Efficacy Study of Mindfulness-Based Exercise for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

N/ACompletedNCT01462045

University of New Mexico29 enrolled

Overview

This study will explore the relationship between changes in plasma cortisol and symptom reduction resulting from individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) participating in an 8-week program of mindfulness-based stretching and breathing exercise. The investigators hypothesize that at the completion of participation in the 8-week program, exercise-induced symptom reduction will be associated with changes in cortisol levels.

This study will employ an intent-to-treat design to evaluate the relationship between exercise-induced posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom reduction and exercise-induced changes in cortisol level. The participants consist of nurses and the intervention will be conducted at the Clinical and Translational Science Center of the University of New Mexico. The study was approved by the Human Research Protections Office of the university. Nurses who are screened positively for PTSD will be randomly assigned to either control or exercise group. At baseline and in weeks 4, 8, 12 and 16, immediately after the phlebotomy for serum cortisol, the investigators will ask the participants to rate the severity of their PTSD symptoms using the PTSD Checklist (PCL).

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

Conditions

Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic

Interventions

Mindfulness-based exerciseBEHAVIORAL

8-week program of mindfulness-based stretching and breathing exercises

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 21 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * employed as a nurse * PCL-C score of at least 28 with at least a score of 3 on one or more items for inclusion in the PTSD symptomatic groups (EX and CON) * PCL-C score of 27 or lower for inclusion in the non-PTSD symptomatic group (BASE). Exclusion Criteria: * the inability to complete the exercise program * a positive answer to any of the seven screening questions on the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q) * current use of prednisone or other forms of cortisone medication excluding cortisone in inhaled form

Locations (1)

The University of New Mexico

Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Change From Baseline in PTSD Checklist - Civilian Version (PCL-C) Score

The PCL-C is a 17-item self-report instrument that measures the symptoms of PTSD. A total score, ranging from 17 to 85, is found by summing the scores of the 17 items. Higher values are considered to be a worse outcome. The inclusion criteria in the PTSD symptomatic group is a PCL-C total score of at least 28 with a score of 3 or higher on 1 or more items.To detect a reduction in PTSD symptom severity with a 2-sided 5% significance level and a power of 80%, the mean difference of PCL-C scores of 5.16 or greater requires a sample size of 20 participants for Exercise and Control groups, given an anticipated dropout rate of 10%. Data analyses are conducted using an a priori intention-to-treat approach. The analysis for the between-group differences of the intervention is conducted using t-tests comparing Exercise and Control groups at post-intervention. The analysis for the within-group difference is conducted using repeated measures ANOVA for both groups at baseline and week 8.

Time frame: Baseline and 8 weeks

Secondary Outcomes

Cortisol

Change from baseline in serum cortisol levels at 8 weeks. Serum cortisol samples were collected at 8:00 Ante Meridian (AM). The changes are calculated from two time points as the values at 8 weeks minus the values at baseline.

Time frame: baseline and 8 weeks

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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