The Sounds of Compassion: Testing How Specific Elements of Meditation Change Daily Life
Condition: Immune System Processes; Inflammatory Activation and Modulation; ANS Function
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Important health benefits of meditation may be conferred as much by what people actually do
      and say in their daily lives as by how they self-perceive the effect of training on their
      behavior and emotions. To test this hypothesis, and to explore whether specific elements of
      meditation (e.g. compassion vs. mindfulness) have different effects on real-world social
      behavior, the current project proposes to use the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) in
      a randomized, longitudinal design to objectively measure whether meditation does indeed make
      people behave in happier, kinder and more prosocial ways in their daily lives. This design
      will permit an exploratory analysis of how such behavioral transformations might relate to
      subjective reports of meditative effects. To accomplish these objectives, 108 medically
      healthy adults will be randomized to 8 weeks training in compassion meditation (n=36),
      Mindfulness Attention Training (MAT) (n = 36) or to an active control condition consisting of
      a health education discussion group (n=36). Prior to randomization and again upon completion
      of these interventions, all subjects will participate in an EAR protocol to evaluate the
      effect of meditation training on their real-world prosocial and affiliative behavior. Based
      on prior research and direct pilot data from 25 participants, prosocial and affiliative
      behavior will be assessed as the amount of (1) shown empathy and affection, (2) laughing vs.
      sighing, (3) arguing and complaining, (4) time spent interacting with others vs. alone, (5)
      meaningful conversations, (6) socially inclusive (i.e. use of "we"/us") vs. self-focused
      (i.e. use of "I"/me") first person language. Following the first EAR assessment, subjects
      will commence 8 weeks of compassion meditation training, MAT, or attendance in the health
      discussion group. Following these interventions subjects will participate in EAR monitoring
      identical to the initial assessment. To assess whether changes in daily behavior are
      sustained over a longer period, all subjects will undergo a final EAR assessment 6 months
      following completion of the study interventions. Self-report measures of social integration
      and support and behavioral/lifestyle variables that might be associated with EAR outcomes
      will be evaluated prior to each EAR assessment and treated as covariates.
    


Intervention name(s): Cognitive-Based Compassion Training; Adult Health Education Curriculum; Mindful Attention Training
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Eight-week training in compassion meditation, using a protocol developed by Geshe Lobsang Negi, Ph.D. of Emory University; Eight week training in health and wellness, using a curriculum developed specifically for this study.; Eight week training in mindful attention, using a protocol developed by B. Alan Wallace, Ph.D.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single (Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: meditation; compassion; inflammation; immune system