The Impact of Dyad Exercises on Well-being and Connection in Young Adults
Condition: Mental Health Wellness 1; Loneliness
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Many people are experiencing low well-being and loneliness, particularly due to the COVID-19
      pandemic. As the world is opening back up, it is crucial to determine methods to help people
      grow closer again and boost subjective well-being. One promising method is contemplative dyad
      meditation, which has hardly been studied. This is a method in which two people have a
      structured dialogue with each other while contemplating a prompt, as they alternate between
      listening and speaking. It is related to but different from other methods that have
      previously been shown to increase connection, such as the "fast friends" exercise. In "fast
      friends", two people answer a series of increasingly personal questions in a dialogue.

      Here, 180 participants between 18-35 years will be randomly allocated to three conditions
      (stratified by gender): (a) contemplative dyad meditation training, (b) "fast friends", or
      (c) no-intervention. Participants in the dyad meditation group will receive professional
      meditation training followed by 2 weeks of regular meditation practice. Participants in the
      "fast friends" group will meet regularly during 2 weeks to practice "fast friends" exercises.
      The impact of the interventions on well-being, loneliness, mindfulness, and related measures
      will be investigated. After the interventions have finished, participants' physiology (heart
      rate) and brain waves (using electroencephalography [EEG]) during the respective exercises
      will also be measured to explore potential biological mechanisms. Of particular interest are
      heart rate variability (HRV, often linked with higher well-being), frontal alpha asymmetry in
      the EEG (linked with positive affect and approach), and biological synchrony in these
      variables between the two interacting individuals.

      Both dyad meditations and "fast friends" exercises are predicted to improve closeness,
      thriving, loneliness, affect, depression, anxiety, and social interaction anxiety compared to
      no-intervention. Moreover, dyad meditation is predicted to have stronger effects than "fast
      friends" in terms of increasing mindfulness, self-compassion, and empathy. Dyad meditation
      and fast friends will show differential physiological signatures (e.g., lower heart rate and
      higher averaged alpha power for meditation).

      This study may reveal effective methods to improve well-being and connection and provide
      insights into their biological mechanisms.
    


Intervention name(s): Contemplative dyad meditation; Fast friends
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Participants take part in a 3-hour group meditation training led by a professional meditation teacher. They receive detailed instructions and also practice contemplative dyad meditation for at least 30 minutes with another participant. During the 2 weeks following the training, participants meet in supervised group settings to practice the meditation method with alternating partners for up to 6 times.; During 2 weeks, participants meet in supervised group settings to practice the 'fast friends' exercise with alternating partners for up to 6 times.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single (Participant)
Primary purpose: Treatment