Perspective on Thoughts and Feelings as a Predictor of Psychological Well-being in Daily Life, in a Community Sample

Study Overview
=================
Brief Summary
-----------------
This project examines the psychological construct of decentering - a mindfulness-related construct marked by an observer perspective on one's ongoing mental processes. Specifically, this project seeks to explore the extent to which decentering modulates the relationship between people's affective states and their momentary mental health and well-being, and to test the psychological processes by which decentering might exert these effects. This study includes a baseline assessment followed by a 7-day study completed from home where participants respond to brief surveys about their current experiences six times per day (i.e., an Ecological Momentary Assessment [EMA] design). The investigators hypothesize that decentering moderates the association of extreme affect with related symptoms (i.e., elevated negative affect with depression and anxiety; elevated positive affect with mania, narcissism, and histrionic traits) and well-being, such that the association is attenuated at high levels of decentering. This will be examined using the EMA data, analyzing between-person levels (i.e., trait) as well as momentary within-person processes (i.e., concurrent and prospective states). Further, the investigators predict that broadened attentional focus and improved self-regulation are mechanisms that contribute to the beneficial effects of decentering in daily life. This hypothesis will be examined in two ways: as individual differences, wherein greater self-regulatory abilities (e.g., higher heart rate variability) and less attentional biases towards emotional stimuli mediate the association between trait decentering and subsequent daily well-being/symptoms, and as within-person momentary levels, wherein broader attentional processes and greater self-regulation in daily life mediate the concurrent and prospective association between momentary decentering and well-being/symptoms. Note that the study uses a multimodal assessment of each of the proposed processes. For attentional processes, a variety of parameters extracted from an emotional eye tracking paradigm will be examined. For self-regulatory abilities, assessments will include self-report, physiological (heart rate variability), and behavioral (go / no-go task) measures of such abilities.

Official Title
-----------------
Decentering in Daily Life: Underlying Mechanisms and Impact on Well-Being

Conditions
-----------------
Mindfulness, Mental Health

Participation Criteria
=================
Eligibility Criteria
-----------------
Inclusion Criteria: age 18-65, fluency in English Exclusion Criteria: current cognitive impairments (i.e., intellectual disability, dementia, current psychotic symptoms) that preclude giving informed consent and accurately answering study questions

Ages Eligible for Study
-----------------
Minimum Age: 18 Years
Maximum Age: 65 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
-----------------
All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
-----------------
Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
=================
How is the study designed?
-----------------

Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Primary sample<br>Community sample of adults (18-65) from the greater Buffalo, NY region, oversampling people who are seeking mental health treatment. | |

What is the study measuring?
-----------------
Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Momentary psychological distress | 2 items (developed new for this study) assessing the presence and impact of idiographic symptoms identified at baseline, and 4 items assessing dysphoria adapted from the Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms (IDAS) | 6 x daily for 7 days following the baseline assessment | 
| Momentary eudaimonic well-being | 2 items assessing eudaimonic well-being adapted from Breines et al. (2008) and Lambert et al. (2013) | 6 x daily for 7 days following the baseline assessment | 
| Momentary hedonic well-being (state positive and negative affect) | 8 items assessing hedonic well-being (positive and negative affect), taken from the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). | 6 x daily for 7 days following the baseline assessment | 
| State Decentering | 4 items assessing current decentering, adapted from Fresco et al. (2007), Gillanders et al. (2014), and Shoham et al. (2017) | 6 x daily for 7 days following the baseline assessment | 
| Trait Decentering: Experiences Questionnaire | Experiences Questionnaire is a trait measure of decentering, which assesses the Observer Perspective aspect of decentering. From Fresco et al., (2007) | Baseline session only | 
| Trait decentering: Valence free decentering measure | This is an in-development measure of decentering that measures the construct of decentering without explicitly referring to negative thoughts and feelings. | Baseline session only | 
| Trait decentering: Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire | The Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire is a decentering measure that assesses the Reduced Struggle with Inner Experiences aspect of decentering. From Gillanders et al., (2014). | Baseline session only | 
| Trait decentering: Toronto Mindfulness Scale-Decentering Subscale | The Toronto Mindfulness Scale-Decentering subscale is a decentering measure that assesses the Observer Perspective aspect of decentering. From Davis, Lau, & Cairns (2009). | Baseline session only | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Self-reported momentary self-regulation | 3 questions assessing current perceived willpower & mental exhaustion, adapted from Davisson (2013) and Milyavskaya & Inzlicht (2017). | 6 x daily for 7 days following the baseline assessment | 
| Self-reported momentary attentional focus | 4 attentional emotion regulation items (distraction, positive rumination, negative rumination, and reappraisal) adapted from Brans et al. (2013), Feldman et al. (2008), and Nolen-Hoeksema & Morrow (1991) | 6 x daily for 7 days following the baseline assessment | 
| Baseline self-regulation: Go/no-go task | Go/no-go task asks people to respond to a large number of go trials (80%) and a smaller number of no go trials. The ability to inhibit the dominant go response is seen as an operative measure of self-regulatory abilities, consequently the number of no go signals responded to is one measure of self-regulatory abilities. | Baseline session only | 
| Baseline self-regulation: Resting heart rate variability | Assessed with a Polar V800 athletic watch during a 5-minute vanilla baseline and a 5-minute paced breathing task. | Baseline session only | 
| Baseline self-regulation: Self-Control Scale (short form) | A self-report measure of people's perceived self-control abilities and outcomes, developed by Tangney, Baumeister, & Boone (2004). | Baseline session only | 
| Baseline attentional breadth: Emotional eye-tracking paradigm | Participants will view a series of emotionally expressive versus neutral faces, and the fixation time and number of fixations towards emotionally evocative (angry, sad, happy) faces will serve as indicators of attentional bias | Baseline session only | 
| Baseline attentional breadth: Thought Control Questionnaire | Self-report measure corresponding to various emotion regulation strategies (distraction and reappriasal) | Baseline session only | 
| Baseline attentional breadth: Responses to Positive Affect Scale | Self-report measure corresponding to various emotion regulation strategies (positive rumination) | Baseline session only | 
| Baseline attentional breadth: Ruminative Responses Scale | Self-report measure corresponding to various emotion regulation strategies (negative rumination) | Baseline session only | 

 Terms related to the study
=================
Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
-----------------
Ecological Momentary Assessment, Self-control, Attentional bias, Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia, Affect, Emotion Regulation, Well-being, Decentering, Affective disorders