Kind Minds Program for Youth With Anxiety and Depression (KMP)

Examining the Effectiveness of a Mindfulness-based Intervention for Underserved Adolescents With and Without Caregiver Involvement

Rates of anxiety and depression in youth are substantial, causing a major unmet need for effective interventions. Participation in mindfulness interventions has been demonstrated to reduce anxiety and depressive symptoms among teenagers. Parents' participation in mindfulness interventions has also been shown to reduce their children's mental health symptoms. However, there is no available evidence regarding potential additional benefits for adolescents' mental health of having both the adolescent and their parent or caregiver learn and practice mindfulness simultaneously.

This pilot intervention study aims to explore potential additive effects of parent/caregiver participation in a digitally-based, kindness-focused, coached mindfulness intervention program for adolescents that lasts 9 weeks. Participating parent/caregiver-child pairs (n = 30) will include one teenager between 12 and 17 years old with a current diagnosis of an anxiety or depressive disorder and one parent/caregiver. All adolescent participants will take part in the mindfulness intervention. Half of the parents/caregivers will be randomized to also take part in the mindfulness program. Outcomes will be compared between families in which only the teen participates in the mindfulness program and families in which the teen and parent/caregiver participate in the intervention.

Adolescents and parents/caregivers will take part in evaluations before, in the middle of, and after the end of the mindfulness program, meaning that participation in the study will take a total of approximately 12 weeks. Pre, mid, and post evaluations will include online questionnaires. Pre and post evaluations will also include clinical interviews via phone or video conference. Evaluations will include measures of mental health diagnoses and symptoms, mood, interpersonal and family functioning, mindfulness, and perceptions of/satisfaction with the program. Participating adolescents and parents/caregivers will also fill out weekly brief questionnaires of anxiety and depressive symptoms. The primary outcome of interest is adolescent mental health, including anxiety and depressive symptoms.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Depression; Child Anxiety
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Kind Minds Program

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 32
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • Imperial, California, United States, 92251
      • Imperial High School

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 12 years to 17 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Participants will include:

  1. one adolescent (aged 12-17 years) with a current diagnosis of an anxiety or depressive disorder)
  2. one of their parents/caregivers.
  3. Both adolescent and caregiver must speak English to the degree necessary to participate in the intervention program, which is only available in English.
  4. Parent and youth must have a smart phone and be willing to download the online mindfulness program.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Exclusion criteria apply to both caregiver and adolescent and include:

  1. current alcohol or substance use disorder or suicidality
  2. lifetime diagnosis of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, autism, conduct disorder, or developmental delay diagnosed by an independent evaluator;
  3. English reading level below 4th grade
  4. non English speaking
  5. currently receiving mindfulness-based mental health services or taking medication to treat anxiety or depression.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Kind Minds Program -Family; In the Family condition (KMP-Fam), both caregiver and adolescent will receive the KMP intervention via an online mindfulness program, augmented by weekly video conference support from a Community Health Worker (CHW) Kindness Coach	Behavioral: Kind Minds Program; The KMP intervention uses an online mindfulness phone based program. During the 9-week program, Community Health Worker (CHW) Kindness Coaches will meet weekly for 30 minutes via Zoom with either a) the caregiver and adolescent (in separate meetings), or b) the adolescent only to review and complete a new "session" using the online mindfulness program. Participants will be prompted to complete mindfulness activities between sessions by notifications, conducive to their school and work schedules. Weekly content and meditations/activities focus on mindfulness skills of present moment awareness, nonjudgment, compassion, and gratitude.
Active Comparator: Kind Minds Program -Teen Only; In the Teen-Only condition (KMP-TO), only the adolescent will receive the KMP intervention via an online mindfulness program augmented by weekly video conference support from a CHW Kindness Coach.	Behavioral: Kind Minds Program; The KMP intervention uses an online mindfulness phone based program. During the 9-week program, Community Health Worker (CHW) Kindness Coaches will meet weekly for 30 minutes via Zoom with either a) the caregiver and adolescent (in separate meetings), or b) the adolescent only to review and complete a new "session" using the online mindfulness program. Participants will be prompted to complete mindfulness activities between sessions by notifications, conducive to their school and work schedules. Weekly content and meditations/activities focus on mindfulness skills of present moment awareness, nonjudgment, compassion, and gratitude.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Patient Health Questionnaire-9	self report of depressive symptoms	12-14 weeks after baseline assessment
Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7	self report of anxiety symptoms	12-14 weeks after baseline assessment
SCARED -Screen for child anxiety and related emotional disorders	self report of anxiety symptoms	12-14 weeks after baseline assessment

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia interview -anxiety and depressive disorder modules	remission on primary anxiety or primary depressive disorder diagnosis	12-14 weeks after baseline assessment

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of California, Los Angeles
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Denise A Chavira, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 31, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 30, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): December 30, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 2, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 25, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): April 29, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 24, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 23, 2026
• Last Verified: March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: depression; children; anxiety; mindfulness; adolescents
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior; Anxiety Disorders; Depression
• Other Study ID Numbers: 21-001218

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
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No