Adolescent Acts of Kindness Intervention

NCT03322397 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 17-001018
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 97
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Adolescents will complete a 4-week intervention, during which they will either complete a kind act for others, complete a kind act for themselves, or report their daily activities three days per week. Psychological and physiological measures will be indexed before and after the intervention.

Conditions

Inflammation; Mental Health Wellness 1

Keywords

adolescence; immune function; gene expression; psychological well-being; social connection; kindness

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Average Positive Affect

  Average Positive Affect as assessed by the positive affect subscale of the Affect Adjective Checklist. An average is taken across four items, and scores range from 1 to 5 with higher scores indicating more positive affect over the week.

  Weekly over 5 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Inflammatory Gene Expression

  Baseline and one-week post intervention (elapsed time of 5 weeks)

• Average Psychological Flourishing

  Baseline and one-week post intervention (elapsed time of 5 weeks)

• Average Negative Affect

  Weekly over 5 weeks

Other Outcomes (6)

• Average Stress

  Weekly over 5 weeks

• Sleep Quality

  Weekly over 5 weeks

• Inflammatory Composite

  Baseline and one-week post intervention (elapsed time of 5 weeks)

Study Arms (3)

Kindness to Others

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will complete the 'Other-Focused Acts of Kindness Intervention' by performing acts of kindness for others. They be asked to complete 3 kind acts for others throughout the week for 4 weeks. They will receive text messages three days per week (either Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday or Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday) and will report on their kind act later that day.

Behavioral: Other-Focused Acts of Kindness Intervention

Kindness to Self

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Participants will complete the 'Self-Focused Acts of Kindness Intervention' by performing acts of kindness for themselves. They be asked to complete 3 kind acts for others throughout the week for 4 weeks. They will receive text messages three days per week (either Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday or Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday) and will report on their kind act later that day.

Behavioral: Self-Focused Acts of Kindness Intervention

Daily Report

SHAM COMPARATOR

Participants will complete the 'Daily Reports' and be asked to report their daily activities throughout the week for 4 weeks. They will receive text messages three days per week (either Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday or Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday) and will list activities from their day.

Behavioral: Daily Reports

Interventions

Self-Focused Acts of Kindness Intervention BEHAVIORAL

Participants engage in positive behaviors by completing acts of kindness for themselves three times per week. These acts should require effort and be outside of an individual's normal routine.

Kindness to Self

Other-Focused Acts of Kindness Intervention BEHAVIORAL

Participants engage in positive behaviors by completing acts of kindness for others three times per week. These acts should require effort and be outside of an individual's normal routine.

Kindness to Others

Daily Reports BEHAVIORAL

Participants will report their daily activities three times per week. Aside from reporting at the end of the day, no changes should be made to the individual's normal routine.

Daily Report

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 14 Years - 17 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• Between the ages of 14-17

You may not qualify if:

• None

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of California, Los Angeles: lead

Study Sites (1)

Adolescent Development Lab at UCLA

Los Angeles, California, 90066, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Inflammation; Psychological Well-Being

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Pathologic Processes; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Personal Satisfaction; Behavior

Study Officials

• Andrew Fuligni, PhD

  Professor

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Masking Details: Participants will be told that the investigatos are studying the daily lives of teens. They will not be informed of the other arms of the experiment.
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal Investigator

Model Details: 90 participants will randomly be assigned to one of three interventions. Participants will complete a 4-week intervention. All outcomes will be measured before and after the intervention, and some psychological measures will be collected weekly throughout the intervention.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: October 23, 2017
• First Posted: October 26, 2017
• Study Start: October 8, 2017
• Primary Completion: January 13, 2019
• Study Completion: January 13, 2019
• Last Updated: February 21, 2019

Record last verified: 2019-02

Locations

US (1)