Understanding Reactions to Emotional Material in the Media During COVID-19 - Study 2
Condition: Non-clinical Participants; Intrusive Memories
MeSH terms: COVID-19
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      This second feasibility study aims to adapt a protocol usually run in the laboratory in the
      Psychology Department for healthy participants (including the trauma film paradigm (James et
      al., 2016) and a simple cognitive task intervention) to remote (online) delivery. The
      motivation for this was restrictions to running in person laboratory experiments during the
      COVID-19 pandemic.

      Non-clinical participants will view film footage with COVID-19 related and potentially
      traumatic content (e.g. of seriously ill or dying patients in hospitals). Following film
      viewing, participants will be randomly allocated to either the experimental condition (simple
      cognitive task intervention, i.e. a memory cue followed by playing the computer game "Tetris"
      with mental rotation instructions) or the control condition (attention placebo, i.e., a
      memory cue followed by listening to a podcast for a similar duration). Any intrusive memories
      induced by the film (analogue trauma) will be monitored in a daily diary. It is predicted
      that the film (analogue trauma) will generate intrusive memories. If intrusive memories are
      generated, then it is predicted that participants in the experimental condition will report
      fewer intrusive memories related to the film (analogue trauma) during the following week than
      participants in the control condition.

      The development of this paradigm may inform the future development of a simple technique to
      prevent intrusive memories e.g. after repeated media consumption related to the COVID-19
      pandemic.
    

Detailed description: 
      This is a between-groups experimental study with non-clinical participants informed by prior
      laboratory work. It includes two sessions and a seven-day daily diary in between sessions.
      All study procedures will be delivered remotely rather than in a laboratory because of the
      COVID-19 pandemic as in an initial feasibility study (NCT04608097). The primary outcome is
      the number of intrusive memories related to the film (analogue trauma) recorded in a daily
      electronic diary during the following week (week 1).

      Our first feasibility study (NCT04608097) suggests it may be possible to generate intrusions
      when delivering the trauma film paradigm protocol remotely (online rather than in an in
      person laboratory) but this might lead to more variability between participants than when the
      paradigm is delivered in an in person laboratory. One possible reason might be that people
      are less emotionally affected by the film in a remote (online) setting compared to when they
      are viewing it in a more controlled laboratory setting. In this second study we will
      therefore only include participants who rate distress related to the trauma film as 5 or more
      out of 10 (see also James et al., 2015 for average scores on film distress in an in person
      laboratory setting).

      Our first feasibility work also suggests it may be harder to deliver an experimental
      intervention remotely using instruction videos with little experimenter interaction. To
      address this, while still keeping the remote (online) format, i.e. minimal experimenter
      input, we made some adaptations such as changing our digital materials e.g. film clips and
      film viewing instructions within the video.

      The first aim of this study is to investigate if the film (analogue trauma) will generate
      intrusive memories. The second aim is, if intrusive memories are generated, to investigate if
      participants in the experimental condition will report fewer intrusive memories of the film
      (analogue trauma) than participants in the control condition.
    

Intervention name(s): Simple cognitive task intervention; Attention placebo
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): A memory cue followed by playing the computer game "Tetris" (on own smartphone) with mental rotation instructions for ca. 12 minutes.; A memory cue followed by listening to a podcast (on own smartphone) for ca. 12 minutes.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Double (Participant, Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Basic Science
Keywords: Digital intervention; Intrusive Memories; Trauma Film Paradigm; COVID-19