Breathing Techniques and Meditation for Health Care Workers During COVID-19 Pandemic

June 12, 2026 updated by: M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Breathing Techniques and Meditation for Health Care Workers During COVID-19

This phase I trial investigates breathing techniques and meditation for health care workers during COVID-19 pandemic. Breathing techniques and medication may help manage stress and improve lung health. The goal of this trial is to learn if breathing techniques and meditation may help to reduce stress and improve lung health in health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Study Overview

Status

Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE:

I. To demonstrate the feasibility of a short pranayama or breathing techniques and meditation during Covid-19 pandemic.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To determine the adherence to the practice assessed as at least 50% of participants implement the intervention for 3 or more times in a week by the end of week 1/day 7 (+ 3 days).

II. To determine the change in resilience, perceived stress and psychological impact from day 0 today 28 as measured by the Brief Resilient Coping Scale (BRCS), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS4), and COVID-19 Stress among health care workers questionnaire.

III. To determine the changes in breath holding time measured weekly for 4 weeks.

IV. To determine the differences in breath holding time between those who are adherent and those who are not adherent to the practice.

OUTLINE:

Patients view an instructional video on breathing techniques and meditation. Patients then perform breathing techniques over 3 minutes and meditation over 2 minutes twice daily (BID) for 28 days.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

100

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

  • United States
    • Texas
      • Houston, Texas, United States, 77030
        • M D Anderson Cancer Center

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

No older than 70 years (Child, Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Participants must be able to read and understand English
  • Must be employed at MD Anderson Cancer Center

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Epilepsy
  • Brain tumor
  • Brain aneurysm
  • Pregnant or trying to get pregnant
  • Brain bleeding in the past 1 year
  • Recent abdominal surgery and not cleared to exercise

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: Supportive Care (video, breathing techniques, meditation)
Patients view an instructional video on breathing techniques and meditation. Patients then perform breathing techniques over 3 minutes and meditation over 2 minutes BID for 28 days.
Other: Quality-of-Life Assessment
Ancillary studies
Other Names:
  • Quality of Life Assessment
Other: Questionnaire Administration
Ancillary studies
Other: Media Intervention
View instructional video
Procedure: Meditation Therapy
Perform meditation
Other Names:
  • Meditation
Procedure: Yoga
Perform breathing techniques
Other Names:
  • Yoga Therapy

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Number of Participants Recruited to the Study (Feasibility)
Time Frame: Within 2 months
To demonstrate the feasibility of a short pranayama or breathing techniques and meditation during Covid-19 pandemic. Feasibility will be defined as recruitment of 50 participants to the study within 2 months.
Within 2 months
Number of Participants Who Perceived the Intervention as Useful
Time Frame: Week 1 and Week 4
Defined as more than 50% of participants perceive the intervention as useful. Meditation perception questions were asked such as usefulness, feeling at peace, hopeful, or relaxed, and responses were recorded as strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, and strongly disagree at weeks 1 and 4.
Week 1 and Week 4

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Resilience
Time Frame: 4 weeks
Measured by the Brief Resilient Coping Scale among health care workers questionnaire.
4 weeks
Perceive Stress and Psychological Impact
Time Frame: 4 weeks
Measured by the Perceived Stress Scale and COVID-19 Stress among health care workers questionnaire.
4 weeks
Breath Holding Time
Time Frame: 4 weeks
Will determine the differences in breath holding time between those who are adherent and those who are not adherent to the practice.
4 weeks
Adherence to the Practice
Time Frame: 4 weeks
Will determine the adherence to the practice assessed as at least 50% of participants implement the intervention for 3 or more times in a week by the end of week 1/day 7 (+ 3 days).
4 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Collaborators

National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Santhosshi Narayanan, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

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)

June 17, 2020

Primary Completion (Actual)

November 5, 2020

Study Completion (Estimated)

April 30, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 21, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 21, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

July 22, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 30, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 12, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2020-0483 (Other Identifier: M D Anderson Cancer Center)
  • NCI-2020-04931 (Registry Identifier: CTRP (Clinical Trial Reporting Program))

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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