Skip to main content
OpenTrials
Completed

NCT Number: NCT06630897

Art and Science of Human Flourishing Microsupport Study

The purpose of this study is to determine whether providing small amounts of digital support impacts students in the Art and Science of Human Flourishing (ASHF) course. Approximately 300 participants will be enrolled and can expect to be on study for up to 4 months.

Completed

Looking for future studies?

Notify Me

Key information

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

University of Wisconsin

Madison, Wisconsin, 53706, United States

About this study

Participants will be currently enrolled students in the ASHF course. Students will complete measures at baseline, daily during the 1-month intervention period, at post-treatment, and 3 months later. During the 1-month intervention period, half of the participants will be randomized to receive small amounts of digital support in the form of text messages.

Context (from the course website): The Art and Science of Human Flourishing course is taught in tandem with the Healthy Minds Program (HMP) app. The overall framework of the ASHF course largely aligns with the HMP app and is composed of the following modules and sub-themes which are covered throughout the course of a 15-week semester:

Foundations: Flourishing, Transformation, Resilience

  • Awareness: Focus, Emotions, Mindfulness
  • Connection: Interdependence, Compassion, Diversity
  • Wisdom: Identity, Values, Gratitude
  • Integration: Courage, Community

Small amounts of digital support will be tested on half the participants. Primary Outcomes for measuring the effect of this support will be the PROMIS Depression and Anxiety Measures.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Currently enrolled in ASHF course

Exclusion criteria

  • N/A

Treatment and study plan

Text messages

Other

small amounts of digital support will be in the form of text messages

Primary outcomes

  1. Daily Informal Practice

    Time frame: Data collected each evening throughout the intervention (up to 1 month)

    Daily informal practice will be measured by a single item: "Today, I have tried to apply the practices I have been learning in the HMP app to my day-to-day activities." Participants will respond on a Likert scale (1 = not at all, 5 = all day long). A higher score on this item indicates more informal practice on that day.

  2. Daily psychological distress

    Time frame: Data collected each evening throughout the intervention (up to 1 month)

    Daily psychological distress will be measured by two items on anxiety ("Today, I felt anxious") and depression ("Today, I felt depressed"). Participants will rate these items on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = not at all, 5 = very much). Responses to each item will be z-scored and then averaged to create a distress composite.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Composite Psychological Distress Score

    Time frame: baseline, 1 month (immediately post-intervention), 4 months (3 month post-intervention follow up)

    A composite psychological distress score will be obtained by computing a mean across scaled (z-transformed) scores on the computer-adaptive versions of PROMIS Depression and PROMIS Anxiety Scales and NIH Toolbox 10-item Perceived Stress. For PROMIS Depression Scale, participants score 4 to 8 items on a 5 point Likert scale from 1 (never) to 5 (always) to measure how they felt in the past 7 days. For PROMIS Anxiety Scale, participants score 4 to 8 items on a 5 point Likert scale from 1 (never) to 5 (always) to measure how they felt in the past 7 days. For NIH Toolbox 10-item Perceived Stress, participants score on a 5 point Likert scale from 1 (never) to 5 (very often) to measure how they felt in the past 7 days.

  2. NIH Toolbox Loneliness Score

    Time frame: baseline, 1 month (immediately post-intervention), 4 months (3 month post-intervention follow up)

    5-item survey scored from 1 (never) to 5 (always), where higher overall scores indicate higher loneliness.

  3. PROMIS Sleep Disturbance Score

    Time frame: baseline, 1 month (immediately post-intervention), 4 months (3 month post-intervention follow up)

    The computer adaptive version will draw from a bank of 27-items scored from 1 (never / very poor) to 5 (always / very good), where higher overall scores indicate greater sleep disturbance in the past 7 days.

  4. Drexel Defusion Scale score

    Time frame: baseline, 1 month (immediately post-intervention), 4 months (3 month post-intervention follow up)

    10-item survey scored from 0 (not at all) to 5 (very much), where higher overall scores indicate higher defusion.

  5. Experiences Questionnaire Decentering Score

    Time frame: baseline, 1 month (immediately post-intervention), 4 months (3 month post-intervention follow up)

    11-item survey scored from 1 (never) to 5 (all the time), where higher overall scores indicate higher levels of decentering.

