Fostering Inmates' Well-being and Mental Health

Queen Mary University of London

Status: Terminated

Conditions: Well-being

Treatments: Other: Transcendental Meditation training

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04747730

251271

Details and patient eligibility

About

The objective of the project was to provide an assessment of the impact of Transcendental Meditation on prison inmates' well-being. To achieve this goal the investigators conducted a before-and-after study in Her Majesty's Prison Warren Hill (HMP) (England). Meditation is correlated with better self-regulation and is innovative because it fosters generalisable psychological processes that support cognitive, emotional and behavioural regulation, with self-regulation being an important factor behind a variety of outcomes.

Unfortunately, the trial couldn't be completed as the investigators didn't manage to recruit a sufficient number of participants.

Full description

The meditation intervention consists of teaching four one-hour lessons of the Transcendental meditation technique developed and offered by the David Lynch Foundation. The technique involves the use of a sound (mantra) to effortlessly allow the mind to settle down to a state of inner calm. Meditation enables those who have learned it and regularly practice it to be more self-aware and respond in a calmer and more considered manner to whatever happens in their present experience.

Enrollment: 44 patients

Sex: Male

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• any inmate with no history of drug or alcohol abuse
• recreational drug users who have refrained from using drugs for two weeks before learning the meditation technique
• alcohol or drug addicts who are recovering from alcohol or drug use and have refrained from drug use for at least three months before taking part to the programme

Exclusion criteria

• informed consent not signed.
• expected stay in HMP Warren Hill shorter than six months since the beginning of the project.
• drug users and alcoholics not in rehabilitation
• people with serious mental health problems
• people who do not speak English as a first language.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Non-Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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44 participants in 2 patient groups

Transcendental Meditation training

Experimental group

Description:

The intervention of the project is the teaching and learning of Transcendental Meditation technique. The technique involves the use of a sound (mantra) to effortlessly allow the mind to settle down to a state of inner calm. It is a simple, natural and effortless practise, and unlike other meditation strategies, it does not involve concentration or control of the mind. The practice does not require any religion, philosophy, or change in lifestyle. Once learned the technique, participants will practice it twice a day, 20 minutes every morning and 20 minutes in the afternoon.

Treatment:

Other: Transcendental Meditation training

control

No Intervention group

Description:

no intervention