Wise Interventions and Responses to Stress (ITP-RSA)

University of Deusto

Status: Completed

Conditions: Social Stress; Depression; Stress, Psychological; Stress, Physiological

Treatments: Behavioral: Control condition; Behavioral: ITP+SA Wise intervention; Behavioral: ITP Wise intervention

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04786496

ITP

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study compares the effects of two wise interventions (implicit theory of personality intervention and implicit theory of personality intervention plus self-affirmation) with a control condition in the stress responses of young adults. Responses include respiratory sinus arrhythmia, heart rate, skin conductance level, cortisol levels, and mood.

Full description

Whereas several studies indicate that implicit theory of personality interventions (ITP) are promising in the prevention of depressive symptoms, evidence about the effects of the ITP intervention on stress pathways is scarce. The current study aims to elucidate the effects of ITP on psychophysiological responses to social stress in young adults during their transition to university. Based on preliminary findings that ITP was more effective among younger adolescents in reducing depressive symptoms and that a combination of ITP with self-affirmation (SA) was more effective in the prevention of other risky behaviors, the current study proposes that the addition of a SA component could increase the effectiveness of the ITP intervention when responding to stress. Thus, this study compares the effects of the ITP alone and in combination with a SA component in psychophysiological responses to a standardized social stressor (the Trier Social Stress Test, TSST). Both interventions (i.e., ITP+SA and ITP) are compared with a control condition (CC) in indicators of the autonomic nervous system (heart rate -HR-, respiratory sinus arrhythmia -RSA-, skin conductance level -SCL-), the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (cortisol level), and subjective mood. The investigators expect that participants in both ITP interventions, and in ITP+SA intervention in particular, will display better stress responses during the stressful tasks compared with participants in the CC (i.e., lower HR and SCL increase, lower RSA suppression, and lower cortisol and negative mood increase). The investigators also expect that participants would display better recovery after the stressful tasks (i.e., higher HR and SCL decrease, and higher RSA increase).

Finally, this research will examine whether depressive symptoms moderate the effects of the intervention on stress responses. Previous research has shown that depression has been associated with dysregulated stress responses both at the autonomic nervous system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Moreover, some studies have found that interventions are more effective among participants at risk to reduce both depression and stress. Therefore, the ITP intervention, alone and in combination with SA, could be more beneficial among those participants with higher levels of depressive symptoms.

Enrollment: 107 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 26 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Informed consent by the participants.
• To be fluent in Spanish.

Exclusion criteria

• Having cardiovascular disease.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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107 participants in 3 patient groups

ITP+SA Wise intervention (Incremental Theory of Personality Intervention with Self-affirmations)

Experimental group

Description:

Wise intervention (based on ITP and SA) consisting on several tasks to be completed individually. 30 minutes

Treatment:

Behavioral: ITP+SA Wise intervention

ITP Wise intervention (Incremental Theory of Personality Intervention)

Experimental group

Description:

Wise intervention (based on ITP) consisting on several tasks to be completed individually. 30 minutes

Treatment:

Behavioral: ITP Wise intervention

Control Intervention

Other group

Description:

Educational intervention (about heritage conservation) consisting on several tasks to be completed individually. 30 minutes

Treatment:

Behavioral: Control condition