Does a Phone-based Meditation Application Improve Mental Wellness in Emergency Medicine Personnel?

Depression Clinical Trial

Official title:

Does a Phone-based Meditation Application Improve Mental Wellness in Emergency Medicine Personnel?

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT03811990
• Other study ID #: 2018-04-0089
• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: December 19, 2018
• Est. completion date: June 1, 2020

Study information

• Verified date: January 2019
• Source: University of Texas at Austin
• Contact: Keith Lambert, MD
• Phone: 7206294136
• Email: KLambert[@]asecnsion.org
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

Emergency medicine is notorious for its high rate of burnout and mental health issues. The emergency department (ED) is a high paced work environment dealing with life and death issues. Employees in the ED work shift times that are not conducive to a natural circadian rhythm. All of these factors lead to high rates of burnout and overall dissatisfaction with their career choice. These are known downsides of a career in emergency medicine, but little effort is put into addressing this issue in everyday EDs.

Cell phones offer an easy and convenient means to participate in meditation. There are multiple evidence-based meditation apps available to cell phone users free of charge. Meditation has been shown to decrease burnout, rates of depression, and rates of anxiety. We hypothesize that weekly use of a meditation-based cell phone application will improve the mental health of emergency department employees as measured on various wellness inventories.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Recruiting
• Enrollment: 100
• Est. completion date: June 1, 2020
• Est. primary completion date: August 1, 2019
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years to 75 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Employment in the Emergency Department (with at least 8 shifts a month at Dell Seton Medical Center or Seton Medical Center) as either an attending physician, resident physician, or nurse

• Age greater than/equal to 18 years old and younger than 75 years old

• Must own a mobile phone operating on the iOS system

Exclusion Criteria:

• Already use a phone-based meditation app on a weekly basis

• Currently undergoing psychological treatment in the form of weekly therapy or psychotropic medications

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Anxiety
• Burnout, Professional
• Depression
• Emergencies
• Stress

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Cleveland Clinic Stress Free Now Meditations For Healers
Phone-based meditation application

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	University of Texas Austin	Austin	Texas

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Texas at Austin

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

References & Publications (1)

Coulon SM, Monroe CM, West DS. A Systematic, Multi-domain Review of Mobile Smartphone Apps for Evidence-Based Stress Management. Am J Prev Med. 2016 Jul;51(1):95-105. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2016.01.026. Epub 2016 Mar 15. Review. — View Citation

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Change in depression score	Beck Depression Inventory, numeric score of 0-63 with a score of 63 being the most depressed	90 and 180 days
Primary	Change in anxiety score	Beck Anxiety Inventory, numeric score of 0-63 with a score of 63 being the most anxious	90 and 180 days
Primary	Change in stress levels	Perceived Stress Scale, numeric score of 0-40 with a score of 40 being the most stressed	90 and 180 days
Primary	Change in burnout level	Maslach Burnout Inventory, measures level of stress on a numeric scale	90 and 180 days, numeric scale between 0 and 6 with 6 being the highest score