Contemplative Well-being Apps for the Workplace

Emory University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Inflammation; Social Behavior; Depression

Treatments: Other: Waitlist Group; Behavioral: Active Group

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03452670

IRB00088349

Details and patient eligibility

About

The study will examine the use and impact of a meditation app delivered to adult workforce populations facing extreme time demands. Enrollees will be randomized to either app or a wait-list group, and will be assessed in terms of job and daily functioning, well-being, and biomarkers of immune function and stress physiology, and neural structure and function prior to randomization and again at multiple time points after participants commence app engagement. In order to assess efficacy, we will examine the longitudinal changes in all measures in both the mindfulness group, compared to wait-list control group.

Full description

Over the last 25 years, research on contemplative practices, a family of practices including mindfulness meditation and yoga, has advanced in domains both clinical and basic, motivated by burgeoning evidence of their efficacy for remediating psychopathology and augmenting well-being and resilience. However, much of this research has examined the effects of scheduled group interventions, delivered in-person by instructors over the course of several weeks. Far less research has looked at the delivery method that is most common and arguably most sustainable for busy adults, namely, smart phone delivered Contemplative Applications (apps) for Well-being (CWAs). The proposed study will examine the use and impact of an app delivered to populations facing extreme time demands.

Enrollment: 66 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 21+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Emory Healthcare and University employees, Cox Enterprises employees, and Emory students

Exclusion criteria

• For students and employees in the biomarker sub-study, participants will be studied only if they pass the Society of Magnetic Resonance Imaging standardized MRI screening protocol (exclusions for ferrous metal in any part of body, such as pacemakers, cochlear implants, surgical clips or metal fragments, serious medical conditions, claustrophobia)

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

---

66 participants in 2 patient groups

Active Group

Experimental group

Description:

Participants in this group will use a contemplative wellness application for 8 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Active Group

Waitlist Group

Other group

Description:

The waitlist group will receive no intervention during the study but will be able to use the wellness application after completion of the study.

Treatment:

Other: Waitlist Group