NCT05027113

App-Based Mindfulness Meditation for People of Color Who Experience Race-Related Stress

Completed NA Last updated 25 May 2023

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Mindfulness meditation in Stress, Psychological in 155 participants. Completed in 2 December 2022.

Timeline

13 October 2021

Primary endpoint
2 December 2022

2 December 2022

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	University of California, Los Angeles
Phase	NA
Status	Completed
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	parallel
Masking	triple
Primary purpose	treatment
Enrollment	155
Start date	13 October 2021
Primary completion	2 December 2022
Estimated completion	2 December 2022
Sites	1 location across United States

Drugs / interventions tested

• Mindfulness meditation

Conditions studied

• Stress, Psychological — all drugs for Stress, Psychological →
• Anxiety — all drugs for Anxiety →
• Depression — all drugs for Depression →
• Rumination — all drugs for Rumination →

Sponsor

University of California, Los Angeles

Who can join

18 and older, any sex, with Stress, Psychological or Anxiety. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

In the United States, people of color (POC) are disproportionally affected by stressors related to race/ethnicity compared with their non-Latinx White (NLW). Considering POC exposed to race-related stress are at high risk of developing a mental health disorder, there is a clear need for treatments that allow individuals to cope effectively with these stressors.

Among many evidence-based treatments available, mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) may be particularly well suited to help POC cope. MBIs are hypothesized to be effective via increases in mindfulness and self-compassion, as well as reductions in experiential avoidance, rumination, and emotion suppression. Despite their effectiveness, MBIs rarely reach POC. As such, innovative strategies such as self-directed app-based intervention may reduce the treatment gap.

Considering the lack of research examining the effectiveness of MBIs among POC, especially those who experience elevated levels of race-related stress, this study will employ a randomized control trial (RCT) approach to examine whether receiving an app-based MBI engages the hypothesized mechanisms of change (i.e., mindfulness, self-compassion, experiential avoidance, rumination, emotion suppression) among POC. Similarly, the study will test whether the intervention leads to decreases in the negative mental health outcomes more often associated with exposure to race-related stress (i.e., stress, anxiety, depression). Acceptability, adherence, and satisfaction also will be analyzed to explore whether a non-culturally adapted MBI is still relevant for POC who face race-related stress. Results from this trial will contribute to the nascent data on MBI acceptability and effectiveness with POC. To the investigators' knowledge, this study will also be the first to include a sample of POC recruited based on elevated levels of race-related stress, a high-risk population that is not commonly targeted in MBI research.

Publications & conference data

2 peer-reviewed publications reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):

1. App-Based Mindfulness Meditation for People of Color Who Experience Race-Related Stress: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.
   Ramos G, Aguilera A, Montoya A, Lau A, et al · · 2022 · cited 8× · PMID 35436228 · DOI 10.2196/35196
2. A Self-Guided App-Based Mindfulness Intervention for Racially and Ethnically Minoritized Individuals Who Experience Discrimination-Related Mental Health Symptoms: Randomized Controlled Trial.
   Ramos G, Montoya AK, Aguilera A, Lau AS, et al · · 2026 · PMID 42133556 · DOI 10.2196/84328