Clinical trial NCT02954965: Brief Mood Enhancement Intervention
Official title: Enhancing Mood Among Graduate Students: Evaluation of a Brief, Phone-Administered Behavioral Intervention
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Stress, Psychological
Burnout, Professional
Keywords: graduate student
burnout
stress
mood
Lead sponsor: Duke University
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2016-11-04
Enrollment: 66
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 60
Standard ages: ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: The purpose of the current study is to test the efficacy of two brief, behavioral interventions intended to improve burnout among doctoral-level graduate students (n = 102). Specifically, individuals will be randomly assigned to one of three intervention conditions: 1) Reward: a brief intervention to help participants increase engagement in healthy and rewarding values-driven behaviors, 2) Approach: a brief intervention to help participants identify and decrease emotion-driven avoidance of important goals, or 3) Control: a control condition that involves monitoring only. Multilevel modeling will be used to assess changes in burnout, mood, and stress, following the interventions, controlling for participants' individual baseline levels of these variables.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Currently enrolled in any in-person (not online) Ph.D. program in the state of North Carolina
* Demonstrating above average levels of burnout
* Has regular access to the Internet
* Has a Social Security Number
* Is able to read and understand English

Exclusion Criteria:

* Current mania or psychosis
* Current suicidal ideation
* Are currently in psychotherapy, have been in psychotherapy in the past 8 weeks, or are planning to start psychotherapy during the course of the 10-day study
* Have had any changes in psychiatric medications in the past 8 weeks, are not taking medications as prescribed or are planning to change medications during the course of the 10-day study
* Are currently taking benzodiazepines Pro Re Nata (PRN)
* Are under 18 years old

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change in burnout, as measured by the School Burnout Inventory total score
timeFrame: baseline (day 0) and post-intervention (day 10)
measure: Change in stress, as measured by the Perceived Stress Scale total score
timeFrame: baseline (day 0) and post-intervention (day 10)
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Change in mastery, as measured by the Pearlin Personal Mastery Scale total score
timeFrame: baseline (day 0) and post-intervention (day 10)
measure: Change in avoidance, as measured by the Brief Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire total score
timeFrame: baseline (day 0) and post-intervention (day 10)
measure: Change in mood, as measured by the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule total scores for Positive and Negative Affect
timeFrame: baseline (day 0) and post-intervention (day 10)
measure: Change in reward, as measured by the Environmental Reward Observation Scale total score
timeFrame: baseline (day 0) and post-intervention (day 10)
measure: Change in behavioral activation, as measured by the Activation sub-scale of the Behavioral Activation for Depression Scale
timeFrame: baseline (day 0) and post-intervention (day 10)
measure: Change in functional impairment, as measured by the Modified Work and Social Adjustment Scale total score
timeFrame: baseline (day 0) and post-intervention (day 10)
measure: Change in quality of life, as measured by the WHOQOL-BREF total score
timeFrame: baseline (day 0) and post-intervention (day 10)
measure: Change in depression symptoms, as measured by the General Depression scale of the Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms
timeFrame: baseline (day 0) and post-intervention (day 10)
measure: Change in mastery, as measured by the average of the daily Importance ratings of activities (0-10) on the Daily Activities Monitoring Form
timeFrame: baseline (days 0-3) and intervention (days 3-10)
measure: Change in avoidance, as measured by the total score of the Avoidance/Rumination sub-scale of the Behavioral Activation for Depression Scale
timeFrame: baseline (day 0) and post-intervention (day 10)
measure: Change in environmental reward, as measured by the average of the daily Pleasure ratings of activities (0-10) on the Daily Activities Monitoring Form
timeFrame: baseline (days 0-3) and intervention (days 3-10)
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Durham
country: United States
facility: Duke University Medical Center
state: North Carolina
Study officials:
References: