Art-based Beauty Appreciation Intervention

NCT06788496 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: NL87597.091.24
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 114
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study is a randomized controlled trial with an active control condition evaluating the impact of an art-based beauty appreciation (ABBA) intervention on trait appreciation of beauty as a primary outcome and well-being and psychological distress as secondary outcomes. The central hypothesis is that the primary and secondary outcomes will increase more in the intervention than in the control condition.

Conditions

Young Adults; Sensory Processing Sensitivity

Keywords

Beauty Appreciation; Well-being; Mental Health; Young Adults; Active Control Condition; Art Based Intervention

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Engagement with Beauty

  The Engagement with Beauty Scale Revised (EBS-R) is an 18-item self-report scale designed to assess cognitive and emotional engagement with natural beauty, artistic beauty, moral beauty, and beautiful ideas. Participants respond on a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (very unlike me) to 7 (very much like me). Example items include reflections on physiological responses to natural beauty, the spiritual experience elicited by art, and the desire for personal growth through moral beauty appreciation. Subscales measure engagement with moral beauty (scores 6-42) and the other three domains (scores 4-28), contributing to a total score ranging from 18 to 126.

  From baseline to the follow-up period (up to 2 months)

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Well-being

  From baseline to the follow-up period (up to 2 months)

• Psychological Distress

  From baseline to the follow-up period (up to 2 months)

Other Outcomes (5)

• Emotion Regulation via Beauty

  From baseline to the follow-up period (up to 2 months)

• Attention Regulation

  From baseline to the follow-up period (up to 2 months)

• Mindfulness Skills

  From baseline to the follow-up period (up to 2 months)

Study Arms (2)

Active Control Condition

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Behavioral: Observation Program (Learning to Observe Life)

Intervention Condition

OTHER

Behavioral: Art-based Beauty Appreciation Intervention Program (Learning to See Beauty)

Interventions

Art-based Beauty Appreciation Intervention Program (Learning to See Beauty) BEHAVIORAL

The goals of the intervention program are to help individuals develop an aesthetic mindset, practice observation and appreciation skills, learn how to apply these skills to their day-to-day lives, practice emotion regulation with beauty, and incorporate more beauty into their lives. The program is designed to create a slow skill transfer from appreciation in art contexts to natural beauty and to everyday life. In the 14-day program, participants visit an art museum with guided audio, watch instructional videos about observing and appreciating beauty, and complete daily written or photo beauty journals that document the beauty they see. In addition, participants will watch video art showing how to find beauty in mundane objects, practice this in a beauty walk, and complete a planning session to include more beauty in their lives.

Intervention Condition

Observation Program (Learning to Observe Life) BEHAVIORAL

The active, matched control group will focus on developing pragmatic observation skills. Participants will be instructed to pay attention to and identify objects and elements in their surroundings without emphasizing their aesthetic value. For example, they should pay attention and count objects of the same colour they encounter, social behaviour, the people they pass on the street, or the types of buildings. The 14-day program includes a tourist trip with guided audio instruction, watching instructional videos about increasing observation skills and completing daily written or photo journals to document their observations. Further, participants will take an observation walk and plan to include more observation in their lives.

Active Control Condition

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 28 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Participants must be between 18-28 years of age,
• indicate that they have a smartphone to support our data collection and program components,
• have the ability and interest to make a trip to a museum or new location (i.e., new part of the city),
• (3) be willing to complete short activities every day for two weeks, (4) and be fluent in English, (6) be based in Amsterdam, (7) are willing to share postal address to receive materials.

You may not qualify if:

• Participants must not currently be in clinical treatment for a mental health disorder, assessed via self-report, or
• indicate that they are currently experiencing severe psychological symptoms (i.e., depression, suicidal ideation, severe anxiety) via self-report.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Radboud University Medical Center: lead
• University of Amsterdam: collaborator
• University of Vienna: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

RadboudUMC

Nijmegen, 6525 GA, Netherlands

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Psychological Well-Being

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Personal Satisfaction; Behavior

Study Officials

• MacKenzie D Trupp, PhD Candidate

  RadboudUMC, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour and University of Vienna

  STUDY DIRECTOR

• Corina Greven, Prof. Dr.

  RadboudUMC, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Masking Details: The researchers were also blind to the randomization block size.
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 22, 2024
• First Posted: January 23, 2025
• Study Start: November 22, 2024
• Primary Completion: July 18, 2025
• Study Completion: July 18, 2025
• Last Updated: August 17, 2025

Record last verified: 2024-12

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: SAP
• Time Frame: The study pre-registration will be embargoed on Open Science Framework (OSF) until the publication of the results in an academic journal.
• Access Criteria: After the release from the embargo, anyone can access the pre-registration on OSF.

Locations

NL (1)