Planetary Health and Loneliness (PAL)

September 9, 2026 updated by: Jacobs University Bremen gGmbH

Planetary Health and Loneliness: Survey and Mini-intervention to Study the Interrelations of Multiple Behavior Change and Perception of Social Isolation

The aim of this 3-phase study is the evaluation of planetary health behaviors and its cognitive processes in relation to levels of eco-anxiety, general well-being, and levels of loneliness. As climate change progresses at a dangerous rate, it is important to establish and maintain lifestyles that are productive, fulfilling, environmentally conscious, and low in anxiety. Through a better understanding of the interconnected nature of planetary health behaviors with other aspects of healthy living and perception of social isolation, and the effect of an intervention, this research will add to current state of science to help inform the creation of interventions promoting sustainable, healthy, happy living among the general public and specific subgroups.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The aim of this study with three phases is the evaluation of healthy behaviors and its cognitive processes, and anxiety levels in relation to selected physical, mental, and environmental health aspects by means of online survey in (1) general population and (2) rehabiliation setting as well as with (3) an experimental design with students/ see section "Arms and Interventions".

The umbrella terminology of "planetary health" is used in the context of this study. As climate change progresses at a dangerous rate, it is important to establish and maintain lifestyles that are productive, fulfilling, environmentally conscious, and low in anxiety and stress. By evaluating prevalence of healthy behaviors and levels of eco-anxiety as well as loneliness as one early indicator of health risk, this study hopes to build on existing public health knowledge to develop interventions targeting and encouraging multiple aspects of healthy, eco-friendly lifestyles. This study will also help later intervention design by determining effective methods of persuasion and promotion of sustainable planetary health behaviors.

Main research questions are

*Phase 1/general population*

I. Is climate-awareness (in terms of EMCB, YCSCB and Mindful Health) more likely to also increase motivation to promote own health (in terms of physical activity and healthy nutrition)?

*Phase 1/general population*

II. What is the (non-)linear relationship between eco-anxiety and climate-sensitiveness/health behavior?

*Phase 1/general population and Phase 2/rehabiliation setting*

III. Is climate-sensitiveness and eco-anxiety invariant to socio-demographic variables such as clinic, gender, occupation, and age? (No differences)

*Phase 2/rehabiliation setting*

IV. To what extent are pattern in medical rehabilitation different from the general population?

*Phase 3/students and experiment-based*

VI. Does priming eco-anxiety lead individuals to process eco-health-related decisions more deliberately and to make more decisions beneficial to eco-health?

*Phase 3/students and experiment-based*

VII. Is an intervention leading individuals to make more behavioral decisions beneficial to personal and ecological health?

*Phase 3/students and experiment-based*

VIII. Does environmental anxiety induction interact with ROC-T intervention? How does ecological anxiety initiation or intervention effect manifest through changes in the parameters of the drift-diffusion model to reflect changes in the decision-making process?

*Phase 3/students and experiment-based*

IX. Do the observed effects on personal health decisions extend (transfer) to the ecological choice domain?

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

1684

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Germany
      • Bremen, Germany, 28759
        • Germany

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Ability to participate in surveys (e.g., sufficient German or English language skills)

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Not being of age
  • Illiteracy
  • Massively limited cognitive abilities (linguistic components of the digital offerings must be able to be used and questionnaires completed or interviews participated in)

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Eco-anxiety priming
Participants viewed a 2-minute climate change video presenting environmental threats to human survival.
Behavioral: Regulation Of Craving Training (ROC-T)
Participants read a 5-minute article on food and ecological health describing the environmental impacts of food choices and actions to support planetary health. During a subsequent choice task, participants received prompts to recall article content and self-monitor their selections.
Behavioral: Control group
Control participants read a time-matched article unrelated to sustainability (no multi-domain pro-environmental behaviors including transportation, consumption, and daily activities; just on the beauty of the German nature) and completed the choice task without recall prompts.
Experimental: Control Arm
Participants viewed a 2-minute neutral nature documentary without climate change content.
Behavioral: Regulation Of Craving Training (ROC-T)
Participants read a 5-minute article on food and ecological health describing the environmental impacts of food choices and actions to support planetary health. During a subsequent choice task, participants received prompts to recall article content and self-monitor their selections.
Behavioral: Control group
Control participants read a time-matched article unrelated to sustainability (no multi-domain pro-environmental behaviors including transportation, consumption, and daily activities; just on the beauty of the German nature) and completed the choice task without recall prompts.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Young Consumers' Sustainable Consumption Behaviors (YCSCB) validated scale
Time Frame: This scale will take approximately 2 minutes to fill out completely.

The primary outcome measure will be the YCSCB validated scale questionnaire. This will be given to participants right after they have completed the intervention section of the survey.

The answering options range from "Never" (0, minimum score) to "Sometimes" (1) and "Often" (2) up to "Always" (3, maximum score). The items are worded

  1. I eat meat (steak, ham, etc.).
  2. I eat dairy products (butter, cheese, yoghurt, etc.).
  3. I keep a healthy diet.
  4. There are times when I discard food products.
  5. I buy locally grown food products.
  6. I reuse my leftovers for the next meal. and items # 1, 2 and 4 need to be reversed, then all items can be used as single items or as aggregated scales, with higher scores indicating a better outcome in terms of planetary health.
This scale will take approximately 2 minutes to fill out completely.
Ethically Minded Consumer Behavior (EMCB) validated scale
Time Frame: This scale will take approximately 2 minutes to fill out completely.

The second primary outcome measure will be the EMCB validated scale questionnaire. This will be given to participants right after they have completed the intervention section of the survey.

The answering options range from "Never true" (0, minimum score) to "Rarely true" (1), "Sometimes true" (2), "Mostly true" (3) and "Always true" (4, maximum score). The items are worded (for instance) 1. When there is a choice, I always choose the product that contributes to the least amount of environmental damage.

2. I have switched products for environmental reasons. 3. If I understand the potential damage to the environment that some products can cause, I do not purchase those products.

... 10. I have paid more for socially responsible products when there is a cheaper alternative.

All items can be used as single items or as aggregated scales, with higher scores indicating a better outcome in terms of planetary health.
This scale will take approximately 2 minutes to fill out completely.
Loneliness item from the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression-(CES D)-Scale
Time Frame: This item will take less than 1 minute to complete.

To study some of the research questions unrelated to the intervention, the perceived social isolation is measured with a standardized scale building on the item in the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression-(CES-D)-Scale. The item is worded "How often did you feel lonely?" with the answering options "Daily" (3), "Several times a week" (2), "Once a week" (1) and "Rarely/never" (0).

The item can be used as single items, with higher scores indicating a worse outcome in terms of more loneliness.
This item will take less than 1 minute to complete.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Jacobs University Bremen gGmbH

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Sonia Lippke, Dr., Constructor University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

December 28, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 31, 2024

Study Completion (Actual)

December 31, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 16, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 16, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

August 22, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 11, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 9, 2026

Last Verified

September 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • CUB_PHAL2023
  • Lippke202308 (Other Identifier: Constructor University (formerly Jacobs University))

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

Individual participant data (IPD) will not be published. Other researchers are welcome to get in contact with the PI to get access to anonymous 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

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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