Pilot Testing of a Structural Racism Intervention for Immigrant Latinx Families
StressPsychological1 moreThe purpose of this study is to evaluate a new, community-based, group intervention called FIESTA (Familias Inmigrantes Empoderándose contra eStrés Tomando Acción) to understand how well it helps Latinx immigrant families deal with the impact of stress due to structural racism. Structural racism is defined as the policies, practices, and norms that work together to limit equal opportunities for minority communities. For Latinx immigrant families, this can include fears of deportation, lack of bilingual providers, and discrimination. These experiences of structural racism can turn into stress, which impacts well-being and mental health. Researchers will investigate if: 1) FIESTA lowers stress and mental health symptoms (anxiety/depression) and increases feelings of empowerment, improved knowledge of resources, better parent-youth relationship quality, and higher use of healthy coping skills; and 2) FIESTA is feasible (easy to carry out), acceptable (agreeable or satisfactory), and appropriate (relevant to the needs of Latinx families). FIESTA is ten-sessions and will be led by two community health workers. Researchers will enroll 35 parent-adolescent dyads (35 study-eligible parents and 35 study-eligible youth) in the initial study. This study will randomize parent-youth dyads to the treatment arm or waitlist-control arm using block randomization. In other words, participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups, the First Group, or the Second Group. The First Group will begin immediately, and the Second Group will begin after three months. Data will be collected at baseline and three- and six-month post-baseline.
Stress Management in Patients With Coronary Artery Disease
StressPsychologicalIntroduction: Stress can cause hemodynamic and metabolic changes that contribute to endothelial dysfunction and there is a significant association between high stress and cardiovascular events. Objective: To evaluate the influence of stress management on endothelial function in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods: Randomized, controlled, parallel, intention-to-treat clinical trial. Will be considered eligible patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention and who have high stress (above average for the Brazilian population) in the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10). Patients will be evaluated on PCI admission and stress management with cognitive behavioral techniques will be implemented one month after hospital discharge in the intervention group. Group sessions will be held between 6-9 people. There will be 4 1-hour meetings for 8 weeks. The primary outcome will be the difference in the variation of brachial artery flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) between the groups and at 3 months of baseline evaluation and at 6-month follow-up after the intervention and the secondary outcome will be the difference in the variation of the velocity of brachial artery. Pulse wave evaluated at the same time periods as DMF. Outcomes will be evaluated by Generalized Estimation Equations (GEE). Expected Results: In patients undergoing high-stress percutaneous coronary intervention, the use of cognitive behavioral techniques for stress management will improve endothelial function and vascular stiffness.
Brain and Stress Study
StressPsychological1 moreMotivational deficits such as anhedonia are core to several psychiatric disorders and underlie significant functional impairment. This double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial of minocycline, an anti-[neuro]inflammatory agent, examines links between chronic stress and responses to a reward-related motivation task. It will evaluate the effects of pharmacologically attenuating neuroinflammation on behavioral responses to a reward-related motivation task in individuals experiencing unemployment. Understanding the effects of neuroinflammation on reward function among individuals experiencing chronic stress represents a critical first step in identifying novel neuroimmune targets for future clinical trials.
Psychological Effects of 8 Weeks Supplementation With Sceletium Tortuosum Extract
Cognitive ChangeStress1 moreThis study employs a randomized controlled trial to test the cognitive enhancing and stress relieving potential of the product Zembrin® in healthy adults when consumed over an 8 week period.
The Mental Health Effects of a Mindfulness App in Parents of a Child With Medical Complexity
DepressionFamily Dynamics4 moreThe number of children with special health care needs (CSHCN) in the US is nearly 20% of children representing approximately 14.6 million children nationally. A subgroup of CSHCN are children who have the most intensive healthcare needs known as children with a medical complexity (CMC). Parents of CMC experience many challenges. In addition to typical caregiver tasks, parents of a CMC may experience added stress and are more likely to experience higher rates of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder than parents of healthy children. This project aims to explore the acceptability and feasibility of a mindfulness mobile application for parents of a CMC as well as determine the effectiveness of mindfulness application use on stress, depression, and family management in parents of a CMC. Forty-five participants will be recruited and given access to a mindfulness application and instructed to use it at least 4 days a week for at least 10 minutes. Parents will fill out questionnaires on app usage, as well as stress, depression, and family management. This work will be accomplished through a pilot single arm approach.
