The purpose of this study is to investigate and compare the effects of Christian and Islamic heart-centred spiritual meditation to mindfulness meditation and waitlist control conditions, respectively, in healthy adults. The potential effects will be studied at multiple levels, with a focus on psychophysiology, cognition, mental health, and social functioning.
Background Secular forms of meditation have been widely accepted as an effective tool to promote well-being and as therapeutic strategies. The popularity of such practices, most notably mindfulness meditation, can be attributed to the substantial body of research on their beneficial effects in the past few decades. While these practices are loosely based on Eastern traditions, and actively reduce emotional reactivity, some Western spiritual meditations have retained their God-centred focus and aim to elicit strong emotions. The current study aims to examine the effects of heart-centred contemplation based on Christian and Islamic traditions on mental, physical, cognitive, and social well-being, compare the outcomes of these exercises to mindfulness meditation, and investigate the external correlates of the outcomes. Aims The present study aims to recruit healthy adults to investigate and compare the effects of Christian and Islamic heart-centred spiritual meditation to mindfulness meditation (Mindfulness-based stress reduction; MBSR) and waitlist control, respectively. The potential effects will be examined using measures from multiple domains, with a focus on psychophysiology, cognition, mental health, and social functioning. Additionally, the study aims to examine the possible external correlates of the outcomes by testing perspective-taking, affect, religiosity, spiritual experiences, closeness to God, closeness to the offender, and credibility/expectancies about the spiritual meditation program. The study seeks to understand the impact of different types of meditation practices on the well-being of individuals. Participants This study will apply a mixed method repeated measures design to examine a three-arm stratified randomised control trial with healthy samples of Christians and Muslims in multiple testing centres in India. Assessments will be conducted at three time points: pre-intervention (T1), after intervention (T2), and at a 3-month follow-up (T3). Eligible participants will be first stratified into Christian and Islamic samples and then randomly allocated to one of the three conditions: religious contemplation (either Christian or Islamic spiritual meditation based on their religions), mindfulness meditation, or waitlist control. Administration of intervention The intervention will consist of an 8-week app-based program, including approximately 20-minute daily audio-guided instructions of either one of the spiritual meditations or mindfulness meditation. Participants from the waitlist control will not receive any intervention, but they will be given access to Christian or Islamic meditation app after the experiment is completed. Outcome measures Outcome measures consist of domains related to interpersonal functioning, physiology, attention, mental health, spirituality. Primary outcomes will be the interpersonal functioning domain including measures of prosociality, forgiveness, empathy, and perspective taking. Secondary outcomes include domains concerning physiology, attention, and mental health. Physiology domain encompasses pain tolerance, pain intensity, stress reactivity (heart rate and heart rate variability), psychophysiological reactivity associated with forgiveness (heart rate and heart rate variability). Attention domain includes measures of alerting attention, orienting attention, and executive attention networks. Mental health domain involves self-reported stress, depression, anxiety, subjective well-being, and positive and negative affect.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
288
Participants assigned to this condition will receive daily audio instructions of approximately 20 minutes daily over the course of 8 weeks focused on Christian contemplation delivered through a mobile app. The intervention will consist of a core contemplative practice focused on heart visualisation based on Christian tradition and prayer recitation with breathing to focus their attention on and connection to God.
Participants assigned to this condition will receive daily audio instructions of approximately 20 minutes daily over the course of 8 weeks, focused on Islamic contemplation delivered through a mobile app. The intervention will consist of a core contemplative practice focused on heart visualisation based on Islamic tradition and prayer recitation with breathing to focus attention on and connection to God.
Participants assigned to this condition will receive daily audio instructions of approximately 20 minutes daily over the course of 8 week, focused on mindfulness meditation delivered through a mobile app. The intervention will consist of the mindfulness-based stress reduction program which emphasizes focused attention on breathing and sensations as well as the practice of non-judgemental acceptance of the present experience.
