Mindfulness and Paralympic Sport: a Mindfulness Based Intervention for Paralympic Boccia Brazilian Team (MPS)

February 8, 2021 updated by: Marcelo Demarzo, MD, PhD, Centro Mente Aberta de Mindfulness

Mindfulness and Paralympic Sport: a Mindfulness Based Intervention for Paralympic Boccia Brazilian Team (MPS)

The approach of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games brings an opportunity for reflection on how the academic universe follows the evolution of this sports segment and whether it is possible to carry out an intervention that will contribute to improving and maintaining the performance of Paralympic Boccia Brazilian Team. Mindfulness means being aware and describes a natural human capacity that can be trained and previous researches indicate that the presence of mindfulness traits in athletes can be improved with mindfulness training. Specifically, the Paralympic Boccia is a sport that is on the rise for new resources that can collaborate with its performance in a national and international context. Thus, the objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of a mindfulness-based intervention on Paralympic Boccia athletes, in particular, the impact on sports performance and quality of life from the change in attentional level. It is a pilot study of feasibility and preliminary effectiveness composed of a longitudinal intervention that uses as a baseline measure a Mindfulness Training of 2 cycles (each cycle is formed by 4 days of intervention); two follow-up measures (1 and 6 months after the 2nd cycle); and a final measurement (12 months after the start of the study). The research will have as a convenience sample Athletes from the Paralympic Boccia Brazilian Team, which will be compared with itself in the data analysis. It is expected to show a positive impact on the athletes' quality of life (primary outcome). As secondary outcomes, it is expected to show the evolution of sports performance in relation to the accuracy of the pitch and the speed of the ball, in addition to improving the attention focus and perceived stress, which affect the tactics and performance of the game. The potential benefits of this research also have a social component, by expanding the understanding of human nature through sport, and also a functional component, by impacting the performance of these high-performance athletes.

Study Overview

Status

Unknown

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Since the participation of an athlete with a disability in the Olympic Games in 1904, a long road has been traveled until the Paralympic sport was understood as a standard of high performance, in which Brazil stands out when occupying the eighth place in the overall ranking of medals in the Rio 2016 Games, as well as consecutive leader in the Pan American Games (2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019). The approach of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics brings an opportunity for reflection on how the academic universe follows the evolution of this sports segment and whether it is possible to carry out an intervention that will contribute to improving and maintaining the performance of these athletes.

Mindfulness means being aware and describes a natural human capacity that can be trained. The option of the Paralympic Boccia Brazilian Team for a research on mindfulness is because of the identification of previous researches that indicate that the presence of mindfulness traits in athletes can be improved with mindfulness training. Specifically, the Paralympic Boccia is a sport that is on the rise for new resources that can collaborate with its performance in a national and international context.

Considering that sports performance is composed of several pillars, such as physical, technical, tactical and psychological, there is an opportunity to investigate the following findings of mindfulness-based interventions in a complex population:

Mindfulness practice consistently and significantly improves levels of mindfulness across various sports disciplines.

Physiological and psychological performance improved significantly until the practice of mindfulness.

Based on the available evidence, the practice of mindfulness can be considered as a supplementary training approach to improve performance in precision sports disciplines.

Thus, the objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) on Paralympic Boccia athletes, in particular, the impact on sports performance and quality of life from the change in attentional level. It is an exploratory study (pilot) to verify if the intervention will be well accepted by the participants (feasibility) and if it will be effective to reproduce the expected effects (preliminary effectiveness) composed of a longitudinal intervention that uses as a baseline measure a Mindfulness Training of 2 cycles (each cycle is formed by 4 days of intervention); two follow-up measures (1 and 6 months after the 2nd cycle); and a final measurement (12 months after the start of the study).

The research will have as a convenience sample 11 Athletes from the Paralympic Boccia Brazilian Team, which will be compared with itself in the data analysis. This study includes the category called "Other participants" formed by staff, freshmen, technicians and other professionals who are present during the interventions. In this way, the participants totalize 25 people: there are eleven athletes categorized as "Athletes" and 14 professionals in the "Other Participants" category. The measure instruments used in the Athletes category will be the same in the Other participants category, with the exception of Performance Evaluation applied only to Athletes.

The methodological procedures of the present work were prepared within the fundamental ethical and scientific procedures, as provided for in Resolution No. 466 of December 12, 2012 of the National Health Council of Ministry of Health, being approved by the Research Ethics Committee (CEP), by protocol 19577519.2.0000.5505.

