Brain and Meditation (BAM) Study

University of Wisconsin (UW)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Behavior; Stress

Treatments: Behavioral: mHealth Meditation

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT05215314

2021-1109

5K01MH117222 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Protocol Version 10/12/2022 (Other Identifier)

A483000 (Other Identifier)

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study is a randomized controlled trial to test the impact of an app-based meditation program on perceived stress and behavioral correlates of stress with known neurobiological correlates. Healthy adult participants between the ages of 25-65 will be enrolled in the study for about 4-5 months.

Full description

Participants will be randomized into one of two groups: the intervention group or the waitlist control group. The intervention group will use a mobile health app for four weeks. Participants will complete pre-intervention, weekly, post-intervention, and 3-month follow-up surveys and tasks.

Primary Objective: Test for hypothesized group differences in perceived stress during participation in a 4-week meditation program and at 3-month follow-up.

Secondary Objective: Within the meditation group, determine whether reductions in perceived stress are associated with changes in hippocampal-dependent behavior.

Enrollment: 150 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 25 to 65 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Individual can read, write, speak, and understand English
• Able to provide informed consent
• Willing and able to complete all study procedures, including the Healthy Minds Program
• Has access to a smartphone that can download apps from Google Play or the Apple App Store
• US citizen or a permanent US resident (green card holder)

Exclusion criteria

• Extensive experience in meditation practice (e.g., regular daily meditation practice for the past 6 months or regular weekly meditation practice for the past 12 months), experience in substantively similar meditation training programs (e.g., attended a meditation retreat or a yoga/body practice retreat with a significant mediation component), or substantial previous use of the Healthy Minds Program app
• Individuals will be excluded if they previously participated in substantively similar research at our Center at the discretion of the investigator due to similar tasks being used in certain studies
• History of psychosis
• History of mania
• Current psychopathology that interferes with study participation

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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150 participants in 2 patient groups

Healthy Minds Program (HMP)

Experimental group

Description:

Fully remote, 4-week meditation intervention

Treatment:

Behavioral: mHealth Meditation

Waitlist Control

No Intervention group

Description:

Control participants will not complete the Healthy Minds Program during the study, but can use it after they have completed the study