A Study Comparing the Influence of a Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction Program vs. Routine Management...
PsychiatryCaregivers1 moreThe objective of this project is to study the influence of mindfulness meditation on psychological health (stress level, affects, emotions) and physical health parameters (rate of inflammatory markers in the blood, activity of white blood cells involved in immuno-inflammation) in caregivers of people with psychiatric disorders. This study will provide the objective scientific data required for the development of mindfulness meditation programs for psychiatric caregivers. 80 participants will be randomly assigned to one of the following two groups: 40 participants in the "Mindfulness" group who will attend mindfulness meditation sessions in addition to their standard follow-up 40 participants in the "Control" group who will have a standard follow-up The duration of participation is 12 months and includes 3 visits and 8 mindfulness-based meditation sessions for the "Mindfulness" group.
Heartfulness Meditation to Improve Resilience Among Health Care Students: A 90 Day Program
Mental Health Wellness 1Stress3 moreThis investigation will examine the feasibility of delivery and effect on resilience, depression and anxiety of a 90-day Heartfulness Practice delivered virtually for health care students. It is hypothesized that by providing this program on-line, students will be able to attend easily and complete the sessions. It is also hypothesized that those students who participate in the meditation program will increase resilience.
Multimedia Admission Orientation in NICU
StressPsychological4 moreThe effect of a multimedia admission orientation on the parental stress, uncertainty, and knowledge of primary caregivers of high-risk infants in a neonatal intensive care unit: a quasi-randomized controlled trial study.
Stress, Salt Excretion, and Nighttime Blood Pressure
Blood PressurePsychological StressThe study will examine urinary sodium excretion induced by psychological stress and its diurnal pattern as a novel biological mechanism that may underlie an abnormal diurnal pattern of blood pressure. The study will test the hypotheses that lower stress-induced sodium excretion is associated with an abnormal diurnal pattern of sodium excretion, and that an abnormal diurnal pattern of sodium excretion is associated with an abnormal diurnal pattern of blood pressure. Primary Aim 1: To examine the association between urinary sodium excretion after provoked psychological stress and the diurnal pattern of sodium excretion. Primary Aim 2: To examine the association between the diurnal pattern of sodium excretion and the diurnal pattern of BP. Secondary Aim: To examine whether the association between urinary sodium excretion after provoked stress and the diurnal pattern of sodium excretion is modified by ecological momentary levels of perceived stress, experienced during the daytime period. Exploratory Aim: To determine the socio-demographic, behavioral, and psychological traits, chronic stress, and biological stress-related factors that are associated with lower stress-induced sodium excretion. Identification of these factors will help determine who is at risk for having a differential sodium excretion response to psychological stress.
Adolescent Responses to Varying Environments in Virtual Reality Simulations
Residential CharacteristicsEmotions4 moreThe objective of this study, named THRIVE (The Research In Virtual Environments Study), is to test hypotheses for how neighborhood environments influence stress and emotion, as a mechanism by which they may influence health. Neighborhood environments may have both acute influences on stress-related processes, but also may have lifespan effects due to the chronic, cumulative effects of repeated exposures and the long-term toll of adapting to adverse neighborhood environments. However, assessing neighborhood influences on stress and emotion is methodologically challenging. This study develops such a novel, alternative approach to address these questions by deploying a virtual reality (VR) based model of neighborhood disadvantage and affluence that creates an immersive experience approximating the experience of being in different neighborhoods. In this study, this model will be applied to understand neighborhood effects in a diverse sample of adolescents (n = 130) from a range of disadvantaged and affluent neighborhoods. The proposed study will employ a randomized experiment (n = 65 per condition), with online questionnaires and a single study session, to determine (a) if virtual exposure to neighborhood disadvantage elicits differences in emotion and stress reactivity; (2) if growing up in a disadvantaged neighborhood results in habituation or sensitization to different neighborhood characteristics; and (3) if chronic stress results in habituation or sensitization to different neighborhood characteristics. This research will develop an innovative methodology that will help establish the role that neighborhoods may play in eliciting stress as well as the processes of adaptation to chronic stress and chronic neighborhood exposures. In addition, it will help establish a method that can be utilized more broadly to study contextual and social environmental influences on psychological and biological risk in adolescence.