Mindfulness, Empathy and Social Integration. Its Relation With Chonic Stress

NCT04177017 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: CONICET
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 35
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The objective of this project is to evaluate the effects of promoting the learning of empathy and pro-social behavior in health and interpersonal relationships in middle-aged children It has been shown that pro-social behavior can decrease chronic stress levels and improve the response of the immune system and the autonomic nervous system. This behavior, which includes a wide variety of actions such as helping, sharing, comforting, informing, emerges early in ontogeny and is closely related to empathic processes. Finding ways to teach how to develop empathy and perspective could contribute to favor interpersonal relationships and health in the school environment, articulating aspects of basic science and applied science. The project not only aims to deepen theoretical aspects of chornic stress, empathy and pro-sociality, but also to develop concrete tools that diminsh chronic stress and foster empathic and cooperative attitudes in the school environment, thus contributing to individual and collective well-being.

Conditions

Chronic Stress Disorder

Keywords

stress; empathy; sociality; cortisol

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Change from baseline hair cortisol levels

  change form baseline hair cortisol levels at 9 months

  through study completion, an average of 9 months

• change from baseline sociogram levels

  Children are asked to say which classmates they would choose as playmates and which ones they would not. The sociogram is completed previous to and after the intervention in both groups. The changes in the number of peers selected (i.e., positive elections) and rejected (i.e., negative elections) reflect changes in the pattern of social relationships of each child. Therefore, if positive elections increase and /or negative elections decrease, social integration improves

  through study completion, an average of 9 months

Study Arms (2)

Experimental group

EXPERIMENTAL

The experimental group is the one that participates in the intervention

Behavioral: Mindfulness-based intervention

Control group

NO INTERVENTION

The control group belonged to the same school but did not participate in the intervention. Instead, they continued with regular curricular classes

Interventions

Mindfulness-based intervention BEHAVIORAL

The behavioral intervention was carried out once a week during 60 minutes from May to November, and included mindfulness-based practices sought to foster self-awareness, and dyadic activities sought to awakening subtle perception of the other. Group activities, which entailed more than two participants, were also conducted to foster empathic collaboration and prosocialness. Diverse collaborative games were carried out in which mutual help was needed for achieving shared goals in an amusing way . Perspective-taking was encouraged within the group, by sharing each participant's experience, which included expressing how each child had felt (i.e., if neglected, ignored or cared for) and whether they had enjoyed helping their peers or no.

Also known as: Self-awareness practices, and other oriented awareness practicess

Experimental group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 6 Years - 9 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• Participants having good general health

You may not qualify if:

• Children who were taking medication
• Children that were present to less than the 80% of the intervention encounters
• Children who were not present at the pre and post measurements points

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Council of Scientific and Technical Research, Argentina: lead

Study Sites (1)

Paola

Bariloche, Río Negro Province, 8400, Argentina

Location

Related Publications (2)

• Iglesias S, Jacobsen D, Gonzalez D, Azzara S, Repetto EM, Jamardo J, Gomez SG, Mesch V, Berg G, Fabre B. Hair cortisol: A new tool for evaluating stress in programs of stress management. Life Sci. 2015 Nov 15;141:188-92. doi: 10.1016/j.lfs.2015.10.006. Epub 2015 Oct 22.

  PMID: 26454227 BACKGROUND

• Lozada M, Carro N, D'adamo P, Barclay C. Stress management in children: a pilot study in 7 to 9 year olds. J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2014 Feb-Mar;35(2):144-7. doi: 10.1097/DBP.0000000000000026.

  PMID: 24406660 RESULT

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Social Behavior

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior

Study Officials

• Paola D'Adamo, PhD

  National Council of Scientific and Technical Research, Argentina

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NON RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Masking Details: The lab that analyzed hair cortisol levels did not know to which group corresponded the samples
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER GOV
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Researcher

Model Details: semi-randmized controlled intervention

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: November 22, 2019
• First Posted: November 26, 2019
• Study Start: March 20, 2017
• Primary Completion: November 30, 2017
• Study Completion: June 23, 2018
• Last Updated: November 26, 2019

Record last verified: 2019-11

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

AR (1)