more negative affect (range: 10-50).

Post-intervention depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms were measured via the 8-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8). The PHQ-8 is a measure of symptom severity, with higher scores indicating greater depressive symptoms (range: 0-24).

Post-intervention anxiety symptoms. Symptoms of anxiety were measured via the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder- 7 (GAD-7). Higher scores on the GAD-7 (range: 0-21) indicate greater severity of symptoms.

Post-intervention perceived stress. Perceived stress was measured via the 4-item Perceived Stress Scale (range: 0-16). Higher scores indicate greater perceived stress levels.

Post-intervention psychological wellbeing. Wellbeing measured via the 14-item Mental Health Continuum - Short Form (MHC-SF) (range: 0-70). Higher scores indicate greater wellbeing.

Post-intervention positive emotions. Positive emotions were measured via the 20-item Modified Differential Emotions Scale (mDES) using the 10 items that ask about positive emotions (range: 0-20). Higher scores indicate greater positive emotions.

Post-intervention reward. Reward was be measured via the 21-item Positive Valence Systems Scale (range: 21-189). Higher scores indicate greater reward activity.

Post-intervention savoring. Measured via 27 questions from the Ways of Savoring Checklist (WOSC) scale. This measure contains five subscales of interest: memory building, sensory-perceptual sharpening, absorption, temporal awareness, and kill-joy thinking items. Each scale was scored by taking the mean. Higher total savoring scores indicate more use of memory building, sensory-perceptual sharpening, absorption, and temporal awareness, as well as less kill-joy thinking. The range is 5 to 35.

Post-intervention interoception. Interoception was measured via the 37-item Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA-2) scale. This measure contains eight subscales: Noticing, Not-Distracting, Not-Worrying, Attention Regulation, Emotional Awareness, Self-Regulation, Body Listening, and Trusting. Each scale was scored by taking the mean (between 0 and 5). The total has a range from 0 to 40.

The primary immune outcome of interest is inflammation assessed through gene expression. Inflammatory gene expression will be measured through a pre-specified set of pro-inflammatory gene transcripts that have previously been shown to be upregulated in the context of chronic stress.

Change in sustained attention to positive and negative stimuli. Sustained attention to stimuli will be measured with a modified Attentional Dot Probe Task. Higher scores indicate greater sustained attention to stimuli.

Change in neural reward reactivity. Reward activity will be assessed via three tasks: viewing positive pictures with the International Affective Picture System Task, responding to monetary rewards with the Monetary Incentive Delay Task, and a novel savoring task in the scanner. More activation in reward-related regions during parts of these tasks indicates greater neural reward activity. The impact of social vs. non-social stimuli will be examined as well.

Change in neural threat activity. Neural threat activity will be measured with the Montreal Imaging Stress Task in the scanner. More activation in threat-related regions during parts of this task indicates greater neural threat activity.

Change in daily experiences of reward and threat. On a daily basis, participants will report on the occurrence of positive and negative events throughout the day, and then report on their positive and negative emotions. The impact of positive and negative events on mood will be examined; the impact of social vs. non-social events will be examined as well.