Fostering Inmates' Well-being and Mental Health

Fostering Inmates' Well-being and Mental Health Through Transcendental Meditation: a Prison Pilot

The objective of the project was to provide an assessment of the impact of Transcendental Meditation on prison inmates' well-being. To achieve this goal the investigators conducted a before-and-after study in Her Majesty's Prison Warren Hill (HMP) (England). Meditation is correlated with better self-regulation and is innovative because it fosters generalisable psychological processes that support cognitive, emotional and behavioural regulation, with self-regulation being an important factor behind a variety of outcomes.

Unfortunately, the trial couldn't be completed as the investigators didn't manage to recruit a sufficient number of participants.

Study Overview

• Status: Terminated
• Conditions: Well-being
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Transcendental Meditation training

Detailed Description

The meditation intervention consists of teaching four one-hour lessons of the Transcendental meditation technique developed and offered by the David Lynch Foundation. The technique involves the use of a sound (mantra) to effortlessly allow the mind to settle down to a state of inner calm. Meditation enables those who have learned it and regularly practice it to be more self-aware and respond in a calmer and more considered manner to whatever happens in their present experience.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 44
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United Kingdom
  • Woodbridge, United Kingdom, IP12 3BF
    • HMP Warren Hill

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: ADULT; OLDER_ADULT; CHILD
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: Male

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• any inmate with no history of drug or alcohol abuse
• recreational drug users who have refrained from using drugs for two weeks before learning the meditation technique
• alcohol or drug addicts who are recovering from alcohol or drug use and have refrained from drug use for at least three months before taking part to the programme

Exclusion Criteria:

• informed consent not signed.
• expected stay in HMP Warren Hill shorter than six months since the beginning of the project.
• drug users and alcoholics not in rehabilitation
• people with serious mental health problems
• people who do not speak English as a first language.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: OTHER
• Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED
• Interventional Model: PARALLEL
• Masking: NONE

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Transcendental Meditation training; The intervention of the project is the teaching and learning of Transcendental Meditation technique. The technique involves the use of a sound (mantra) to effortlessly allow the mind to settle down to a state of inner calm. It is a simple, natural and effortless practise, and unlike other meditation strategies, it does not involve concentration or control of the mind. The practice does not require any religion, philosophy, or change in lifestyle. Once learned the technique, participants will practice it twice a day, 20 minutes every morning and 20 minutes in the afternoon.	Other: Transcendental Meditation training; The programme targets inmates in HMP Warren Hill who are eligible to learn the meditation technique, who are staying in prison for at least six months since the beginning of the programme and who provide the signed informed consent. The sample of eligible inmates is approximately 190 inmates out of 250 currently in the prison. Inmates will be contacted by the research team in prison during introductory sessions of the research intervention.
NO_INTERVENTION: control; no intervention

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Mental health: - GHQ 12 - SF-12 Health survey	GHQ 12 was collected via survey questions. The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) is a screening device for identifying minor psychiatric disorders in the general population and within community or non-psychiatric clinical settings such as primary care or general medical out-patients. Suitable for all ages from adolescent upwards - not children, it assesses the respondent's current state and asks if that differs from his or her usual state. It is therefore sensitive to short-term psychiatric disorders but not to long-standing attributes of the respondent.	4 months after training
Mental health: - GHQ 12 - SF-12 Health survey	SF-12 was collected via survey questions. The SF-12 is a health-related quality-of-life questionnaire consisting of twelve questions that measure eight health domains to assess physical and mental health. Physical health-related domains include General Health (GH), Physical Functioning (PF), Role Physical (RP), and Body Pain (BP).	4 months after training
Patience and trust	Two survey questions assessing propensity for delayed gratification: assessing propensity for delayed gratification using monetary values (scale 1 to 32, 32 is highest, 1 is lowest).; assessing propensity for delayed gratification using subjective values (scale 0 to 10, higher numbers reflecting a greater propensity than lower ones). One survey question on trust: scale from 0 to 10 (0 is lowest, 10 is highest).	4 months after training
Positive reciprocity	Two survey questions: "When someone does me a favour are you willing to return it?" (scale from 0 to 10, where 0 is the lowest value and 10 the highest).; Hypothetical scenario where someone helps the participant find their way. How much are they willing to provide as monetary reward for the help received? No scale. Outcome in pounds.	4 months after training

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Queen Mary University of London

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (ACTUAL): August 1, 2019
• Primary Completion (ACTUAL): December 15, 2019
• Study Completion (ACTUAL): December 15, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 29, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 9, 2021
• First Posted (ACTUAL): February 10, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): January 25, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 24, 2022
• Last Verified: January 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 251271

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

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

Drug and device information, study documents

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