Clinical trial NCT05622604: The Effect of Religious Practices on Mental and Spiritual Health
Official title: The Effect of Religious Practices on Mental and Spiritual Health
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Stress
Lead sponsor: Biola University
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2022-11-18
Enrollment: 314
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: Participants will be randomly assigned to one of three conditions. Condition 1 is the control condition (i.e., no intervention condition). In Condition 2, participants will be given a free subscription to the Pray.com app and will be directed to use the app five days per week (i.e., autonomous use condition). In Condition 3, participants will be given a free subscription to the Pray.com app and will be directed to listen to a meditation prayer five days per week (i.e., meditative prayer condition).
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: The goal of this clinical trial is to test the effects of using a religious mobile app (i.e., Pray.com) in participants who have high levels of stress. The main question it aims to answer is:

•What are the effects of using Pray.com on stress in individuals who report high levels of stress?

Participants will complete measures at baseline (i.e., Time 1), four-weeks (i.e., Time 2), and eight weeks (i.e., Time 3). Participants will be randomly assigned one of three conditions: (1) autonomous use (directed to use the app daily), (2) meditative prayer condition (directed to use this feature of the app daily), or (3) wait-list control condition.

Detailed description: Participants (N = 300) will be adults recruited through social media and faith-based organizations. Participants will first complete a brief screener to determine eligibility for the study.

Eligible participants will be invited to participate in the study. Participants will read an informed consent document that will give information about the study and their rights as participants. Participants will be given the opportunity to contact the research team and ask questions. If they agree to participate, participants will be randomly assigned to one of three conditions. Condition 1 is the control condition (i.e., no intervention condition). In Condition 2, participants will be given a free subscription to the Pray.com app and will be directed to use the app five days per week (i.e., autonomous use condition). In Condition 3, participants will be given a free subscription to the Pray.com app and will be directed to listen to a meditation prayer five days per week (i.e., meditative prayer condition). Participants will receive periodic reminders on their phone if they have not used the app.

All participants will fill out a series of online questionnaires monthly for a two-month time-period (i.e., Baseline / Time 1, Time 2, and Time 3). Participants will receive a link from the research team when it is time for them to fill out their questionnaire via a secure online data collection portal. After finishing the study, participants will be debriefed and given the opportunity to ask questions about their participation.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* over the age of 18
* own a smart phone and be willing to download a mobile app
* willing to engage in a Christian practice on a mobile app
* score of 14 or greater on the Perceived Stress Scale (indicating at least a moderate level of stress)

Exclusion Criteria:

* n/a

Primary outcomes:
measure: Perceived Stress Scale
timeFrame: 2 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale
timeFrame: 2 months
measure: Mindful Attention Awareness Scale
timeFrame: 2 months
measure: Copenhagen Burnout Inventory--personal subscale
timeFrame: 2 months
measure: Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Inventory
timeFrame: 2 months
measure: Religious Commitment Inventory
timeFrame: 2 months
measure: Spiritual Well-Being Scale
timeFrame: 2 months
measure: Satisfaction with Life Scale
timeFrame: 2 months
measure: Daily Goal Progress Scale
timeFrame: 2 months
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: La Mirada
country: United States
facility: Biola University
state: California
Study officials:
affiliation: Biola University
name: Todd Hall, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: