None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Transcendental Meditation (TM) may help prevent psychological distress while promoting mental and cardiometabolic health, but its effects remain underexplored among university staff in Australia. This two-arm, parallel-group randomised controlled trial at RMIT University will compare the effects of TM with access to the university's wellbeing program on psychological and cardiometabolic outcomes. Over 12 months, data will be collected three to four times through surveys, physical measurements (e.g., blood pressure, anthropometry), tracking using Biostrap Kairos watches (e.g. heart rate, sleep), biochemical assessments (e.g., lipid profiles, salivary cortisol, markers of insulin resistance and inflammation, telomere length), and interviews. The study aims to provide empirical evidence of TM's role in enhancing the mental and cardiometabolic health of university staff. The trial has been amended to include 18-month post-commencement of the intervention to assess whether the mental health effects sustained 18 months after the TM training. Similarly, the control group will also be assessed six months after receiving the TM training after completing the 12-month follow-up data collection.
Interventions
This will be a two-arm, parallel-group randomised controlled trial.
Transcendental Meditation (TM) program includes a 5-day training provided by a trained TM teacher, with sessions lasting 1 hour/day for the first two days and 1.5 hours/day for the following three days.
Day one will be the introduction about the TM, this can be joined in-person or online.
Day two will be an in-person personal instruction, where teacher will select a personalised mantra (mental word) and teaches how to use it
This will be a two-arm, parallel-group randomised controlled trial. Transcendental Meditation (TM) program includes a 5-day training provided by a trained TM teacher, with sessions lasting 1 hour/day for the first two days and 1.5 hours/day for the following three days. Day one will be the introduction about the TM, this can be joined in-person or online. Day two will be an in-person personal instruction, where teacher will select a personalised mantra (mental word) and teaches how to use it properly. Rest of the three days will be in-person individual or group (2-8) training depending upon the number of participants. These last four days of training will be in consecutive days. This training will be provided in quite room. The session attendance will be recorded. Thereafter, follow-up discussions and check-in meetings (in-person or online in Teams) will be held fortnightly for 2 months and then monthly for the remaining 10 months. These check-in sessions will be in-person or online (Teams) and run for about an hour. Participants will be asked to meditate twice daily for 15-20 minutes at a time and place convenient for them. Meditation adherence will be recorded using a brief survey questionnaire (adapted) at two weeks interval for 12-month post-intervention.
Sponsors
RMIT University
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Prevention
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
• Any academic/non-academic staff of RMIT University, Australia • Age: 18+ years • Expressed intent not to leave RMIT over the next 12 months from the beginning of the data collection period • Completion of Informed Consent • Have access to computer or smartphone devices • Have Medicare or equivalent health insurance in Australia
Exclusion criteria
• Suffering from severe psychological distress (assessed by Kessler-10 scale), severe depression, or suicidal ideation. • Self-reported current meditation practice
Outcome results
None listed