The intervention will take place at the Brazilian Paralympic Training Center - CTPB, in the City of São Paulo, SP, where an certified instructor with extensive experience in leading groups by Centro Mente Aberta - UNIFESP will conduct the MBI and recommend to athletes to incorporate formal and informal care practices into their daily lives.

It is expected to show a positive impact on the athletes' quality of life (primary outcome). As secondary outcomes, it is expected to show the evolution of sports performance in relation to the accuracy of the pitch and the speed of the ball, in addition to improving the attention focus and perceived stress, which affect the tactics and performance of the game. The potential benefits of this research also have a social component, by expanding the understanding of human nature through sport, and also a functional component, by impacting the performance of these high-performance athletes. In this sense, it produces practical scientific knowledge that can pave the way for the subsequent realization of a large-scale trial that will benefit the greatest number of people.

The investigation is limited by the lack of additional comparison groups and the small sample size to detect effects. However, this is justified by being Paralympic medalists who have a series of unique characteristics, according to the functional classification that includes people with severe or severe motor disabilities, caused basically by cerebral palsy, cervical spinal cord injuries and muscular dystrophies.

The relevance of this research is in its pioneering spirit and originality when evaluating the first intervention based on mindfulness with Paralympic athletes held in Brazil.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

25

Phase

  • 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

  • Brazil
      • São Paulo, Brazil, 04753-060
        • Centro Mente Aberta em Mindfulness

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

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

- Must be an Athlete from the Paralympic Boccia Brazilian Team

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Diagnosis of an active mental disorder, such as depression and anxiety, in the initial phase of treatment
  • Diagnosis of an active mental disorder, such as depression and anxiety, with severe symptoms
  • Having previous experience with mindfulness (regular practice in the last 6 months)
  • Athletes without access to the internet or electronic means to access audio practices

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: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Athletes from the Paralympic Boccia Brazilian Team
The research will have as a convenience sample 11 Athletes from the Paralympic Boccia Brazilian Team, which will be compared with itself in the data analysis. This study includes the category called Other participants formed by staff, freshmen, technicians and other professionals who are present during the interventions.
Other: A mindfulness based intervention
It is a pilot study of feasibility and preliminary effectiveness composed of a longitudinal intervention that uses as a baseline measure a Mindfulness Training of 2 cycles (each cycle is formed by 4 days of intervention); two follow-up measures (1 and 6 months after the 2nd cycle); and a final measurement (12 months after the start of the study).
Other Names:
  • MBHP
  • Mindfulness Training

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in quality of life
Time Frame: T0 (baseline), T1 (1 week), T2 (1 month), T3 (6 months), T4 (12 months)
WHOQOL-bref means World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment - bref. This Scale assesses quality of life: it is an abbreviated version of the WHOQOL-100 with 26 questions divided into four domains, namely, physical, psychological, social relations and the environment. The answers follow a Likert scale (from 1 to 5, how much the higher the score the better the quality of life).
T0 (baseline), T1 (1 week), T2 (1 month), T3 (6 months), T4 (12 months)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change of sports performance
Time Frame: T0 (baseline), T4 (12 months)
The Pitch Accuracy Test used by the Brazilian Boccia Team in a regular basis.
T0 (baseline), T4 (12 months)
Change of sports performance (II)
Time Frame: T0 (baseline), T4 (12 months)
The Ball Speed Test used by the Brazilian Boccia Team in a regular basis.
T0 (baseline), T4 (12 months)

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change of attention focus and perceived stress
Time Frame: T0 (baseline), T1 (1 week), T2 (1 month), T3 (6 months), T4 (12 months)
MAAS means Mindful Attention Awareness Scale; this scale is a 15-item scale designed to assess a central characteristic of the state of mindfulness: an open or receptive awareness; higher scores reflect higher levels of dispositional mindfulness.The DASS-21 means Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale; this Scale assesses the emotional state: it is a clinical assessment lasting 3 minutes and 21 questions; It measures the three related states of depression, anxiety and stress; scores for depression, anxiety and stress are calculated by summing the scores for the relevant items.
T0 (baseline), T1 (1 week), T2 (1 month), T3 (6 months), T4 (12 months)

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Centro Mente Aberta de Mindfulness

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Marlúcia S Jesus, Student, Federal University of São Paulo

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

Helpful Links

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)

June 30, 2019

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 10, 2020

Study Completion (Anticipated)

April 25, 2021

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 24, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 2, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

April 6, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 10, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 8, 2021

Last Verified

February 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 19577519.2.0000.5505

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

Data will be shared by research gate.

IPD Sharing Time Frame

December 2021. Will be available for 2 years

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

Access will be granted to those researchers who are interested in developing studies with objectives similar to this research.

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • SAP
  • ICF
  • CSR

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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