Boricua Youth Study COVID-19 Coping Intervention Study

THE BYS COVID-19 COPING INTERVENTION STUDY- PHASE II: A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL OF AN mHEALTH MINDFULNESS PROGRAM

The current study is the second phase of a two-part study to examine the feasibility and utility of using an mHealth mindfulness intervention to help parents mitigate the stress associated with the impact of sustained community crisis situations, such as COVID-19 and its consequences, on low-income families living in under-resourced settings.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Depression; Anxiety; Psychological Stress
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Mindfulness-based Intervention (Headspace TM)

Detailed Description

The current pilot study is a randomized controlled trial with an intervention (n=25 parent-child pairs) and a waitlist control (n=15 parent-child pairs) group that examines the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary outcomes of the mHealth mindfulness program for parents. Parent participants will utilize a commercially available mobile phone application, Headspace TM, to complete 10-20 minutes of mindfulness exercises daily for six weeks. The investigators will measure the feasibility and acceptability of the mHealth mindfulness program for parents and clinical outcomes in both parents and children and also explore the effects of the intervention on stress markers including cortisol and inflammation (C-reactive protein (CRP) and Interleukin-6 (Il-6)).

Participants will recruit from an existing longitudinal cohort, the Boricua Youth Study (BYS; NYSPI IRB protocols #4187R and #6476) and BYS-ECHO (NYSPI IRB Protocols # 7377). The BYS is an epidemiological study on the development of psychiatric disorders in Puerto Rican children. Participants for the current study are a subsample G1 BYS participants who are parents of youth (G2) ages 3 to 12 years old.

Aim 1: To exam the feasibility and acceptability of an mHealth mindfulness program to reduce psychosocial distress among parents of children between 5 and 12 years old (N=40 parent-child pairs) Aim 2: To test preliminary clinical outcome for parents (psychosocial distress and functioning) and child (behavioral and emotional problems) Exploratory Aim: To explore the effects of an mHealth mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) on stress markers including cortisol and inflammation (CRP and IL-6)

Study procedure:

Intervention group:

• Screen
• Consent
• Randomization
• Baseline assessments for the parent (30 minutes including parent self-reports and parent reports of child) and child self-reports (15 minutes)
• 6-week Intervention with daily assignments (10-20 minutes per day)
• Posttreatment assessments for the parent (40 minutes including self-reports, parent report of child, and a brief exit interview) and child self-reports (15 minutes)
• 4-8 week posttreatment follow up assessments for the parent (5-10 minutes)

Waitlist group :

• Screen
• Consent
• Randomization
• Baseline assessments for the parent (30 minutes including parent self-reports and parent report of child) and child self-report (15 minutes)
• 6-week waitlist
• Post waitlist/Pretreatment for the parent (30 minutes including parent self-reports and parent report of child) and child self-report (15 minutes)
• 6-week Intervention with daily assignments (10-20 minutes per day)
• Posttreatment assessments for the parent (20-30 minutes including parent self-reports, parent report of child, and exit interview)
• 4-8 week posttreatment follow up assessments of parent self-reports (5-10 minutes)

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 48
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • New York
    • New York, New York, United States, 10032
      • New York State Psychiatric Institute

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria for the BYS parents-

1. BYS participants in the NY cohort (BYS-ECHO study record)
2. Have a child/children ages 3 to 12 years (BYS-ECHO study record)
3. Access to a smartphone, tablet, or computer with at least periodic internet access (Self-report)

Inclusion criteria for community parents:

1. Latinx parents with a child/children ages 3 to 12 years who express interest in the study, self-referred or referred by our community collaborators (Self-report)
2. access to a smartphone, tablet, or computer with at least periodic internet access (Self-report)
3. Residents of the NYC Metropolitan Area (i.e., individuals living approximately within 1 hour driving distance from NYC) (Self-report. If deemed necessary, research team may ask to check ID or relevant documents to verify information, e.g. name, address, etc)

Exclusion criteria for all parents:

1. Psychiatric risks (e.g., homicidality, suicidality including ideation and attempts, psychosis; answering "yes" to the PHQ-9 suicidal idea question, Q9) (As determined by BYS-ECHO study record or self-report of PHQ-9)
2. Severe depressive symptoms (i.e., PHQ-9=20 or above) (Self-report of PHQ-9)

Inclusion criteria for all children:

1. Parents agreed to participate in the current study (Study consent form)
2. Ages 3 to 12 (BYS-ECHO study record or parent report of child age)

Exclusion criterion for all children:

1. Psychiatric risks (e.g., homicidally, suicidality including ideation and attempts, psychosis) (Parent report on Child Screener)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Waitlist Control
Experimental: Intervention; 10-20 minutes a day of mindfulness meditation practice through the Headspace app. Participants will receive daily reminders to participate and receive weekly calls to assess adherence. Participants will be briefed on the telephone on how to use the app and receive recommendations of possible meditations they can engage with throughout the 6 weeks of participation.	Behavioral: Mindfulness-based Intervention (Headspace TM); A commercially available mindfulness mobile phone application (HeadspaceTM) will be used. The use of HeadspaceTM in the current protocol is approved by NYSPI Information Technology Services. An mHealth mindfulness program such as Headspace provides self-paced, guided mindfulness meditations through a website or mobile app (iOS and Android). The program consists of basic meditation courses as well as courses targeting stress management, anxiety, depression, and parenting. Based on the qualitative interviews with parents in Phase I, psychoeducation will be included on mindfulness practice and mental health, emphasizing basic meditation courses, and asking parents to complete daily assignments of 10 to 20 min a day during the 6-week period. As an engagement strategy, every week participants in the intervention group will receive a call or an email or text message (depends on preference; partisans may opt out to receive email/text messages).

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10)	Perceived stress was measured using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), a 10-item self-report questionnaire. Each item is rated on a 0-4 scale and summed to produce a total score ranging from 0 to 40, with higher scores indicating greater perceived stress.	Baseline, Posttreatment (6 weeks), Follow up (10-14 weeks)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7)	Anxiety symptoms were measured using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), a 7-item self-report scale. Items are rated from 0 to 3 and summed to produce a total score ranging from 0 to 21, with higher scores indicating greater anxiety severity.	Baseline, Posttreatment (6 weeks), Follow up (10-14 weeks)
Change in Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9)	Depressive symptoms were measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), a 9-item self-report scale. Each item is rated from 0 to 3 and summed to produce a total score ranging from 0 to 27, with higher scores indicating greater depressive symptom severity.	Baseline, Posttreatment (6 weeks), Follow up (10-14 weeks)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: New York State Psychiatric Institute
• Collaborators: Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Cristiane Duarte, PhD, New York State Psychiatric Institute; Study Director: Tenneill Murray, MPH, New York State Psychiatric Institute

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 28, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): February 1, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): January 28, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 24, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 30, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): July 6, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 30, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 4, 2026
• Last Verified: June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior; Anxiety Disorders; Depression; Stress, Psychological
• Other Study ID Numbers: IRB #8273/AAAV5485

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