Meaning-centered Intervention for Internalizing Symptoms

March 2, 2026 updated by: Marcel Näther, University of Groningen

A Meaning-centered Intervention for Individuals Who Tend to Feel Down or Anxious

Young adults with internalizing symptoms will be randomly assigned to a six-session meaning-centered intervention condition or a waitlist condition. Both conditions receive the same questionnaires at baseline, post assessment (intervention condition: immediately after the final session; waitlist: four weeks after baseline), and follow-up.

The researchers hypothesize that a meaning-centered intervention for individuals with internalizing symptoms will increase participants' meaning in life and reduce their internalizing symptoms at post assessment and 4-week follow-up when compared to a waitlist condition.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

First-year psychology students at the University of Groningen will be screened for depressive and anxiety symptoms. Those with heightened symptoms will be invited via e-mail to participate in the study. After filling out the baseline assessment online, participants will be randomly assigned to either a meaning-centered intervention condition, which will receive a meaning-centered intervention taking place approximately every four days, or a waitlist condition, which will be assigned no task. Participants in the intervention condition will follow six 1-hour online intervention sessions led by a trainer and conduct intervention-related homework assignments. The sessions can be followed in English, Dutch, or German. The intervention aims to increase participants' meaning in life and reduce their internalizing symptoms (i.e. depressive and/or anxiety symptoms). Immediately after the final session (i.e. approximately one month after the baseline assessment), participants in the intervention condition will be asked to fill in the post assessment, which includes the same questionnaires as the baseline assessment. Participants in the waitlist control will be asked to complete the post assessment one month after their baseline assessment. One month after the post assessment, participants in both conditions are asked to fill in same set of questionnaires. Waitlist participants are offered to receive the intervention sessions after the study has finished. Participants are compensated with SONA credits.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

155

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

  • Netherlands
    • Provincie Groningen
      • Groningen, Provincie Groningen, Netherlands, 9712 TS
        • Heymans Institute

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

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • heightened internalizing symptoms (depressive and/or anxiety symptoms) as indicated by PHQ-4 total score of 2 or higher

Exclusion Criteria:

  • receiving psychotherapeutic treatment for a depressive or anxiety disorder
  • suicidality

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

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Meaning-centered intervention
Participants receive a meaning-centered intervention consisting of six 1-hour online sessions led by a trainer.
Behavioral: Meaning-centered intervention for individuals who tend to feel down or anxious

Meaning-centered intervention for internalizing symptoms adapted from the intervention "Meaning-centered intervention for youth worrying about their weight and shape".

  • Six 1-hour individual online sessions, approximately every 4 days
  • Sessions led by a certified trainer based on intervention manual
  • Four sources of meaning will be explored: personal life story, dealing with life's limitations, creating one's own life, and meaningful experiences
  • Participants follow intervention using intervention workbook
  • Homework assignments designed to deepen participants' experience and reflection on meaning in their daily lives
No Intervention: Waitlist control
No task or intervention is assigned to participants in this arm.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Meaning in Life Questionnaire; Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales-21
Time Frame: at baseline; post (one month after baseline); one-month follow-up (one month after post)
questionnaire (MLQ: sum score (5-35), 7-point Likert scale (1-7), higher scores indicating higher presence of life meaning; DASS-21: sum score (0-33), 4-point Likert scale (0-3), higher scores indicating higher internalizing symptoms)
at baseline; post (one month after baseline); one-month follow-up (one month after post)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Dyscontrolled drinking; Three-dimensional meaning
Time Frame: at baseline; post (one month after baseline); one-month follow-up (one month after post)
questionnaire (Dyscontrolled drinking: sum score (3-27), 9-point Likert scale (1-9), higher scores indicating higher dyscontrolled drinking; Three-dimensional meaning: sum score (11-77), 7-Point Likert scale (1-7), higher scores indicating higher life meaning)
at baseline; post (one month after baseline); one-month follow-up (one month after post)

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Groningen

Collaborators

University of Amsterdam

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)

November 28, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

February 23, 2026

Study Completion (Actual)

February 23, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 16, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 4, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

July 10, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 4, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 2, 2026

Last Verified

March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • PSY-2324-S-0451
  • Gravitation 024.004.016 (Other Grant/Funding Number: NWO)

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

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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