Pilgrimage
Conditions
Keywords
mindfulness, mental health, well-being, peregrination, walking, forest-bathing, outdoor therapy, wilderness therapy, adventure therapy
Brief summary
Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the effects of pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela on mood, satisfaction with life, happiness, ability to pay attention to the present moment and the capacity to make choices in a more conscious and values-oriented way. Other personal aspects that could be related to the effects of the Camino and that may also mediate some of its effects (e.g., personal reasons for walking, socialization along the Camino, number of days walked, physical pain associated with walking, previous pilgrimages to Santiago, etc.) will be also assessed. Methods: This is a naturalistic study with a 3-month follow-up. Voluntary participation of pilgrims doing one of the Way of Saint James routes will be requested. Participants will be asked to complete an online questionnaire with sociodemographic data and outcome measures (e.g. mindfulness, satisfaction with life, depression, stress, anxiety) before starting the Camino, at the end of the Camino and 3 months later. These evaluations will help us discover the effects of the Camino de Santiago on mental health and well-being in the short- and mid-term. For more information (and/or to participate), go to: http://estudiocamino.org/
Interventions
None listed
Sponsors
Fundació Institut de Recerca de l'Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau
Universidad de Zaragoza
Federal University of São Paulo
Fundació Sant Joan de Déu
Study design
Observational model
ECOLOGIC_OR_COMMUNITY
Time perspective
PROSPECTIVE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Adults (\> 18 years old) * Willing to go on pilgrimage in the Way of Saint James * With or without previous experience in this pilgrimage * Walking or cycling in the pilgrimage * Finishing or not at Santiago de Compostela * Ability to understand and read Spanish or English * With internet access (via PC or smatphone) * With signed informed consent to participate in the present study
Exclusion criteria
* Not walking for 4 or more days * With incomplete baseline data * With baseline/post assessments \>1 month previous starting/ending the pilgrimage
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| International Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, short form (I.PANAS-SF; Thompson, 2007) | Through study completion, an average of 3 months | I-PANAS-SF is a 10-item version of the International Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) to measure positive and negative affect. Items are on a 5-point scale that ranges from never (1) to always (5). Subscale scores (i.e. Positive affect or Negative affect) may range from 5 to 25 with higher scores meaning greater presence of positive or negative affect . |
| Perceived Stress Scale, short form (PSS-4; Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983) | Through study completion, an average of 3 months | PSS-4 is a 4-item scale which measures the degree to which respondents appraised situations as stressful in the last month. Responses are scored on a Likert-scale between 0 = never and 4 = very often (total score ranges from 0 to 16). Higher scores indicate greater perceived stress. |
| Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985) | Through study completion, an average of 3 months | SWLS assesses global life satisfaction. It contains five items rated on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) ( total scores range from 5 to 35). Higher scores indicate greater perceived satisfaction with life/wellbeing. |
| Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS; Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999) | Through study completion, an average of 3 months | SHS is a measure of global subjective happiness and consists of four items with a 7-point Likert-type scale. Mean total score ranges from 1 to 7, with greater scores indicating higher levels of perceived happiness. |
| Patient Health Questionnaire, short form (PHQ-2; Kroenke, Spitzer, & Williams, 2003) | Through study completion, an average of 3 months | PHQ-2 is a 2-item measure assessing frequency of the two core depression symptoms (depressed mood and anhedonia) over the past two weeks, using a 4-point Likert scale (from 0= not at all to 3= nearly every day; total score ranges from 0 to 6). Higher scores indicate greater depressive symptoms. |
| General Anxiety Disorder scale, short form (GAD-2, Kroenke, Spitzer, Williams, Monahan, & Löwe, 2007) | Through study completion, an average of 3 months | GAD-2 is a 2-item scale that serves as an initial screening tool for generalized anxiety. Items are on a 4-point Likert scale (from 0= not at all to 3= nearly every day; total score ranges from 0 to 6). Higher scores indicate greater anxiety symptoms. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Nonattachment Scale, short form (NAS-7; Elphinstone, Sahdra, & Ciarrochi, 2014) | Through study completion, an average of 3 months | The NAS-7 is a 7-item measure scored on a 6-point scale ranging from 1 = disagree strongly to 6 = agree strongly and designed to measure nonattachment. Its scores range from 7 to 42, with higher scores indicating greater nonattachment. |
| Engaged Living Scale (ELS; Trompetter et al., 2013) | Through study completion, an average of 3 months | The ELS is a 16-item scale, with each item rated on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (completely disagree) to 5 (completely agree). It comprises two subscales: Valued Living (10 items; scores ranging from 10 to 50) and Life Fulfillment (6 items; with scores ranging from 6 to 30). Higher scores indicate greater perceived valued living or life fulfillment. |
| Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, 15-item form (FFMQ-15; Baer et al., 2012) | Through study completion, an average of 3 months | FFMQ-15 measures trait-like tendency to be mindful in daily life and comprises five different facets with three items each (i.e. Observe, Describe, Act with Awareness, Nonreact, Nonjudge). Items are answered on a 5-point Likert-scale ranging from 1 (never or very rarely true) to 5 (very often or always true) with subscale scores ranging from 3 to 15. Higher scores indicate greater dispositional mindfulness. |
Countries
Spain
Outcome results
None listed