Healthy Minds Program App Dosage

University of Wisconsin (UW)

Status and phase: Completed; Phase 1

Conditions: Depression; Anxiety; Psychological Distress

Treatments: Behavioral: HMP app

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT05229406

MSN227550 (Other Grant/Funding Number)

EDUC/COUNSELING PSYCH (Other Identifier)

2019-1578 (Other Identifier)

A171600 (Other Identifier)

1K23AT010879-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

01/21/2022 (Other Identifier)

Details and patient eligibility

About

The study will evaluate the effectiveness of the Healthy Minds Program (HMP) meditation app on participants experiencing depression and/or anxiety. Participants will be assigned to use the HMP app 5- or 15-minutes per day for 4 weeks.

Full description

Depression and anxiety are highly common, but access to evidence-based treatments is limited. Meditation training delivered through mobile health (mHealth) technology may increase access to effective strategies. However, the necessary dosage of meditation practice to produce benefits is unknown. This project will investigate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of the HMP app for depression and/or anxiety and the feasibility of randomly assigning participants to practice dosages. Further, the project will provide a preliminary evaluation of the linkages between practice dosage and outcomes assessed retrospectively and in-the-moment via ecological momentary assessment (EMA).

Enrollment: 92 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 99 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Age 18 or older
• Access to a smartphone or device capable of downloading HMP app
• Self-reported willingness to complete 1-2 min survey 4 times per day on phone for 4 weeks
• Able to speak, read, and write in English
• PROMIS Depression or PROMIS Anxiety >55

Exclusion criteria

• Meditation retreat experience
• Regular meditation practice (weekly practice for over 1 year OR daily practice within the previous 6 months)
• Previous practice under the instruction of a meditation teacher, other than in the context of an introductory course
• PROMIS Depression >70
• AUDIT C score greater than or equal to 4 for men, and greater than or equal to 3 for non-men (any other genders)

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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92 participants in 2 patient groups

5-minute app usage

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will be asked to use the HMP app for 5-minutes per day.

Treatment:

Behavioral: HMP app

15-minute app usage

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will be asked to use the HMP app for 15-minutes per day.

Treatment:

Behavioral: HMP app