The Lasting Change Study

The Stanford Lasting Change Study

The study approach is to leverage the most cutting-edge techniques of multi-omics biology, wearable physiology, and digital real-time psychology profiling and using machine learning models to understand the mechanisms underlying the strategies and techniques that enable participants the power to initiate and maintain sustainable behavior change.

Over the years, millions of people worldwide have attended immersive personal development seminars aiming to improve participants' health behaviors and wellness. Nevertheless, there's a scarcity of large-scale studies to assess their effects on behavior change and investigate their mechanism of action. A recent publication by the Science of Behavior Change Program (SOBC), launched by the National Institute of Health (NIH), recognized that: "science has not yet delivered a unified understanding of basic mechanisms of behavior change across a broad range of health-related behaviors, limiting progress in the development and translation of effective and efficacious behavioral intervention." As such, understanding the mechanisms underlying sustainable behavior change is key. The Date With Destiny (DWD) seminar is among the largest worldwide, and tens of thousands of people have already attended and testified to its transformative effect.

The main objective of the study is to uncover the underlying mechanism of behavior change through longitudinal data collection of psychometrics Ecological Momentary Assessments, physiology (wearables), and biology (multi-omics) in study participants.

The study specific objectives include: (1) To evaluate the impact of DWD on sustainable behavior change; (2) To investigate the mechanism of behavior change by collecting longitudinal real-time measurements of psychometrics (e.g., Ecological Momentary Assessments [EMA]), physiological (e.g., heart rate, blood oxygen level, breathing rate, and EDA), and biological (multi-omics analyses) features in study participants; (3) To assess the effect of the DWD on professional fulfillment, resilience, and mental wellness.

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Resilience, Psychological; Wearable Devices; Psychological Wellness; Personal and Professional Fulfilment; Multiomics
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Date With Destiny (DWD) Seminar

Detailed Description

The work is done partly as the doctorate thesis of Ziv Lautman (Stanford University, Department of Genetics).

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 1000

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • Palo Alto, California, United States, 94305
      • Stanford University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Individuals that voluntarily chose to participate in DWD seminar.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• 18-years-old and older
• English speaker
• Live in the US
• Participate in the DWD seminar (December 2-7, 2022)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Any physical or mental condition that limits the ability to participate in the study (e.g., answering e-questionnaires and wearing an electronic device)
• Serious active comorbidity or terminal illness
• Pregnancy
• Participation in any other clinical study focusing on psychological or behavioral intervention.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
DWD participants; Individuals that voluntarily chose to participate in DWD seminar.	Behavioral: Date With Destiny (DWD) Seminar; 6 days of immersive seminar

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Mental performance biomarker index	An algorithm will be used to create an index score using known biomarkers (psychosocial, physiological, and biological) related to participants' personalized mental performance. Higher index scores will indicate a better mental performance index.	one-year

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in participant mental wellness score	Mental wellness scores rated by participants	baseline through year one
Participant resilence score	Resilience scores rated by participants	baseline through year one
Participant professional fullfilment score	Professional fulfillment scores rated by participants	baseline through year one
Participant self efficacy score	Self-efficacy scores rated by participants	baseline through year one
Participant quality of life score	Quality of life scores rated by participants	baseline through year one
Participant stress score	Stress scores rated by participants	baseline through year one
Participant mindset score	Mindset growth scores rated by participants	baseline through year one
Participant goals achievement score	Goal achievement scores rated by participants	baseline through year one
Participant human needs score	Human needs fulfillment scores rated by participants	baseline through year one

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Stanford University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Mike Snyder, PhD, Stanford University; Principal Investigator: Shahar Lev-Ari, PhD, Stanford University & Tel-Aviv University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (ACTUAL): November 30, 2022
• Primary Completion (ANTICIPATED): December 1, 2023
• Study Completion (ANTICIPATED): December 1, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 22, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 31, 2023
• First Posted (ACTUAL): February 8, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): February 8, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 31, 2023
• Last Verified: January 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 66491

Drug and device information, study documents

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