Active clinical trials for "Stress, Psychological"

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of 12-week yoga training on blood pressure, heart rate, heart rate variability, arterial stiffness, and total peripheral resistance during rest and psychological stress in patients with hypertension. All eligible participants will be randomly assigned to either yoga (n=40) or usual care control (n=40) group. During the 1st lab visit, the experimenter will explain the purpose and procedures of the study. If the participants understand and agree to participate in this study, they will be asked to sign the informed consent. Next, participants will fill out questionnaires, including demographic information, Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire, perceived stress scale, anxiety inventory, exercise behavior questionnaire, and quality of life scale. Participant's resting blood pressure will be measured. Participants will then be instructed to relax in a supine position for 15 minutes while ECG is recording. Next, participants will perform 5 minutes of stroop task and 5 minutes of mental arithmetic task (mental stressors). ECG and cardiac output will be monitored throughout the whole session. After the stress period, participants will be asked to relax until heart rate becomes stable and return to baseline. The participants will perform the sit-and-reach test. After completing all the baseline testing, the yoga group will begin the training program which is 60 minutes per session, 2 times per week for 12 weeks. The control group will be asked not to participate in any exercise program during the course of the study. Participants will be filling out the same questionnaires and receive measures of blood pressure, ECG, and cardiac output at week 6 and week 12. Additionally, participants will perform the stress tasks and the sit-and-reach test again at week 12.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate a model of mindfulness and neurofeedback among physicians and nurses. Several hypotheses will be tested: 1) BIS values will decrease as the number of sessions increase, 2) wellbeing scores will increase as the number of learning sessions increase, 3) wellbeing scores will be associated with BIS values, and 4) different attentional states will have more or less influence on reducing the BIS value.

Previous research has shown that health professionals can experience stress responses during high acuity events such as trauma resuscitations. These stress responses can lead to impaired clinical performance. The goal of this proposed project is to adapt Stress Inoculation Training (SIT) to the healthcare setting. Stress Inoculation Training is a cognitive-behavioural approach to stress management that has proven effective in reducing stress and improving performance in domains outside of healthcare. Thirty-two emergency medicine residents will be randomly divided into two groups. The SIT group will receive the simulation-based stress inoculation training. We will measure the effectiveness of the training by looking at reduction of stress levels and improvements in clinical performance in a pre-intervention and a post-intervention simulated trauma scenario. The control group will be exposed to the same simulation scenarios and pre/post intervention scenarios as the SIT group, but will not receive the stress inoculation training.

The goal of this study is to assess the utility of virtual reality technology to aid in the mental health of patients with cardiac disease, specifically looking at decreasing anxiety and perceptions of pain from stressful procedures in the pediatric electrophysiology laboratory.

Aim of the study is the evaluation of the effects (psychological and physiological) of an hrv-biofeedback training, a mindfulness training and a combination of both training methods for stress reduction.

The PHE study is a two-year longitudinal study evaluating two interventions for reducing depression and HIV risk behaviors among highly vulnerable adolescents in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Research suggests that children affected by AIDS are at heightened risk of HIV infection relative to their peers; however, evidence on how best to address HIV prevention and psychological health among this population is lacking. This study examines the efficacy of both a psychological and behavioral intervention, alone and in combination, on related outcomes among vulnerable youth age 14-17. A mixed methods approach is applied, including a community-randomized controlled trial with a factorial design, a cost-effectiveness analysis, and a qualitative component. At baseline data collection in January 2012, more than 1000 adolescents and their caregivers were interviewed; these participants were invited to take part in two more survey rounds designed to examine both the immediate and long term effects of the interventions. Support for this research was provided by USAID under Grant No. GHH-I-00-007-00069-00.

High levels of psychological stress have been reported by 90% of patients with MS experiencing disease exacerbation, and approximately 39% of those with more stable disease course. These stress levels are comparable to patients with a clinical diagnosis of major depression. Cognitive dysfunction affects approximately 40% of community surveyed MS patients, and stress may exacerbate the cognitive burden. Studies have shown that Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) is effective in treating psychological stress. Studies have also shown that exercise is beneficial to mood and cognitive function. Therefore the proposed study will test the comparative benefits of combining CBT and Exercise as an intervention for stress and cognitive dysfunction in MS subjects. The 2 active treatment conditions will be compared with a waitlist control condition. There are 4 broad aims to this study: 1) to compare the relative efficacy of CBT, Exercise, and CBT-Exercise for stress in MS, 2) to examine the extent to which neuropsychological features of stress and MS, especially working memory and executive functioning, improve following treatments, 3) to determine the extent to which neuropsychological factors are associated with successful treatment response and improved quality of life, and 4) to determine if combined CBT-Exercise confers greater benefits on measures of stress and neuropsychological functioning compared with Exercise alone. The study hypotheses are: 1) All active treatment conditions will lead to significantly greater improvement on measures of stress at post-treatment and follow-up compared to waitlist controls, 2) Combined CBT-Exercise will lead to comparatively greater symptom reduction compared to all other conditions at post-treatment and follow-up assessments on measures of stress, 3) All active treatment conditions will lead to significant improvement in neuropsychological functioning (particularly measures of working memory and executive functioning) at post-treatment compared to controls, and 4) Combined CBT-Exercise will lead to greater improvement in neuropsychological functioning compared to all other conditions at post-treatment. The study design allows for examination of the potential additive benefits of CBT and Exercise to usual therapy for patients, and its feasibility as a viable treatment model for MS outpatient clinics and community-based intervention programs. This study will shed light on the treatment of sub-threshold symptoms that are strikingly common in MS population, but often overlooked in favour of more concrete diagnoses (e.g. major depression disorder). This proposed study will also be the first to determine whether evidence-based non-medical treatments for stress and mood disturbances in MS reduce underlying cognitive substrates associated with the illness and known to be exacerbated by stress.

A pilot investigation into the stress relieving properties of Vitano® which will assess the following hypotheses Individuals exposed to Vitano® will demonstrate diminished blood pressure and heart rate responses to mental stress compared to individuals in the control condition Physiological recovery (BP, HR and cortisol) from mental stress will be enhanced in individuals exposed to Vitano® compared to individuals in the control condition Vitano® will have positive effects on cognitive functioning. Subjective ratings of stress will be reduced in individuals exposed to Vitano® compared to individuals in the control condition There will be a significant improvement in subjective well-being in individuals taking Vitano®.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether participating in a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program increases mindful attention and awareness, and whether anticipated changes in mindfulness relate to improved emotional well-being, sleep quality, physical symptoms of stress, sense of spirituality, and quality of life following MBSR.

The goal of this study is to develop and pilot test a telehealth behavioral weight control intervention for adolescents from a low-income background that combines facets of mindfulness training with behavioral weight control. We aim to examine biological (e.g., weight) and behavioral (e.g., emotional eating, mindfulness) changes as a result of a 12-session mindfulness-based weight control intervention compared to a 12-session standard behavioral weight control intervention.