Bringing the Practice of Mindfulness Into Nature - Preventing Mental Fatigue in Healthcare Professionals.

Enhancement of Presence, Compassion and Resilience Bringing the Practice of Mindfulness Into Nature - Preventing Mental Fatigue in Healthcare Professionals.

The purpose of the study is to determine whether a five day mindfulness retreat in nature can increase measures of attention and self-compassion, and reduce stress among bachelor students at Danish Universities and University Colleges. Secondary whether the expression of inflammatory markers can be reduced .

It is the hypothesis that perceived stress is reduced and the expression of genetic markers of inflammation is reduced after a five day mindfulness retreat.

Study Overview

• Status: Unknown
• Conditions: Inflammation; Stress, Psychological; Stress, Physiological
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Mindfulness

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 72
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Jesper Dahlgaard, PhD; Phone Number: +45 8755 2992; Email: jesd@via.dk

Study Locations

• Denmark
  • Aarhus, Denmark, DK-8200
    • Recruiting
    • VIA University College
    • Contact: Jesper Dahlgaard, PhD; Phone Number: +45 8755 2992; Email: jesd@via.dk
  • Hoersholm, Denmark, 2970
    • Recruiting
    • Nacadia, University of Copenhagen
    • Contact: Dorthe Djernis, Psychologist; Phone Number: +45 61688011; Email: ddj@ign.ku.dk

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Bachelor student at a Danish University or University College
• A score of 16 or above on the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Smoking
• Psychiatric diagnosis (depression, anxiety, adjustment disorder, PTSD, personality disorder, psychosis).
• Untreated ADHD, autism, abuse and risk of suicide

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Interventional Model: PARALLEL
• Masking: NONE

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Mindfulness in nature; A five day mindfulness retreat in nature	Behavioral: Mindfulness; Five days MBSR curriculum with meditation and yoga; Other Names: MBSR; Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction
ACTIVE_COMPARATOR: Mindfulness indoor; A five day mindfulness retreat indoor	Behavioral: Mindfulness; Five days MBSR curriculum with meditation and yoga; Other Names: MBSR; Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction
NO_INTERVENTION: Wait list control; A wait list control group, that 6 months later is offered a two-day mindfulness retreat in nature

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Perceived Stress Scale	PSS	At the end of five days retreat
Self-compassion	S-C-S Neff2	At the end of five days retreat

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire		At the end of five days retreat
Breath Counting	Behavioral measurement of attention	At the end of five days retreat
NF-kB gene expression		At the end of five days retreat
IL-1 gene expression		At the end of five days retreat
IL-6 gene expression		At the end of five days retreat
cRP expression	c reactive protein	At the end of five days retreat
Heart Rate Variability	HRV	At the end of five days retreat
Blood pressure		At the end of five days retreat
Connectedness to Nature Scale		At the end of five days retreat
GR gene expression		At the end of five days retreat
RIPK2 gene expression		At the end of five days retreat
TNF-α gene expression		At the end of five days retreat
CCL5 gene expression		At the end of five days retreat
IL-8 gene expression		At the end of five days retreat
TERT gene expression		At the end of five days retreat
TERC gene expression		At the end of five days retreat
IL-1β protein expression		At the end of five days retreat
IL-2 protein expression		At the end of five days retreat
IL-4 protein expression		At the end of five days retreat
IL-6 protein expression		At the end of five days retreat
IL-8 protein expression		At the end of five days retreat
IL-10 protein expression		At the end of five days retreat
IL-12p70 protein expression		At the end of five days retreat
IL-13 protein expression		At the end of five days retreat
TNF-α protein expression		At the end of five days retreat
IFN-γ protein expression		At the end of five days retreat

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: VIA University College
• Collaborators: University of Copenhagen; University of Aarhus

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Kunzler AM, Helmreich I, Konig J, Chmitorz A, Wessa M, Binder H, Lieb K. Psychological interventions to foster resilience in healthcare students. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2020 Jul 20;7(7):CD013684. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD013684.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: June 1, 2016
• Primary Completion (ANTICIPATED): March 1, 2018
• Study Completion (ANTICIPATED): November 1, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 10, 2016
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 10, 2016
• First Posted (ESTIMATE): August 16, 2016

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): February 8, 2018
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 7, 2018
• Last Verified: February 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Pathologic Processes; Fatigue; Inflammation; Stress, Psychological; Mental Fatigue
• Other Study ID Numbers: H-15010925

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO