Clinical trial NCT02214264: Brief Trainings to Buffer Against Acute Stress Effects
Official title: Brief Trainings to Buffer Against Acute Stress Effects
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Stress
Lead sponsor: University of Wisconsin, Madison
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2014-08-12
Enrollment: 172
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE

Brief summary: The purpose of this study is to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of several brief trainings based on contemplative practices and positive psychology to buffer against the negative effects that acute stress has on behavior and cognitive abilities. The investigators hypothesize that training will buffer against negative effects of acute stress.

Detailed description: Participants will be taught a stress reducing training (breath awareness, loving kindness practice, gratitude exercise) and will practice using this technique for 10-15 minutes. Following this, all participants will undergo the Cold Pressor Task (CPT) for up to 3 minutes.

Before and after these tasks, participant data related to attention, working memory, self regulation, affect, and prosociality will be collected.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* undergraduate psychology recruitment pool

Exclusion Criteria:

* non-native English speakers, pregnant women

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change from baseline performance on Operational Span task
timeFrame: Baseline and 10 minutes following post stress induction
measure: Change from baseline in time spent on hand grip self regulation task
timeFrame: Baseline and 30 minutes post stress induction
measure: Change from baseline on likeability ratings of neutral stimuli
timeFrame: Baseline and 1 minute post stress induction
measure: Number of trials completed in optional Generosity task
timeFrame: 40 minutes post stress induction
measure: Positive and Negative Affect Schedule ratings at baseline
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Positive and Negative Affect Schedule ratings after pre-test measures
timeFrame: 2 minutes before training
measure: Positive and Negative Affect Schedule ratings after training
timeFrame: 1 minute after training
measure: Positive and Negative Affect Schedule ratings after stress induction
timeFrame: 1 minute after stress induction
measure: Positive and Negative Affect Schedule ratings after post-test
timeFrame: 1 minute after post-test measures
measure: Implicit Positive and Negative Affect Test at baseline
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Implicit Positive and Negative Affect Test after pre-test measures
timeFrame: 2 minutes before training
measure: Implicit Positive and Negative Affect Test after training
timeFrame: 1 minute after training
measure: Implicit Positive and Negative Affect Test after stress induction
timeFrame: 1 minute after stress induction
measure: Implicit Positive and Negative Affect Test after post-test
timeFrame: 1 minute after post-test
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Participant interest in participating in future training
timeFrame: 40 minutes post stress induction
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Madison
country: United States
facility: University of Wisconsin-Madison
state: Wisconsin
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Wisconsin, Madison
name: Stacey Schaefer
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Goldberg SB, Flook L, Hirshberg MJ, Davidson RJ, Schaefer SM. Brief breath awareness training yields poorer working memory performance in the context of acute stress. Cogn Emot. 2021 Aug;35(5):1009-1017. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2021.1878113. Epub 2021 Jan 29.