Evaluating the Community Drum Circle

February 10, 2026 updated by: Yale University

Evaluating the Impact of Community-Based Mindfulness and Musical Programs on Psychiatric Measures, Drum Circle Study 2c.

Mental health vulnerability due to stress is increased America due to disproportionate effects of social factors such as racism, poverty, education, and criminal justice sentencing. Various meditation and mindfulness approaches have provided evidence of measured reductions in multiple negative dimensions of stress. However, the majority of these studies do not have an adequate representation of Persons of African Descent(PAD) or other marginalized groups and are not designed to be culturally relevant or community based. Music has been shown to alleviate multiple symptoms of stress and has been shown to be a preferred and effective support for meditation and mindfulness. However, its role in stress management in PADs engaged in meditation or mindfulness is seldom studied. This study aims to evaluate the effects of a community-based music mindfulness program on stress management in PAD community members with anxiety and depression during COVID19.

Component 2c. Drum Circle Study: Investigators will study the impact of participation in drum circles on anxiety and feelings of connectedness.

Study Overview

Status

Enrolling by invitation

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The investigators also propose a study to investigate the effects of communal drumming in reducing anxiety and increasing connectedness within drum circle community. Investigators hypothesize that these intervention will lead to reductions in scores on stress scales and will provide preliminary data for studies evaluating these types of community programs as an adjunct to the standard of care.

Individuals who attend periodic (i.e. weekly) drum circles will be recruited to join an 8-week paradigm. Drum circle sessions may audio recorded and participants will be informed of this during the consent process. Participants may be asked to undergo Electroencepholography, functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy, and/or other physiological measures before, during, and after the circles. Upon completion of the experiments, participants will be asked to take part in a focus group that will provide valuable feedback on their experience with the mindfulness intervention. Focus groups will last 30-minutes to 1 hour and will occur in-person.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

90

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

  • United States
    • Connecticut
      • New Haven, Connecticut, United States, 06515
        • BLOOM
      • New Haven, Connecticut, United States, 06520
        • Musical Intervention Studios

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

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • ages 16 and older

Exclusion Criteria:

  • ages 15 and younger

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: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Drum Circle- Cohort 1

Cohort 1 will listen together to recordings of drumming and be allowed to drum along while listening.

The facilitator will lead participants in procedures such as checking in (e.g. "How are you doing today?" before and after the circle) and breathing exercise.
Behavioral: Communal Drumming
Communal drumming
Behavioral: Communal drumming recordings
Recordings of drumming taken from the music made during a previous component of the study
Active Comparator: Drum Circle Control Group- Cohort 2
Control investigations will also be conducted to better understand the contribution communal drumming has on effects of anxiety and connectedness. All control investigations will take place in the same space and at the same frequency as the associated experimental arm but with no drumming. All participants will be asked to complete the same surveys and at the same frequency to those completed in the experimental arm.
Behavioral: Communal drumming recordings
Recordings of drumming taken from the music made during a previous component of the study

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Rating of Absorption in music pre vs post sessions
Time Frame: Baseline on day of study visit before drum circle, during drum circle (45min), 30 min after music listening
These ratings are classified on a scale from 0 to 1, with 0 indicating no absorption and 1 indicating complete absorption.
Baseline on day of study visit before drum circle, during drum circle (45min), 30 min after music listening

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Altered States of Consciousness Rating Scale
Time Frame: Baseline on day of study visit before drum circle, during drum circle (45min), 30 min after music listening
This scale has 94 statements and below each statement is a line with the endpoints "No, not more than usually" and "Yes, much more than usually." Each participant will rate to what extent the statements apply to their particular experience, compared to normal waking consciousness, by making a vertical mark on the line below the statements. Normal waking consciousness corresponds to a mark at the very left end of the scale, i.e.: "No, not more than usually."
Baseline on day of study visit before drum circle, during drum circle (45min), 30 min after music listening

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Yale University

Collaborators

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: AZA Allsop, MD, PhD, Yale University

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)

August 1, 2024

Primary Completion (Estimated)

March 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

March 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 10, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 19, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

July 22, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 12, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 10, 2026

Last Verified

February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2000028866_c
  • 2R25MH071584-11 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

De-identified, aggregate data will be shared through pre-prints, publications, and community town hall meetings.

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.

Clinical Trials on COVID-19

Clinical Trials on Communal Drumming

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Cyprus

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe