Mindful Breathing Using EMA and and Actigraphy: A Pilot Study
Condition: Mindfulness
MeSH terms: Respiratory Aspiration
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      This study will examine the effect of mindful breathing and the mechanism of positive spirals
      of mindfulness using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and actigraphy. Previous studies
      have shown a positive spiral between state mindfulness and positive affect (Du, An, Ding,
      Zhang, & Xu, 2018). The mindful coping model (Garland, Gaylord, & Fredrickson, 2011)
      suggested that the state of mindfulness can lead to reappraisal and reframing of their
      stressful circumstances which further lead to positive emotion and reduced stress. These
      positive effects will affect the next cycle and hence form a positive spiral. Since mindful
      breathing was an effective practice for immediate decentering (Feldman, Greeson, & Senville,
      2010), it will be used as the manipulation of state mindfulness. Besides, there is very
      limited research on the associations between these constructs using EMA and actigraphy.
      Therefore, this study will explore this association by manipulating the state of mindfulness
      with mindful breathing using EMA.
    

Detailed description: 
      This proposed study will be a randomized control trial which studies the mechanism of
      positive spirals of mindfulness in mindful breathing. Potential participants will be
      recruited from the community through posters, social media sites and/or emails. About 30
      eligible participants will be recruited after an online screening (with phone support). Prior
      to all study procedures, the research purpose and data collection procedure will be given to
      the participants and an online informed consent will be obtained from them.

      In this study, participants will be randomly assigned to either the mindful breathing group
      (intervention group) or the waitlist group (control group) in a ratio of 1:1. The
      randomization will be performed by an independent assessor using a computer-generated list of
      numbers. No deception is necessary.

      All participants will be requested to wear an actigraphy device (ActiGraph GT9X link)
      connected to a heart rate sensor (Polar H10) for 8 consecutive days, for recording their
      physiological data including HRV and activity level. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA)
      will also be used. A smartphone application will be developed and installed in the
      participants' smartphones. The app will prompt the participants, 4 times each day (9 a.m., 1
      p.m., 5 p.m. and 9 p.m.), to fill in a self-report questionnaire concerning mood. Besides
      that, participants have to complete an assessment at baseline and immediate post-intervention
      assessments.

      Participants in treatment group will receive mindful breathing instructions daily (at 9 a.m.
      after completing the EMA questionnaires). They will be asked to perform a 10-minute mindful
      breathing exercise based on an audio. After that, they will submit a simple record indicating
      the time they have completed the exercise. Meanwhile, participants in the waitlist condition
      will not receive the recording during the study. However, the same set of mindful breathing
      instruction audio will be sent to the waitlist group after the study.
    

Intervention name(s): Mindful breathing intervention
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Mindful breathing intervention audio, which is used in mindfulness-based interventions, will be sent to the participants once per day.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single (Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Mindfulness; Mindful breathing; Positive spiral