Mindfulness Training for Older Adult Canadian Immigrants (MTCI)

Mindfulness Training for Low-Income Older Adult Canadian Immigrants

This study will evaluate whether mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is a viable community program for enhancing wellbeing among older adult immigrants from low income neighborhoods. Half of the sample will be randomized to receive the 9-week mindfulness program and the other half will be randomized to a wait list control condition. Primary outcomes of interest will include perceived stress and self-report depressive symptoms. Secondary outcomes will include trait mindfulness and self-care, self-compassion, emotion regulations, and attentional skills. Participants will also be invited to engage in a 30-minute interview to discuss their lived experience as an immigrant in Canada and their experience in the MBSR program. Due to COVID-19, all sessions will be held virtually.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Stress
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction

Detailed Description

Adults aged 65 years and older are the fastest growing segment of the Canadian population. In the 2006 Census, 43% of older adults in Ontario identified as being a Canadian immigrant, a statistic which continues to grow in the context of an aging population. Aging is commonly associated with declines in physical and cognitive capacity, which is significantly accelerated by chronic perceived stress. Lower income older adults are particularly vulnerable to accelerated aging and disease onset due to the stress of economic insecurity. In 2012, the highest low-income rates in Canada were reported among immigrants 65 years of age and older. Accordingly, it is important to investigate programs that can support the wellbeing of aging Canadian immigrants.

The principal investigator (PI) and her research team will conduct a one-factor between-subjects design with two conditions - a mindfulness-based intervention and a waitlist control - to examine the benefits of mindfulness training on indices of wellbeing, including perceived stress, depressive symptoms, emotion regulation, self-compassion and self care. It is hypothesized that mindfulness training will enhance indices of wellbeing compared to a wait-list control. Employing a mixed-methods approach, participants will also engage in a qualitative interviews to provide insight into the lived experience and how mindfulness may serve Canadian immigrants.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 50
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Canada
  • Ontario
    • Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5B 2K3
      • Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University)

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 60 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• 60+ years of age; Canadian immigrant; low socioeconomic status; immigrated to Canada within last 15 years; reports experiencing stress in their daily life.

Exclusion Criteria:

• existing contemplative practice; currently enrolled in a research study; non-fluency in English; neurological disorder that prevents participation in the 9-week program or testing procedures; plans to vacation during the study period/unable to attend 9 program sessions and 2 testing sessions; existing substance abuse (last 6 months); psychiatric disorder that may prevent participation in 9-week program or testing procedure.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: MBSR: Mindfulness-based stress reduction; Participants will be exposed to the 9-week MBSR program, facilitated by a trained MBSR facilitator. Due to COVID-19, the program will be held virtually.	Behavioral: Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction; Mindfulness-based stress reduction is a manualized mindfulness training protocol that has been researched for over 20 years. The original protocol will be used, with the exception of the prescribed home practice duration (i.e. 30 mins of practice). Rather, the program will be modified to set up participants for success by providing them with instruction to "build" on their meditation practice, beginning with 8 minutes a day.
No Intervention: WLC: Wait list Control; Participants will be asked to log their self-care activities every week.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)	the PSS is a 14-item questionnaire that measures general perceived stress. Total Scores range from 0-56, with higher scores denoting greater perceived stress.	2 days (pre-post testing)
Center for epidemiological studies - depression (CES-D)	The CES-D is a self-report measure of depressive symptoms. Total score ranges from 0-60, with greater scores denoting greater endorsement of depressive symptoms.	2 days (pre-post testing)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ)	The FFMQ is a 33-item self-report measure, that measures mindfulness characteristics including the ability to observe, describe, act with awareness, non-judging, and non-reacting. ". Subscale scores range from 8 to 40 for the observing, describing, acting with awareness, and non-judging facets, or 7 to 35 for the non-reacting facet, resulting in an overall FFMQ score range of 39 to 195. Higher scores indicate greater levels of TM.	2 days (pre-post testing)

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-16)	A 16-item Likert-type scale that measure the propensity for emotion regulation. Higher scores indicate greater emotion regulation.	2 days (pre-post testing)
Mindful Self-Care Scale- SHORT (MSCS)	The Mindful Self-Care Scale- SHORT (MSCS, 2016) is a 33-item scale that measures the self-reported frequency of behaviors that measure self-care behavior.The scale addresses 6 domains of self-care: physical care, supportive relationships, mindful awareness, self-compassion and purpose, mindful relaxation, and supportive structure.	2 days (pre-post testing)
Stroop Task	A 15-minute computer-based task that measures attention and inhibition.	2 days (pre-post testing)
Self-Compassion Scale (SCS)	A 26-item Likert-type scale (Almost Never to Almost Always) that measures self-compassion. Greater scores indicate greater self-compassion.	2 days (pre-post testing)
Brief Resilience Scale (BRS)	A 6-item Likert-type scale (Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree) that measures resilience when faced with challenge and set-backs. Higher scores indicate greater resilience.	2 days (pre-post testing)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Toronto Metropolitan University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Alexandra J Fiocco, PhD, Toronto Metropolitan University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 30, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): April 30, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): April 30, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 18, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 18, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): April 22, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 18, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 15, 2025
• Last Verified: April 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: mindfulness; stress; immigrant; wellbeing
• Other Study ID Numbers: AFiocco

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: de-identified quantitative data will be posted on an open science framework when published in an open access journal. Data will also be made available upon request under ethical guidance.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No