Virtual Mindfulness Intervention RCT

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Status: Completed

Conditions: Depression; Anxiety

Treatments: Behavioral: Mindfulness-Based Intervention

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05374213

3181

Details and patient eligibility

About

Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have emerged as clinically effective interventions for anxiety, depression, and general distress. However, there are significant barriers to accessing MBIs in the general population including length of treatment and cost. Furthermore, in the present COVID-19 pandemic, there is a demand to conduct virtual clinical services. However, to date, not much is known regarding the effectiveness of mindfulness groups that are conducted virtually. The aim of the present study is to examine the effectiveness of a five-week abbreviated MBCT intervention delivered virtually for a physician-referred, treatment-seeking, community sample. The virtual mindfulness group will be compared to a five-week wait-list control group. All wait-listed study participants will be given the opportunity to participate in the intervention after study completion. At present, clinical wait times for services far exceed five weeks, thus participants that are wait-listed will not experience delay in their treatment.

Full description

Symptoms of depression and anxiety are extremely prevalent in the population. Unfortunately, patients often face barriers to accessing mental health care, particularly psychotherapeutic interventions, including long wait-times and demanding therapeutic protocols. For instance, standardized MBIs such as mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) are typically eight weeks in length. MBSR and MBCT, traditional MBTs, can demand over 30 hours of clinical time, and 50-60 hours of homework, all of which can be barriers to care. Furthermore, many clients are unable to access in-person interventions. At present the Sunnybrook Mindfulness Clinic is not conducting any virtual services due to the unknown benefit of virtual mindfulness interventions, creating significant barriers to clinical care for patients. The goal of this project is to compare the effectiveness of virtually delivered, abbreviated MBI (<10 hours of clinical time and <10 hours of homework) to a wait-list control condition in terms of reducing symptoms of depression/anxiety/stress and improving wellbeing. If effective, this abbreviated MBI conducted virtually could enable clients to pursue virtual services during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

MBTs use a non-stigmatizing approach, combining secularized eastern meditative practices with western psychological advances to improve stress-management and self-care. Participants learn to generate less distress, engage more positively and fully in their lives and experiences, and respond more adaptively to challenges instead of reacting in automatic and unhelpful ways. Participants in MBI often describe the intervention as transformative. The abbreviated MBI protocol has been piloted in an uncontrolled study and indicated significant benefit for patients in terms of symptom improvement. However, this will be the first time that the investigators pilot a virtual adaptation to the mindfulness group.

Enrollment: 43 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• ≥18 years of age
• are referred to the mindfulness group by a physician

Exclusion criteria

• have previously completed a full (≥8-week) MBI in the past 3 years
• meet criteria for substance abuse, psychosis, and/or mania
• express active suicidality.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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43 participants in 2 patient groups

Mindfulness-based intervention

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will take part in an adapted and abbreviated version of the traditional eight-week MBCT protocol, conducted virtually via Zoom. Participants will meet for five, weekly, two-hour sessions. The group size will be larger than traditional MBCT groups (i.e. 16-20 participants rather than 12 participants).

Treatment:

Behavioral: Mindfulness-Based Intervention

Waitlist

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants will be placed in a group with no treatment interventions for the duration of five weeks. Once these five weeks are complete, these participants will be placed in the next mindfulness clinic session to receive treatment. This does not the typical wait-list time for clinical services, which currently exceeds eight weeks