Mini-treatment Experiments to Clarify How to Assist People to Habit Formation

NCT05070143 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: MTurk Study Habit Formation
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 286
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Habits impact nearly every domain of one's physical and mental health. Evidence-based psychological treatments (EBPTs) are interventions targeting psychological processes that cause and/or maintain mental illness and that have been developed and evaluated scientifically. An implicit goal of EBPTs is to disrupt unwanted habits and develop desired habits. Yet, there has been insufficient attention given to habit formation principles, theory and measures in the development and delivery of EBTPs. In preparing to conduct a 5-year R01 on this topic, the investigators are conducting this experiment to better understand habit formation. The purpose is to distill, study and clarify key concepts in habit formation before embarking on the 5-year R01. This is necessary as there is surprisingly little research to guide key decisions, particularly for the process of dismantling unwanted habits. Hence, the aim of this experiment is to compare strategies discussed in the scientific literature, which have been minimally studied, to dismantle unwanted habits. The hypothesis tested is that each of the active strategies will be superior to the no intervention group. The study is exploratory as to which of the active strategies will be most effective.

Conditions

Sleep Disorder; Circadian Dysregulation; Habit, Good Sleep

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (4)

• Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System - Sleep Disturbance

  Assesses perceived functional impairments related to sleep problems using a self-report questionnaire. The minimum value is 8. The maximum value is 40. Higher scores mean more sleep disturbance (worse outcome).

  Change from baseline to 6-week follow-up and 3-month follow-up

• Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System - Sleep Related Impairment

  Assesses perceived functional impairments related to sleep problems in a self-report questionnaire. The minimum value is 16. The maximum value is 80. Higher scores mean more sleep-related impairment (worse outcome).

  Change from baseline to 6-week follow-up and 3-month follow-up

• New Habit Questionnaire

  Assessment for new habit. Includes self-report questions on the description of new habit, usage and frequency of new habit, cues for new habit, and rewards for new habit.

  Change from baseline to Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, 6 weeks after Week 5, and 3 months after Week 5

• Old Habit Questionnaire

  Assessment for old habit disruption. Includes self-report questions on the description of old habit, cues for old habit, and rewards for old habit.

  Change from baseline to Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, 6 weeks after Week 5, and 3 months after Week 5

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• Composite Sleep Health Score

  Baseline

• Insomnia Severity Index - Interference Item

  Change from screening to 6-week follow-up, 3-month follow-up

• Interference and Motivation Items

  Change from baseline to 6-week follow-up, and 3-month follow-up

• Credibility Expectancy Scale

  1 week after baseline

Study Arms (2)

Brief education

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will be randomly allocated to the Brief Education condition or one of the five treatment conditions (see below). In this condition, participants only receive the learning module. This condition is included as a "minimal intervention" comparison condition that controls for the passage of time.

Behavioral: Brief Education

Treatment condition

EXPERIMENTAL

All participants will receive the Brief Education intervention described above. Then, participants will be randomly allocated to one of the following conditions for habit formation.

Behavioral: RISE-UP Routine; Behavioral: Awareness Training; Behavioral: Vigilant Monitoring; Behavioral: Implementation Intentions; Behavioral: Values-based Approach; Behavioral: Brief Education

Interventions

RISE-UP Routine BEHAVIORAL

The participants in this condition will be instructed to substitute their current sleep habits with the RISE-UP routine that has been developed by our team (Kaplan, Talavera, \& Harvey, 2018). This involves instructing participants to devise an individually tailored routine that will help them get up each morning (e.g., open blinds, make the bed, head for the shower).

Treatment condition

Awareness Training BEHAVIORAL

The participants in this condition will be instructed in dismantling/disrupting the association between the cue and the habit via awareness training from habit reversal approaches (Azrin \& Nunn, 1973; Ladouceur, 1979). This condition involves instructing the participant to develop an awareness of their decisions to stay in bed and snooze.

Treatment condition

Vigilant Monitoring BEHAVIORAL

The participants in this condition will be instructed in vigilant monitoring which involves internal repetition of "get up!" and "don't do it" and watching carefully for slipups (Quinn, Pascoe, Wood, \& Neal, 2010).

Treatment condition

Implementation Intentions BEHAVIORAL

The participants in this condition will be instructed in counter habitual implementation intentions. This involves instructing the participant to engage in implementation intentions in which they imagine replacing snoozing with getting up out of bed (Adriaanse, Gollwitzer, De Ridder, De Wit, \& Kroese, 2011). The structure of this implementation intention is: "If I wake up in the morning and I want a sleep-in then I will get up and start my day."

Treatment condition

Values-based Approach BEHAVIORAL

The participants in this condition will be instructed in a values-based approach (Anshel, Brinthaupt, \& Kang, 2010; Anshel \& Kang, 2007). This involves asking the participants to reflect on how getting up consistently at the same time each day does or does not align with their values. They are asked to compare the costs and long-term consequences of continuing to engage in the unwanted habit and clearly articulating the disconnect between the habit and their values.

Treatment condition

Brief Education BEHAVIORAL

In this condition, participants only receive the learning module. This condition is included as a "minimal intervention" comparison condition that controls for the passage of time. First, education about the importance of regular wake times and sleep inertia that is a normal transitional stage between sleep and wake. The education will be delivered in this video format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6zcSFA7ymo. Second, after viewing the video, the key points will be summarized. Lastly, participants will be asked to summarize the four key takeaways for good sleep habits.

Brief education; Treatment condition

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Over 18 years of age
• Live in the United States
• Have a 95% acceptance rate on MTurk
• Have completed at least 1000 tasks on MTurk
• Consent to participate in the research
• Screened participants will complete a demographic form to enable us to compare the demographics of those included with those who are excluded.
• We will ask questions to pre-select MT workers who:
• Get less than 7 hours of sleep per night in the past week and
• Have irregular wake-up times of 60 minutes or more across the week and
• "snooze" in bed for more than 30 minutes on a typical morning in the past week
• Report some distress or impairment related to sleep
• Report motivation to improve their sleep or dismantle sleep-related habits
• The items listed above will be ascertained with the Sleep Composite Timing Questions as well as the item assessing distress or impairment related to sleep from the Insomnia Severity Index and a rating of motivation (from the 'Interference and Motivation items'). On the latter two items, a score of 3 or 4 is needed to be accepted into the study.

You may not qualify if:

• Not 18 years of age
• Does not live in the United States

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of California, Berkeley: lead

Study Sites (1)

University of California at Berkeley

Berkeley, California, 94720-1650, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Sleep Wake Disorders; Chronobiology Disorders; Sleep Hygiene

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Nervous System Diseases; Neurologic Manifestations; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Mental Disorders; Health Behavior; Behavior

Study Officials

• Allison Harvey, PhD

  University of California, Berkeley

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

• Laurel Sarfan, PhD

  University of California, Berkeley

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 9, 2021
• First Posted: October 7, 2021
• Study Start: October 7, 2021
• Primary Completion: May 1, 2023
• Study Completion: May 1, 2023
• Last Updated: May 10, 2023

Record last verified: 2023-05

Locations

US (1)