Compassion Meditation and ReliefLink App for Suicidal, Low-Income, African Americans

March 13, 2022 updated by: Nadine Kaslow, PhD, Emory University
The purpose of this study is to conduct a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) with low-income, suicidal African American women and men that compares the relative effectiveness of compassion meditation (CM) versus a support group (SG) .

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Terminated

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

The purpose of this study is to conduct a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) with low-income, suicidal African American women and men that compares the relative effectiveness of compassion meditation (CM) versus a support group (SG) for (1) reducing psychological distress (suicidal ideation, depressive symptoms, and shame); (2) bolstering interpersonal connectedness; and (3) enhancing self-compassion and mindfulness. It is hypothesized that at post-intervention and follow-up, compared to individuals in the SG, those in the CM intervention will endorse less psychological distress (suicidal ideation, depressive symptoms, and shame), more interpersonal connectedness, and greater levels of self-compassion and mindfulness.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
456

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Georgia
      • Atlanta, Georgia, United States, 30322
        • Grady Health System (non-CRN)

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 64 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • self-identify as African American or Black
  • speak English
  • present to medical and psychiatric emergency rooms at Grady Health System following a suicide attempt
  • moderate level of intent associated with the attempt (SSI >= 8 required)
  • Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE) score > 22

Exclusion Criteria:

  • significant cognitive impairments (MMSE < 22)
  • active psychosis (diagnosed based on Psychotic Screen (PS))
  • imminently life-threatening medical condition