Little Flower Institute of Social Sciences and Health (LISSAH) college
Calicut, Kerala, India
NOT_YET_RECRUITINGKuriakose Elias College Mannanam
Kottayam, Kerala, India
RECRUITINGInterpersonal functioning: Change in Prosociality (1)
The number of game points (0-10) that a participant is willing to allocate to another individual as measured by the Dictator Game
Time frame: Pre-intervention (collected up to 3 hours before the intervention), and post-intervention (collected up to two weeks after the 8-week intervention)
Interpersonal functioning: Change in Prosociality (2)
Social value orientation scores as measured by the social value orientation slider measure. The higher scores represent greater prosocial preferences while lower scores represent greater self-interest preferences
Time frame: Pre-intervention (collected up to 1 week before the intervention), and post-intervention (collected up to two weeks after the 8-week intervention)
Interpersonal functioning: Change in Prosociality (3)
The percentage of compensation fees that participants are willing to donate to a charity
Time frame: Post-intervention (collected up to two weeks after the 8-week intervention)
Interpersonal functioning: Changes in self-reported Forgiveness
A self-reported forgiveness scale assessed within a forgiveness task, ranging from 0 (Not at all) to 20 (Completely). High scores reflect a higher level of forgiveness, while lower scores indicate a lower level of forgiveness
Time frame: Pre-intervention (collected up to 3 hours before the intervention), and post-intervention (collected up to two weeks after the 8-week intervention)
Interpersonal functioning: Changes in self-reported Empathy
A self-reported empathy scale assessed within a forgiveness task, ranging from 0 (Not at all) to 20 (Completely). High scores reflect a higher level of empathy, while lower scores indicate a lower level of empathy.
Time frame: Pre-intervention (collected up to 3 hours before the intervention), and post-intervention (collected up to two weeks after the 8-week intervention)
Interpersonal functioning: Change in Perspective Taking
Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) - Perspective Taking scale. The 7-item Perspective Taking scale from IRI measures one's tendency to take the point of view of others. Participants are asked to rate how closely the statements describe them on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from A (Does not describe me well) to E (Describes me very well). The total scores range from 0 - 28. Higher scores indicate greater perspective-taking
Time frame: Pre-intervention (collected up to 1 week before the intervention), post-intervention (collected up to 2 weeks after the intervention), and at 3-month follow-up (collected up to 2 weeks following 3 months after the end of the intervention)
Physiology: Change in Pain Tolerance
The duration (in seconds) that a participant endures painful stimulation assessed during an endurance task
Time frame: Pre-intervention (collected up to 3 hours before the intervention), and post-intervention (collected up to two weeks after the 8-week intervention)
Physiology: Change in Pain Intensity
0-10 Numerical Rating Scale
Time frame: Pre-intervention (collected up to 3 hours before the intervention), and post-intervention (collected up to two weeks after the 8-week intervention)
Physiology: Change in Stress Reactivity (1)
Heart rate
Time frame: Pre-intervention (collected up to 3 hours before the intervention), and post-intervention (collected up to two weeks after the 8-week intervention)
Physiology: Change in Stress Reactivity (2)
Heart rate variability
Time frame: Pre-intervention (collected up to 3 hours before the intervention), and post-intervention (collected up to two weeks after the 8-week intervention)
Physiology: Change in psychophysiological reactivity associated with forgiveness (1)
Heart rate assessed during a forgiveness task.