  6. Sense of Belonging Score

    Time frame: baseline, 1 month (immediately post-intervention), 4 months (3 month post-intervention follow up)

    8-item survey scored from 1 (not at all true for me) to 5 (very true for me), where higher overall scores indicate higher sense of belonging.

  7. Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire Awareness Subscale Score

    Time frame: baseline, 1 month (immediately post-intervention), 4 months (3 month post-intervention follow up)

    8-item survey scored from 1 (never or very rarely true) to 5 (very often or always true) where higher overall scores indicate higher awareness.

  8. Healthy Minds Index Scores

    Time frame: baseline, 1 month (immediately post-intervention), 4 months (3 month post-intervention follow up)

    17-item survey scored from 0 (not at all / never / none of the time) to 4 (to the highest degree / always / all of the time) on each of 4 domains: Awareness, Connection, Insight, Purpose. Higher overall scores indicate higher sense of awareness, connection, insight, and purpose.

  9. Digital Working Alliance Inventory (D-WAI) Score

    Time frame: 1 month (immediately post-intervention), 4 months (3 month post-intervention follow up)

    6-item survey scored from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree), where higher overall scores indicate higher digital working alliance.

  10. Mindfulness Adherence Questionnaire Score

    Time frame: 1 month (immediately post-intervention), 4 months (3 month post-intervention follow up)

    10-item survey scored from 0 (never) to 6 (always), where higher overall scores indicate higher quality of mindfulness practice. A four-item subscale can be computed for formal practice and a six-item subscale can be computed for informal practice.

  11. Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test Score

    Time frame: baseline, 1 month (immediately post-intervention), 4 months (3 month post-intervention follow up)

    10-item survey scored from 0 (never / no / 1 or 2) to 4 (4 or more times a week / 10 or more / daily or almost daily / yes, during the past year). Higher overall scores indicate higher alcohol use concerns.

  12. Morning mindfulness, decentering, connection, purpose, depression, anxiety, stress, rumination, and motivation to practice scores

    Time frame: Each morning throughout the intervention (up to 1 month)

    Morning mindfulness, decentering, connection, purpose, depression, anxiety, stress, rumination, and motivation to practice meditation will be measured by a single item, respectively. Participants will respond on a Likert scale (1 = not at all, 5 = very much). A higher score on these items indicates higher mindfulness, decentering, loneliness, purpose, depression, anxiety, stress, rumination, sleep quality, and motivation to practice meditation that morning.

  13. Sleep quality scores

    Time frame: Each morning throughout the intervention (up to 1 month)

    For sleep quality, participants will respond on a Likert scale (1 = very bad, 4 = very good). A higher score indicates better sleep quality.

  14. Evening mindfulness, decentering, connection, purpose, happy event, stressor exposure, rumination scoring

    Time frame: Each evening throughout the intervention (up to 1 month)

    Evening mindfulness, decentering, connection, purpose, happy event, stressor exposure, rumination, and formal practice will be measured by a single item, respectively. Participants will respond on a Likert scale (1 = not at all, 5 = very much). A higher score on the items indicates higher mindfulness, decentering, loneliness, purpose, happiness, stress, and rumination that day.

  15. Percentage of Participants with a formal practice

    Time frame: Each evening throughout the intervention (up to 1 month)

    Participants will respond yes or no to whether they have a mindfulness, decentering, connection, purpose, happy event, stressor exposure, rumination formal practice. A response of "Yes" to the formal practice item indicates that the participant used the HMP app on that day, while a response of "No" indicates non-use.

  16. Acceptability of Intervention Measure Score

    Time frame: 1 month (immediately post-intervention)

    The Acceptability of Intervention Measure is a 4-item self-report measure scored on a 5-point likert scale from 1 (completely disagree) to 5 (completely agree), where higher scores indicate greater acceptability of the intervention.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Other

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2024
Primary completion
2025
Study completion
2025
First posted
Oct 8, 2024
Registry last updated
Mar 17, 2025

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

Published trials that share one or more normalized conditions with this study.