Enhancing Occupational Therapy Graduate Student Well-Being

NCT07846085 | Completed

• 2 other identifiers: IRB-FY2025-164None provided
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 63
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of this randomized control trial is to learn if regular administration of the Mindful Self Care Scale (MSCS) will improve graduate occupational therapy student overall psychological well being. It will also learn about specific coping skills students use, when, and how they use these. The main questions it aims to answer are: (1) Does completing regular self-care assessments improve students' overall psychological distress, resilience, or perceived social support state anxiety for the experimental group? 2\) To describe the experience of being prompted to reflect on coping behaviors during school including specific skills students use, when and how they use these. Researchers will compare regular administration of the MSCS every 3 weeks for 6 administrations to a control group who answered two generalized well being questions at the same interval. Participants will: Take the MSCS or a generalized 2 question survey every 3 weeks for a total of 6 surveys. A maximum of 20 intervention group participants will self-select to participate in a focus group upon completion of quantitative data collection.

Conditions

Occupational Therapy Students

Keywords

Occupational Therapy; Graduate Student; Resilience; Self-care; Psychological distress; Social support

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (6)

• Brief Resilience Scale (BRS)

  The Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) is a 6-item self-report measure for adults aged 18 years and older designed to assess an individual's ability to bounce back or recover from stress, adversity, and challenging life circumstances. Minimum score is 6, maximum score is 30. Higher number means better outcome.

  From enrollment to the end of treatment at 5 months.

• Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS)

  The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support is a 12-item measure of perceived adequacy of social support from three sources: family, friends, \& significant other; using a 5-point Likert scale (0 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree). Minimum Value is 12, Maximum Value is 84. Higher score indicates better outcome.

  From enrollment to the end of treatment at 5 months.

• Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21)

  Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21): The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale - 21 Items (DASS-21) is a set of averaged self-report scales designed to measure the emotional states of depression, anxiety and stress. Minimum value is 0, Maximum value is 68. Lower score indicates better outcome.

  From enrollment to the end of treatment at 5 months.

• Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI)

  Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) Total Score: The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) is a self-rated questionnaire which assesses sleep quality and disturbances over a 1-month time interval. Minimum Value 0; Maximum Score 21. Lower Value indicates better outcome.

  From enrollment to the end of treatment at 5 months.

• Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)

  Perceived Stress Scale (PSS): This self-report questionnaire is used to assess the degree to which a respondent finds circumstances in their life to be unpredictable, uncontrollable, and/or overwhelming. Minimum Value 0; Maximum Value 40. Lower score indicates better outcome.

  From enrollment to the end of treatment at 5 months.

• The World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5)

  The World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5): The WHO-5 is a short questionnaire consisting of 5 positively formulated questions, which successfully detect when a disease impacts a person's subjective well-being. Minimum value 0, Maximum value 25. Higher score indicates better outcome.

  From enrollment to the end of treatment at 5 months.

Study Arms (2)

Intervention Group (MSCS)

EXPERIMENTAL

Will receive MSCS Survey every 3 weeks for a total of 6 administrations, an inspirational quote, and campus resources.

Behavioral: Mindful Self Care Survey (MSCS)

Control Group (Placebo)

PLACEBO COMPARATOR

Will receive two generic well-being questions, an inspirational quote, and campus resources at the same interval as the experimental group.

Other: Placebo

Interventions

Mindful Self Care Survey (MSCS) BEHAVIORAL

Provided the Mindful Self Care Survey every 3 weeks for a total of 6 administrations.

Intervention Group (MSCS)

Placebo OTHER

Will receive two generic well-being questions and an inspirational quote, and campus resources.

Control Group (Placebo)

Eligibility Criteria

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

You may qualify if:

• + years old
• Be enrolled in the MSOT or OTD programs at CSUDH and an active full-time student taking didactic courses.

You may not qualify if:

• The investigators are excluding 17 and younger due to no one that young being in our program and them being minors.
• The investigators are excluding part-time students due to the different stress experience that they would have compared to full-time students (due to the heavy academic load).
• The investigators are excluding students from other OT programs due to complications with multiple IRBs and are piloting this study here first.
• The investigators are excluding students from other graduate programs at CSUDH due to the unique program design and high number of units required in this cohorted program.
• The investigators are excluding fieldwork 2 students because they are not taking the heavy didactic unit load and are off campus during these terms.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Lauren Newhouse: lead
• California Foundation for Occupational Therapy: collaborator
• California State University, Dominguez Hills: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

CSU Dominguez Hills

Carson, California, 90747, United States

Location

Study Officials

• Lauren N Newhouse, OTD, OTR/L

  CSU Dominguez Hills

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

• Sheryl J Ryan, PhD, OTR/L

  CSU Dominguez Hills

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: DOUBLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 31, 2026
• First Posted: September 29, 2026
• Study Start: January 22, 2026
• Primary Completion: July 29, 2026
• Study Completion: July 29, 2026
• Last Updated: September 29, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-08

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)