The Effects of a Life Coaching Seminar on Gratitude and Psychological Well-Being
Condition: Psychological; Depression, Anxiety; Psychological Stress; Mental Health Wellness 1; Mental Stress; Mental Depression
MeSH terms: Depression; Depressive Disorder; Stress, Psychological
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      This study will consist of a randomized experimental group and a control group, In addition
      to the control and experimental group, there will also be a non-randomized motivated
      experimental group. Approximately 75 males and females from the ages of 18 to 80 will take
      part in this study. Subjects will be randomly divided into a Control and Experimental Group.
      Subjects for the control and experimental group will be recruited from a Tony Robbins
      Facebook page, and subjects in the experimental group (DWD Group) will be admitted to the
      Tony Robbins Date With Destiny Event (December 2019) in West Palm Beach for free, while the
      subjects randomly assigned to the control group, will not attend the event, but instead be
      required to a Gratitude Journaling experiment (Three Good Things Intervention). Psychological
      assessment surveys will be taken before the event, directly after the event, and one month
      following the event. The control group will take the psychological assessment before
      beginning journaling, directly after completing journaling, and one month following
      completion of journaling.
    

Detailed description: 
      Background:

      A Pubmed or Google Scholar search reveals zero peer-reviewed articles examining Robbins'
      events, techniques, or principles, despite Robbins' enormous impact on culture, psychology,
      and individual lives. Furthermore, only poorly conceptualized studies testing clinically
      irrelevant hypotheses were ever conducted on Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), a
      constitutive framework for part of Robbins' methodologies. Due to the intimate link between
      beliefs, wellness, and disease, the investigators hypothesize that an intervention focused on
      belief-restructuring, trauma release, psychoeducation, hope, inspiration, & social support
      like participation in a Tony Robbins' event (e.g. DWD) will demonstrate significant mental
      and physical health outcomes.

      The investigators hope to obtain a better understanding of:

        1. Whether Tony Robbins' DWD improves affect, depression symptoms, and well-being.

        2. Setup collaboration infrastructure and generate hypotheses for a future randomized
           controlled trial to determine short- and long-term physiological and health effects of
           Tony Robbins' interventions.

      Importance:

      Tony Robbins, inventor of the term, life coach, and a coach to leaders around the world,
      regularly sells out 14,000 person arenas worldwide to talk about psychology, mental health,
      and wellbeing, and his website alone averages 1,000,000 unique visitors per month. Yet, a
      literature search through PubMed & Google Scholar reveals 0 empirical studies of Tony
      Robbins' work. Considering patients prefer psychotherapy over medication, there are a rich
      set of interventions to draw from Tony Robbins that could prove to be effective, accessible,
      and affordable in treating & preventing mental health issues including depression and
      suicide. Understanding the science of Tony Robbins' work could provide new theoretical
      frameworks and clinical interventions to inform non-pharmacological approaches to mental
      health.

      Methodology:

      This study will consist of a randomized experimental group and a control group, In addition
      to the control and experimental group, there will also be a non-randomized motivated
      experimental group. Approximately 75 males and females from the ages of 18 to 80 will take
      part in this study. Subjects will be randomly divided into a Control and Experimental Group.
      Subjects for the control and experimental group will be recruited from a Tony Robbins
      Facebook page, and subjects in the experimental group (DWD Group) will be admitted to the
      Tony Robbins Date With Destiny Event (December 2019) in West Palm Beach for free, while the
      subjects randomly assigned to the control group, will not attend the event, but instead be
      required to a Gratitude Journaling experiment (Three Good Things Intervention).

      Subjects will be recruited by posting a Survey Monkey link on the DWD Facebook page as well
      as via email and direct referral. All participants will complete a consent form and take a
      brief eligibility survey administered digitally through Survey Monkey's secure system. Both
      groups will be given surveys before DWD, immediately after DWD to assess acute changes, and
      after 1 month after DWD to assess longitudinal changes. The experimental group will attend
      DWD. After attending DWD, the experimental group will be asked to continue practicing
      "Priming " daily for a month. A One-page "priming" cheat sheet will be given to the subjects
      in the experimental group. The control group will be asked to engage in gratitude journaling
      (protocol below) every day for a month. The control group will NOT attend the event.

      A third group called the Motivated Experimental Group (M Experimental) will consist of
      participants who registered and paid for Tony Robbins Date with Destiny (DWD). They are
      chosen as the motivated experimental as they will be paying full price for the event.
      Subjects will be recruited at the event, as well as through the facebook group. Two
      investigators will follow up with subjects monthly by phone to assure consistency.

      All surveys will be administered electronically through survey monkey. Informed Consent forms
      will also be provided electronically to all subjects. All subjects that participate in this
      study will receive a free book and audiobook, regardless of the group they were in upon
      completion of the study.

      Study variables

      Primary variables:

        -  Mental Health (depression, anxiety, stress) scores.

      IRBs will need to be Electronically Signed by all participants. All Variables will be
      collected electronically over Survey Monkey. All questions will be extracted and worded
      directly off of the physical copy of each questionnaire into Survey Monkey.
    

Intervention name(s): Tony Robbins Date with Destiny
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): DWD is a 6-day immersive transformational experience led by Tony Robbins. It will be held at the PALM BEACH, FLORIDA Convention Center from December 5th through December 10th. Subjects will be exposed to a variety of mind-body exercises and psychoeducational content including neural linguistic programming, designed to motivate, inspire, and improve the quality of people's lives.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Intervention model description: Randomized Controlled Trial
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Other