Meditation to Reduce Firefighter Distress

NCT06518616 | Recruiting Phase 2 DMC

• 1 other identifier: STUDY00003422
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 192
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The more than one million firefighters in the United States provide critical emergency medical services in communities they serve and are on the front lines of healthcare delivery, including in the post-pandemic world. As a result of exposure to occupational stressors, a high proportion of firefighters experience considerable stress-related burden including psychological distress (i.e., increased features of anxiety and depression). To address this need, this project will test the efficacy of a 10-day meditation intervention (i.e., 10 individual prerecorded audio units delivered by smartphone app) among career firefighters to decrease psychological distress (i.e., anxiety and depression).

Conditions

Psychological Distress

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• anxiety features

  PROMIS (Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System) Short Form Emotional Distress - Anxiety - 8a

  before, immediately after, 30 days after, and 3 months after the 10-day interventions

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• depression features

  before, immediately after, 30 days after, and 3 months after the 10-day interventions

Study Arms (2)

10-day meditation intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

prerecorded meditation units, 10 units, one per day, delivered by smartphone app

Behavioral: 10-day meditation intervention

10-day health education intervention

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

prerecorded health education units, 10 units, one per day, delivered by smartphone app

Behavioral: 10-day health education intervention

Interventions

10-day meditation intervention BEHAVIORAL

prerecorded meditation units delivered by smartphone app

10-day meditation intervention

10-day health education intervention BEHAVIORAL

prerecorded health education units delivered by smartphone app

10-day health education intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Arizona: lead

Study Sites (1)

University of Arizona

Tucson, Arizona, 85721, United States

RECRUITING

Study Officials

• Thaddeus Pace, PhD

  University of Arizona

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Thaddeus Pace, PhD

CONTACT

5206263520; twwpace@arizona.edu

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: phase 2
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: Randomized controlled trial

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: July 18, 2024
• First Posted: July 24, 2024
• Study Start: December 3, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): August 31, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): February 28, 2027
• Last Updated: November 12, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-11

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)