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Multi-Site Feasibility Testing a Meditation App for Youth in the Legal System

Improving Psychological Wellbeing and Decreasing Psychological Distress Among Youth in the Legal System: Multi-Site Feasibility Trial of a Mindfulness Meditation App

Status
Not yet recruiting
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT07674303
Enrollment
120
Registered
2026-06-29
Start date
2026-07-01
Completion date
2028-06-01
Last updated
2026-06-29

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Behavioral Health

Brief summary

This multi-site feasibility clinical trial aims to assess the feasibility of implementing a 1-month app-based meditation program with youth in 4 heterogeneous juvenile legal systems across Oregon and New York. The primary question it is designed to answer is: Will youth adequately adhere to the 1-month meditation app across sites? Secondary feasibility outcomes pertain to recruitment, randomization, retention, and survey completion.

Detailed description

The investigators aim to enroll 120 youth (30/site) 13-20 years old who report regular access to an Apple or Android smartphone. Following completion of a baseline survey, participants will be individually randomized at a 1:1 ratio to 1 of 2 smartphone app conditions: (1) Bodhi AIM (Action In Mindfulness), a 30-day meditation app or (2) HIB (Health In Balance), a health promotion control app matched to Bodhi AIM for time and structure. Follow-up assessments will occur at 1 and 6 months. All study activities will be remote.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALBodhi AIM

Bodhi AIM (Action In Mindfulness) is a smartphone-based app that teaches users to establish a daily meditation practice via a 30-day "path," with each day consisting of a brief audio- or video-guided file. In addition to the 30 daily path files, users have access to a menu of "to go" audio-guided meditation practices that they may access any time to prepare for particular situations (e.g., attending a party).

BEHAVIORALHIB

HIB (Health In Balance) is a smartphone-based app that is matched to Bodhi AIM for time and structure, but includes health promotion content (e.g., educational information on substance use) in place of the meditation content featured in Bodhi AIM. Like Bodhi AIM, HIB includes a 30-day "path" of audio and video files, along with a menu of "to go" audio files that users may access any time to review key intervention concepts.

Sponsors

University of Illinois at Chicago
Lead SponsorOTHER
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)
CollaboratorNIH

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)

Masking description

Both participants and outcome assessors will be blind to condition through completion of the baseline assessments. Condition will become apparent to both participants and assessors at the time of app download, but will not be revealed to assessors at any of the follow-up time points until after the quantitative measures are complete.

Intervention model description

Participants will be individually randomized at a 1:1 ratio to 1 of 2 smartphone app conditions: (1) Bodhi AIM (Action In Mindfulness), a 30-day meditation app, or (2) HIB (Health In Balance), a health promotion control app matched to Bodhi AIM for time and structure.

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
13 Years to 20 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

* 13-20 years old * In probation or related programming (i.e., in legal programming but not detained) in Oregon or New York State * Have access to an Apple/Android smartphone * Understand and provide assent/consent * Have legal guardian permission (if under 18 years old) * English-speaking, due to norming of instruments

Exclusion criteria

\- There are no

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
App adherence (binary)1 monthPercentage of participants who play at least one file on their study app after baseline.
App adherence (continuous)1 monthAverage number of daily app files played over the 1-month intervention period.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
EnrollmentBaselineNumber of participants enrolled
RandomizationBaselinePercentage of participants randomized to each arm who play at least one app file
Retention1 month, 6 monthsPercentage of participants who attend (yes/no) each follow-up visit
Health questionnaire completionBaseline, 1 month, 6 monthsPercentage of participants who complete the questionnaire measures of psychological wellbeing (PROMIS Pediatric Bank v1.0 Positive Affect, NIH Toolbox Pediatric Item Bank v3.0 Self-Efficacy CAT) and psychological distress (PROMIS Pediatric Item Bank GenPop v3.0 Anxiety, PROMIS Pediatric Item Bank GenPop v3.0 Depressive Symptoms, PROMIS Pediatric Bank v 1.0 Psychological Stress Experiences) at each time point
Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM)1 monthFour-item scale assessing perceived acceptability of the intervention. Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale and averaged to produce a total score ranging from 1 to 5; with higher scores indicating greater acceptability.
Intervention Appropriateness Measure (IAM)1 monthFour-item scale assessing perceived appropriateness of the intervention. Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale and averaged to produce a total score ranging from 1 to 5; with higher scores indicating greater appropriateness.
Feasibility of Intervention Measure (FIM)1 monthFour-item scale assessing perceived feasibility of the intervention. Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale and averaged to produce a total score ranging from 1 to 5; with higher scores indicating greater feasibility.

Countries

United States

Contacts

CONTACTAshley D Kendall, PhD
akendall@uic.edu312-355-1836

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Jun 30, 2026