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Compassion meditation (CM)
The CM participants will attend six weekly sessions (each 120 minute), and will be video and/or audiotaped. Each weekly CM session will entail a 30 minute check-in regarding the participants' levels of suicidal ideation, as well as a discussion of current life stress and weekly meditation practice; a 30 minute didactic session that will describe the meditative technique introduced during the week; and a 30 minute guided meditation session. Participants will be encouraged to meditate at least 30 minutes a day and will be asked to track their daily meditation time and bring in their tracking sheet to each session.
Behavioral: Compassion meditation (CM)
CM session: 30 minute check-in regarding the participants' levels of suicidal ideation, as well as a discussion of current life stress and weekly meditation practice; a 30 minute didactic session that will describe the meditative technique introduced during the week; and a 30 minute guided meditation session. Participants are also encouraged to meditate at least 30 minutes a day.
Active Comparator: Support group (SG)
SG participants will attend six weekly sessions, 90 minutes in length. It will be unstructured. Participants will use this time to talk about current concerns and to receive support and guidance from other group members and the leaders.
Behavioral: Support group (SG)
SG session: 90 minutes to talk about current concerns and to receive support and guidance from other group members and the leaders.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation (BSS) score
Time Frame: Pre-intervention - baseline (T1), post-intervention - at completion of 6 weekly sessions (T2), and at 6 week follow-up (T3)
The BSS is a self-report 19-item scale preceded by five screening items. The BSS and its screening items are intended to assess a patient's thoughts, plans and intent to commit suicide. All 24 items are rated on a three-point scale (0 to 2) total scores could range from 0 to 48. No specific cut-off scores exist to classify severity or guide patient management. Increasing scores reflect greater suicide risk, and any positive response merits investigation.
Pre-intervention - baseline (T1), post-intervention - at completion of 6 weekly sessions (T2), and at 6 week follow-up (T3)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) score
Time Frame: Pre-intervention - baseline (T1), post-intervention - at completion of 6 weekly sessions (T2), and at 6 week follow-up (T3)
The BDI is a self-report 21-item scale used to assess the current severity of depression. Each item is rated on a four-point scale (0 to 3) with possible total scores ranging from 0 to 63. Scores provide a measure of the severity of self-reported depression: 0 -9 minimal, 10 -16 mild, 17-29 moderate, and 30 - 63 severe.
Pre-intervention - baseline (T1), post-intervention - at completion of 6 weekly sessions (T2), and at 6 week follow-up (T3)
Change in Experience of Shame Scale (ESS) score
Time Frame: Pre-intervention - baseline (T1), post-intervention - at completion of 6 weekly sessions (T2), and at 6 week follow-up (T3)
The Experiences of Shame Scale (ESS) is a 25 item inventory that measures the experience of shame about a variety of areas including shame about one's body, personal habits, manner with others, personal ability, whether one has said or done something wrong (e.g. "Have you felt ashamed of any of your personal habits?") over the past month.. Participants are asked to answer questions on a 4 point Likert scale from "not at all" to "very much."
Pre-intervention - baseline (T1), post-intervention - at completion of 6 weekly sessions (T2), and at 6 week follow-up (T3)
Change in Levels of Self-Criticism Scale (LOSC) score
Time Frame: Pre-intervention - baseline (T1), post-intervention - at completion of 6 weekly sessions (T2), and at 6 week follow-up (T3)
The Levels of Self-Criticism Scale (LOSC), which has 22 items assessing comparative self-criticism and internalized self-criticism, will be used to measure the level of self-criticism. The LOSC measures both comparative self-criticism (e.g. "I fear that if people get to know me too well, they will not respect me.") and internalized self-criticism (e.g. "Failure is a very painful experience for me."). Participants are asked to rate each item on a 7 point Likert scale from "not at all" to "very well."
Pre-intervention - baseline (T1), post-intervention - at completion of 6 weekly sessions (T2), and at 6 week follow-up (T3)
Change in Social Support Behaviors Scale (SSB) score
Time Frame: Pre-intervention - baseline (T1), post-intervention - at completion of 6 weekly sessions (T2), and at 6 week follow-up (T3)
is interpersonal connectedness. It will be evaluated using the 45 item Social Support Behaviors Scale (SSB), which includes five modes of social support separately for family and friends and these subscale have been confirmed with a multi-ethnic sample. Respondents rate, on a scale of 1 to 5: 1- no one would provide the support, to 5 - most (family/friends) would do this.
Pre-intervention - baseline (T1), post-intervention - at completion of 6 weekly sessions (T2), and at 6 week follow-up (T3)
Change in Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) score
Time Frame: Pre-intervention - baseline (T1), post-intervention - at completion of 6 weekly sessions (T2), and at 6 week follow-up (T3)
particularly relevant to the focus of the intervention, namely self-compassion and mindfulness. The 26-item Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) includes six domains of self-compassion: self-kindness, self-judgment, common humanity, isolation, mindfulness, and over-identified. Scores on the SCS are correlated with lower levels of depression and anxiety and better life satisfaction.
Pre-intervention - baseline (T1), post-intervention - at completion of 6 weekly sessions (T2), and at 6 week follow-up (T3)
Change in Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) score
Time Frame: Pre-intervention - baseline (T1), post-intervention - at completion of 6 weekly sessions (T2), and at 6 week follow-up (T3)
The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) will be used to assess five elements of mindfulness, observing, describing, acting with awareness, non-judging of inner experience, and non-reactivity to inner experience. The measure includes 39-items that are rated on a 1 to 5 point Likert-type scale assessing five facets.
Pre-intervention - baseline (T1), post-intervention - at completion of 6 weekly sessions (T2), and at 6 week follow-up (T3)
Change in Behavior Monitoring Form (BMF) score
Time Frame: Weekly during participation in the study up to 3 months
The Behavior Monitoring Form (BMF) assesses suicidal behavior (levels of hopelessness, depressive feelings, stress, suicidal thoughts, suicidal actions) in the prior week; items are rated on a 5 point scale.
Weekly during participation in the study up to 3 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Emory University

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Nadine Kaslow, PhD, Emory University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
May 13, 2010

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
March 7, 2020

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
October 22, 2021

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
March 7, 2018

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
March 7, 2018

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
March 13, 2018

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
March 29, 2022

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
March 13, 2022

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
March 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • IRB00038057

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

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