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.

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 (Actual): 1445

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

• 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

2

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
Matched control group; Individuals that voluntarily chose to from the US population matched by gender, age, education, ethnicity and income

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. This outcome is assessed in the DWD group only.	one-year
Change from baseline in Oldenburg Burnout Inventory score (OLBI)	Participant self-report burnout assessed by OBLI survey, a 16-item questionarie assesing disengagement and exhaustion with a score range of 16-64, where higher scores indicate higher burnout; assessed in all participants.	baseline through year one
Change from baseline in Percieved Stress Scale score (PSS-10)	Participant self-report perceived stress assessed by the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), a 10-item questionnaire with a score range of 0-40, where higher scores indicate greater perceived stress; assessed in all participants.	baseline through year one
Change from baseline in well-being score.	Participant self-report well-being assessed by the PERMA-H Profiler, a 23-item questionnaire measuring psychological well-being across five domains: positive and negative emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment (range 0-10 per item, higher scores indicate greater well-being); assessed in all participants.	baseline through year one
Change from baseline in subjective health score.	Participant self-report subjective health assessed by the health domain in the PERMA-H Profiler (range 0-10 per item, higher scores indicate higher subjective health); assessed in all participants.	baseline through year one

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change from baseline in Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10)	Participant self-report resilience assessed by CD-RISC-10 survey, a 10-item questionarie assesing resilience with a score range of 0 - 40, where higher scores indicate greater resilience; assessed in all participants.	baseline through year one
Change from baseline in General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE-10)	Participant self-report self-efficacy assessed by GSE-10 survey, a 10-item questionarie assesing self-efficacy with a score range of 0 - 40, where higher scores indicate greater self-efficacy; assessed in all participants.	baseline through year one
Change from baseline in Gratitude Questionnaire-Six Item Form (GQ-6)	Participant self-report gratitude assessed by the GQ-6 survey, a 6-item questionnaire measuring gratitude with a score range of 6-42, where higher scores indicate higher levels of gratitude; assessed in all participants.	baseline through year one
Ecological Momentary Assessments (EMAs) score	EMAs scores rated by participants to assess momentary mood and cognitive states. This outcome is assessed in the DWD group only.	baseline through year one
Professional Fulfillment Index (PFI) score	Participant self-report positive and negative facets of professional life assessed by PFI survey, a 16-item questionarie assesing fulfillment, work exhaustion, and interpersonal disengagement (range 0-4 per item). This outcome is assessed in the DWD group only.	baseline through year one
WHO Quality of Life (WHO-QoL-BREF-26) score	Participant self-report quality of life assessed by the WHO-QoL-BREF-26 questionnaire, a 26-item questionnaire measuring physical health, psychological health, social relationships, and environmental health (each domain scored from 4 to 20, with higher scores indicating better quality of life). This outcome is assessed in the DWD arm only.	baseline through year one
Growth-Fixed Mindset score	Participants self-report mindset assessed by the Growth and Fixed Mindset questionnaire, adapted to a 3-item questionnaire measuring growth/fixed mindset (higher scores indicating a stronger inclination toward a growth mindset). This outcome is assessed in DWD arm only.	baseline through year one
Goals attainment score	Participant self-report goals attainment assessed by the goals achievement survey, a 14-item questionarie assessing participants' attainment of specific goals (range 0-10 per item). This outcome is assessed in the DWD group only.	baseline through year one
Human Needs score	Participant self-report human needs assessed by the human needs survey, a 36-item questionnaire assessing participants' perceptions of their essential needs (range 0-10 per item). This outcome is assessed in the DWD group only.	baseline through year one
Participants experiences and 0pinions	Semi-structered Interviews with participants about their personal experiences and opinions after the workshop. This outcome will be assessed in DWD arm only.	Up to 5 years after completion of the intervention

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 (Estimated): December 1, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2025

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 (Estimated): November 25, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 20, 2024
• Last Verified: November 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 66491, 68645

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: The data that support the findings of this study will be available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request. To protect participant privacy, individual-level data are not publicly available due to the sensitive nature of psychological and health-related information. Aggregated data and analysis scripts used to generate the main results and figures will be deposited in a public repository upon publication. Any additional data or materials required to replicate the reported findings that are not included in the public repository will be made available by the corresponding authors upon reasonable request, subject to institutional review board approval for sharing of de-identified data.

Drug and device information, study documents

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