Physiological, Hormonal, and DNA-based Mechanisms of Psychosocial Stress and Therapeutic Effect

Summary

The goal of this trial is to learn if the Groups 4 Health (G4H) intervention is effective in supporting student well-being at the University of Helsinki. It will also learn about the factors that may influence the efficacy of the intervention (such as facilitators characteristics, stress physiology and changes in gene expression). The main questions it aims to answer are:

1. Is the G4H intervention effective and cost-effective in supporting student well-being?
2. To what extent participants' physiological, hormonal, or molecular characteristics mediate the therapeutic effect of the G4H
3. To what extent participants' genotype moderates the effect of the G4H
4. To what extent facilitators' characteristics mediate or moderate the effect of the G4H

Data is collected from both the intervention participants and the facilitators.

The G4H facilitators will:

* Facilitate the G4H intervention.
* Fill in questionnaires and provide physiological and molecular measurements before, during, and after the G4H intervention.

The G4H participants will:

* Participate in the G4H intervention.
* Fill in questionnaires and provide physiological, hormonal and molecular measurements before, during, and after the G4H intervention.

Conditions

• Well-Being, Psychological
• Loneliness

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Groups 4 health

Groups 4 Health (G4H) at the University of Helsinki is a manualized group intervention for the students that focuses on social connectedness and aims at improving general health and life satisfaction. G4H groups are facilitated by two psychology master's students (or licensed psychologists) carefully trained for the intervention and mentored by experienced clinical psychologists. G4H consists of five 90 minutes sessions that aim to give participants the knowledge and skills they need to effectively manage their social group memberships and identities. Each session contains exercises and discussions described in the G4H workbook that target different aspects of group life identified within the social identity model of identity change and put the Social Identity Approach to Health -model to practice. Students earn 2 European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) credits for completing the intervention.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Strategic Research Council, Finland

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• University of Eastern Finland

  collaborator OTHER

• Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• Finnish Cultural Foundation

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Helsinki

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Months

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-09-12

Primary Completion

2028-12-31

Completion

2028-12-31

Countries

• Finland

Study Locations