Effect of an ACT-based Intervention to Reduce Anxiety in Medical Students

NCT07813520 | Completed DMC

• 1 other identifier: CI-03023
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 135
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Objective: To evaluate the association between ACT-process with negative psychological variables in a cross-sectional design, and to evaluate the effect of an ACT-based intervention to diminish anxiety in a sample of medical students. Methods: An ACT-based intervention was designed to diminish anxiety in medical students and implemented in 4 in-person sessions, the pre-test and post-test measurements were performed one week before and one week after the first and last sessions respectively. The control group received a mental health psychoeducational intervention of 90 minutes. The students were intentionally assigned to each study group based on schedule availability. The cross-sectional study was performed with the pre-test measurements in the students of both groups.\<

Conditions

Anxiety; Somatization; Depressive Symptom; Stress (Psychology)

Keywords

psychological intervention

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Anxiety symptos

  This measure was performed with the General Anxiety Disease (GAD-7) questionnaire.

  From enrollment to the end of the study after 4 weeks

Study Arms (2)

ACT_based intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

This arm was assigned to the ACT\_based therapy, which consisted in 4 weekly sessions of 2 hours, including information about: : Session number Objective General procedure 1.- Acceptance To facilitate the development of acceptance regarding unpleasant internal experiences (thoughts, emotions and physical sensations related with anxiety) 2.- Defusion and contact with the present moment. To reduce the impact of thoughts in anxiety or psychological distress by developing skills for cognitive defusion, by observing thoughts without becoming entangled in them, and conscious contact with the present moment. 3.- Me as a context and living values To foster a flexible perspective of the self (self as a context) and clarify personal values as compass for behavior, regardless of the presence of difficult internal experiences 4.- Committed action: promote execution of behaviors aligned with personal values

Behavioral: ACT_based intervention

Active control group

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

This group was assigned to an active computation group which consisted in a single psychoeducational 90 minutes session about mental health, which included the explanation of techniques to diminish anxiety

Behavioral: Active Control group

Interventions

ACT_based intervention BEHAVIORAL

Session number Objective General procedure 1. \- Acceptance To facilitate the development of acceptance regarding unpleasant internal experiences (thoughts, emotions and physical sensations related with anxiety) 2. \- Defusion and contact with the present moment. To reduce the impact of thoughts in anxiety or psychological distress by developing skills for cognitive defusion, by observing thoughts without becoming entangled in them, and conscious contact with the present moment. 3. \- Me as a context and living values To foster a flexible perspective of the self (self as a context) and clarify personal values as compass for behavior, regardless of the presence of difficult internal experiences 4. \- Committed action: promote execution of behaviors aligned with personal values

ACT_based intervention

Active Control group BEHAVIORAL

This group received a 90-minutes psychoeducational session about mental health including a brief explanation of what anxiety is, its risk factors and symptoms and techniques for anxiety regulation including the psychological interventions as Behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy and mindfulness, and the description of conductual changes that can reduce anxiety.

Active control group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 26 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Adult medical students at the Health Sciences University Center of the University of Guadalajara
• who were studying from first to third semesters were invited to participate.

You may not qualify if:

• students that were participating in other psychological of intervention program
• students that did not complete all the sessions of the intervention.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Guadalajara: lead

Study Sites (1)

University of Guadalajara, Health Sciences University Center

Guadalajara, Jalisco, 44340, Mexico

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Anxiety Disorders; Depression

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Mental Disorders; Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NON RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: SUPPORTIVE CARE
• Intervention Model: SEQUENTIAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Profesora e Investigadora Titular A

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 4, 2026
• First Posted: September 10, 2026
• Study Start: August 5, 2024
• Primary Completion: December 14, 2025
• Study Completion: December 14, 2025
• Last Updated: September 10, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-09

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

ME (1)