Stress, Psychological
Conditions
Keywords
Mindfulness, Breathing, Meditation, Stress reduction, SKY Yoga
Brief summary
The main objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of a well-being program, SKY Campus Happiness, on well-being of students, faculties, and staff working/studying at School of Health Professional (SHP). SHP is leaning on the SKY Campus Happiness (SKY) program which is an integrative workshop format that includes both skill-building and group dynamics and may be critical for the effectiveness of the program. SKY is a university leadership and well-being program (campushappiness.org) that includes stress-management and tools for psychological resilience: yoga postures, breathing exercises, a breath-based meditation technique \[Sudarshan Kriya Yoga\]. SKY also includes positive psychology skills (e.g., gratitude, social connection, acts of kindness, meaning and purpose). In addition, the curriculum includes discussion and application of leadership skills and service learning. Relying on existing evidence of previous studies, we hypothesize that participating in this program will increase the well-being of people involved.
Detailed description
Students/staff/faculties of SHP will be offered to participate in the SKY Breath Happiness workshop followed by participating in a research program designed to study the potential effectiveness of the SKY Breath Happiness Program as a stress-management, resilience building wellness tool in this population. They will be given an informed consent form to sign if they choose to participate in the study. The course that the students are enrolled in is the SKY program, which is an evidence-based bio-psycho-social program that utilizes a multi-dimensional relationship between biology and behavior. It utilizes a unique set of standardized breathing techniques to rapidly reduce neuro-endocrine stress responses and the autonomic imbalance due to sympathetic overdrive, thus restoring autonomic homeostasis. These are interwoven with coping and stressor appraisal strategies, and simple stretching exercises. Classes will be 3 hours long on each of three consecutive days, and participants must be willing to attend all three sessions. There will also be one mandatory one hour follow-up session one week later. Participants will be asked to engage in daily 10 to 25 minute home resilience practice sessions performed five days per week. To support participants stabilization of the practices, optional daily guided practice will be offered online at a determined convenient time for all participants to allow full participation. The breathing techniques will be taught by certified instructors.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALSKY Meditation and Mindfulness
The intervention is a 3-day in-person meditation and mindfulness workshop using the SKY meditation approach. It utilizes a unique set of standardized breathing techniques to rapidly reduce neuro-endocrine stress responses and the autonomic imbalance due to sympathetic overdrive, thus restoring autonomic homeostasis. These are interwoven with coping and stressor appraisal strategies, and simple stretching exercises. Classes will be 3 hours long on each of three consecutive days, and participants must be willing to attend all three sessions with an additional 7 consecutive days of online sessions immediately thereafter. In addition, participants will be asked to engage in daily 10 to 25 minute home resilience practice sessions performed five days per week. They will complete a follow-up session once per week in the subsequent 8 weeks.
Sponsors
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Study design
Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Intervention model description
This is a single group design in which participants participants are assigned to a SKY meditation treatment intervention.
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Healthy students/faculty/staff who at UAB, School of Health Professionals * Willingness to complete all study interventional components
Exclusion criteria
* Inability to understand standard English * Previous participation in a SKY intervention * Pregnant persons * Diagnosis of bipolar disorder or schizophrenia
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| SF-12v2 | Pre/post-intervention with 8 week followup | The SF-12v2 is a health-related quality-of-life questionnaire consisting of twelve questions that measure eight health domains to assess physical and mental health. |
| Mini-Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire | Pre/post-intervention with 8 week followup | The Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire (MASQ) is an instrument containing a range of symptoms relevant to depression and anxiety. |
| The Social Connectedness Scale - Revised | Pre/post-intervention with 8 week followup | This scale assesses the degree to which persons feel connected to others in their social environment. |
| PERCEIVED STRESS SCALE | Pre/post-intervention with 8 week followup | The Perceived Stress Scale(PSS) is the most widely used psychological instrument for measuring the perception of stress. It is a measure of the degree to which situations in one's life are appraised as stressful. Items were designed to tap how unpredictable, uncontrollable, and overloaded respondents find their lives. |
| Brief-COPE | Pre/post-intervention with 8 week followup | The Brief-COPE is a 28 item self-report questionnaire designed to measure effective and ineffective ways to cope with a stressful life event. |
| Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Assessment | Pre/post-intervention with 8 week followup | The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) is an effective instrument used to measure the quality and patterns of sleep in adults. It differentiates poor from good sleep quality by measuring seven areas (components): subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, habitual sleep efficiency, sleep disturbances, use of sleeping medications, and daytime dysfunction over the last month. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Focus Groups | After participation in sessions at 12 weeks | Group discussion with transcript |
| Open Ended Questions | Weekly after 8 weeks | Qualitative questions of well-being |
Outcome results
None listed