Pilot Study to Evaluate the Effect of Transcendental Meditation on Telomere Activity and Well-Being Among Nurse Managers

The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of a health and coping strategy (Transcendental Meditation, or TM) on Telomere Length and Telomerase Activity (known markers of physiological and psychological stress and aging), Perceived Stress, Work Life Balance, Flourishing, Power as Knowing Participation in Change, and Burnout, among nurse managers.

Aim 1: To evaluate the effects of TM compared to usual care delayed instruction on TL and TA.

Aim 2: To evaluate the effects of TM compared to usual care delayed instruction on work life climate, flourishing, perceived stress, burnout, and power as knowing participation in change.

Study Overview

• Status: Enrolling by invitation
• Conditions: Meditation
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Transcendental Meditation

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 30
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Florida
    • Sarasota, Florida, United States, 34239
      • Sarasota Memorial Health Care System

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Nurse managers within the Sarasota Memorial Health Care System (SMHCS);
• Stable for at least two months on any prescribed medications (for example, anti-anxiety or anti-depressant medications)

Exclusion Criteria:

• prior instruction in the TM technique

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Immediate TM Instruction; This group will receive initial TM instruction within three weeks of baseline assessments with follow-up interventions every 2-4 weeks and an expectation of home practice of two 20min meditation sessions per day.	Behavioral: Transcendental Meditation; Standard TM instruction by certified TM teachers, including 4 days of initial training (60-90 min/day), then follow-up sessions (60-90 min) every 2-4 weeks.
No Intervention: Control Group (delayed instruction); This group will be eligible to receive TM instruction upon completion of the final 4-month assessments, and asked to continue with routine activities throughout study.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Telomere Length	T/S ratio; processed by UCSF Blackburn Labs SOP #104D	baseline, 1-month, 4-months
Telomerase Activity	(# positive copies/10,000 input cells) ; processed by UCSF Blackburn Labs SOP #104D	baseline, 1-month, 4-months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Work-Life Climate Scale	(Sexton, et al., 2017); measures work/life balance; responses range from 0-4; survey scores range 0-32, with lower scores reflecting better work/life balance.	baseline, 1-month, 4-months
Secure Flourishing Index, SFI	(Weziak-Bialowolska et al., 2019); measures multidimensional well-being; survey scores range from 0-120, with higher scores reflecting a higher level of flourishing.	baseline, 1-month, 4-months
Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS10)	(Cohen, 1988); measures the perception of stressful thoughts and feelings in preceding month; responses range from 0-40 with higher scores indicating higher levels of stress.	baseline, 1-month, 4-months
Maslach Burnout Inventory Human Services Survey for Medical Personnel	(Maslach & Jackson, 1984); Consists of three subscales: Emotional Exhaustion (9-items, score range 0-54, higher scores indicate more emotional exhaustion); Depersonalization (5-items, score range 0-18, higher scores indicate more depersonalization); and Personal Accomplishment (8-items, score range 0-48, higher scores indicate higher level of personal accomplishment).	baseline, 1-month, 4-months
Power as Knowing Participation in Change (PKPCT)	Barrett (1983, 1984, 2010); Scores range from 48-336 in four subscales with higher scores indicating higher levels of perceived power.	baseline, 1-month, 4-months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Sarasota Memorial Health Care System
• Collaborators: Florida Atlantic University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 18, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): May 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): May 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 30, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 2, 2025
• First Posted (Estimated): September 10, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): September 10, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 2, 2025
• Last Verified: September 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: meditation; well-being; telomere; nurse manager
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Therapeutics; Mind-Body Therapies; Complementary Therapies; Spiritual Therapies; Behavior Therapy; Psychotherapy; Behavioral Disciplines and Activities; Relaxation Therapy; Meditation
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2288149-1

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

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