Time frame: Pre-intervention (collected up to 3 hours before the intervention), and post-intervention (collected up to two weeks after the 8-week intervention)
Physiology: Change in psychophysiological reactivity associated with forgiveness (2)
Heart rate variability assessed during a forgiveness task
Time frame: Pre-intervention (collected up to 3 hours before the intervention), and post-intervention (collected up to two weeks after the 8-week intervention)
Attention: Change in Alerting Attention network
Reaction time assessed through a 10-minute version of Attentional Network Task (CRSD-ANT)
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Time frame: Pre-intervention (collected up to 3 hours before the intervention), and post-intervention (collected up to two weeks after the 8-week intervention)
Attention: Change in Orienting Attention network
Reaction time assessed through a 10-minute version of Attentional Network Task (CRSD-ANT)
Time frame: Pre-intervention (collected up to 3 hours before the intervention), and post-intervention (collected up to two weeks after the 8-week intervention)
Attention: Change in Executive Attention network
Reaction time assessed through a 10-minute version of Attentional Network Task (CRSD-ANT)
Time frame: Pre-intervention (collected up to 3 hours before the intervention), and post-intervention (collected up to two weeks after the 8-week intervention)
Mental health: Change in self-reported Stress
The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale - 21 Items (DASS-21) is a 21-item self-report questionnaire that comprises three distinct subscales: depression, anxiety, and stress, with each containing 7 items. Participants are asked to rate the extent of the statements applied to them over the past week using a 4-point rating scale, ranging from 0 ("Did not apply to me at all") to 3 ("Applied to me very much or most of the time"). Higher scores on stress scale reflect a greater severity of the stress symptoms, whereas lower scores indicate a milder experience of these symptoms
Time frame: Pre-intervention (collected up to 1 week before the intervention), post-intervention (collected up to 2 weeks after the 8-week intervention), and at 3-month follow-up (collected up to 2 weeks following 3 months after the end of the intervention)
Mental health: Change in self-reported Depression
The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale - 21 Items (DASS-21): Depression subscale, ranging from 0 ("Did not apply to me at all") to 3 ("Applied to me very much or most of the time"). Higher scores on depression scale reflect a greater severity of the depression symptoms, whereas lower scores indicate a milder experience of these symptoms
Time frame: Pre-intervention (collected up to 1 week before the intervention), post-intervention (collected up to 2 weeks after the 8-week intervention), and at 3-month follow-up (collected up to 2 weeks following 3 months after the end of the intervention)
Mental health: Change in self-reported Anxiety
The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale - 21 Items (DASS-21): Anxiety subscale, ranging from 0 ("Did not apply to me at all") to 3 ("Applied to me very much or most of the time"). Higher scores on anxiety scale reflect a greater severity of the anxiety symptoms, whereas lower scores indicate a milder experience of these symptoms
Time frame: Pre-intervention (collected up to 1 week before the intervention), post-intervention (collected up to 2 weeks after the 8-week intervention), and at 3-month follow-up (collected up to 2 weeks following 3 months after the end of the intervention)
Mental health: Change in Subjective Wellbeing
Well-Being Index (WHO-5). WHO-5 is a 5-item self-report questionnaire measuring subjective wellbeing. Participants are asked to rate their feelings in the past 2 weeks using a 6-Likert scale, ranging from 0 (At no time) to 5 (All of the time). The raw score is multiplied by 4 and the final scores range from 0-100. A score of 0 indicates the lowest possible level of wellbeing, whereas a score of 100 reflects the highest possible level of wellbeing
Time frame: Pre-intervention (collected up to 1 week before the intervention), post-intervention (collected up to 2 weeks after the 8-week intervention), and at 3-month follow-up (collected up to 2 weeks following 3 months after the end of the intervention)
Mental health: Change in self-report Positive and Negative Affect (1)
International Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) Short Form (I-PANAS-SF). I-PANAS-SF is a 10-item self-report questionnaire measuring 5 items of positive affect and 5 items of negative affect. Participants are asked to rate their general feelings and emotions on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Never) to 5 (Always). Higher scores indicate a greater level of positive affect, and lower scores represent a lower level of negative affect
Time frame: Pre-intervention (collected up to 1 week before the intervention), post-intervention (collected up to 2 weeks after the 8-week intervention), and at 3-month follow-up (collected up to 2 weeks following 3 months after the end of the intervention)
Mental health: Change in self-report Positive and Negative Affect (2)
5-item Smiley Face Likert scale within the meditation app. The scale assesses participants' feelings before and after their daily contemplative / mindfulness practices. Participants are asked to choose one out of the five emoji faces on the scale to indicate their current feelings ranging from a very sad face to a very happy face
Time frame: Throughout the 8 weeks intervention