Psycho-educational Training in Undergraduate Students at the University of Granada (Spain). Second Edition
- Conditions
- Psychological DistressLife StressEmotional IntelligenceAttentionEmpathyCompassionCreativityAnxiety
- Interventions
- Behavioral: The MBSR programBehavioral: Neuro-muscular stimulationBehavioral: Más Presente, the UGRComp program
- Registration Number
- NCT05775978
- Lead Sponsor
- Mercedes García de Quesada
- Brief Summary
The new professional profiles highlight the need to incorporate competences such as self-regulation, communication or growth mindset in the academia. Not only is this important for employability; a step further is needed. It's necessary to equip learners with knowledge, skills and attitudes that help them become agents of change and shape sustainable futures in our current complex society.
Within the framework of an agreement signed between the University of Granada (UGR), Spain, and, one of the leading real state firms in Spain, Cívitas, a course and a parallel study have been launched that will provide research and training in these competences at a degree level. It is part of the Sustainable Human Development Training Pathway of the Vice-Rectorate for Equality, Inclusion and Sustainability.
The main objective of the study is to test whether participating in a competence-based course can improve students' cognitive, emotional and personal traits as well as academic performance. Together with this main purpose, the present study also aims to compare the effects of two competence-based programs on the students' ability to improve specific aspects of cognition, emotional intelligence, creativity or academic performance among others. Both programs involve training sustained attention and an accepting and open attitude though they differ in several aspects of their methods, intention and aims.
Drawing conclusions from the research and outcomes, pedagogies which are best suited to develop theses competences at the Higher Education level will be suggested. Assessment and certification of this kind of competences will also be proposed.
- Detailed Description
The content of the UGRComp program (Más Presente, Arm 1) was designed in 2021 using the European LifeComp framework, the content of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program (MBSR, Arm 2) follows the University of Massachusetts and Brown University specifications, and the content of the neuro-muscular stimulation program has been designed for the purpose of this study and is a combination of educational sessions and specific physical exercises to enhance physical wellbeing and prevent neuro-degeneration (Arm 3). Arms 1 and 2 will attend classes at the University of Granada premises. Arm 3 will receive training in neuro-muscular stimulation.
Instructors of the three arms are fully certified and have more than 10 years of professional experience in the field. All UGR undergraduate students are informed and invited to participate both in the course and in the study. They can choose to participate either in the study alone, in the course alone or in both. However, they are advised that, in the event that there are more applications than places, priority will be given to those who have registered earlier and those who choose to do the study.
So that the 3 ECTS credits of the course can be validated, the petition was inserted in a broader proposal by the Vice-Rectorate for Equality, Inclusion and Sustainability as part of the Sustainable Human Development Training Pathway. In this petition, the content of the course, design and aim of the study, potential participants, duration and other issues related with the project were included and explained.
The UGR grants some facilities (lecture rooms and Administrative and Support Staff's help). Vice-Rectorate for Equality, Inclusion and Sustainability will be responsible of the accreditation and certification processes. The Civitas-UGR Chair is responsible of co-funding and the study members from the Mind, Brain and Behaviour Research Center (CIMCYC) of the University of Granada (Spain) are responsible of study design, LimeSurvey management, randomization and data analysis.
All participants are asked to fill in an informed consent, a demographic questionnaire to determine eligibility and a battery of tests. Eligible participants are randomly assigned to either group.
All questionnaires are uploaded to the UGR LimeSuvey platform, an open source online survey tool specially designed to develop, publish and collect survey responses. This software is the one recommended by the University of Granada to present and collect online data for research purposes as it complies with all current legislation and ensures that all protection data requirements are being effectively met.
For specific security guarantees, an institutional email account is used through which all communication related to the project is carried out. In the same line, all the documentation generated within the project is uploaded and shared on a virtual cloud owned by the UGR (www.ugrdrive.ugr.es). It is expected to find improvements in all measures (psychological and academic) in the two experimental groups (students in Arms 1 and 2) after completing the course compared to pre-training and compared to an active control group (students in Arm 3). In order to measure potential specific effects of each mindfulness program, pre-training to post-training psychological measures will be compared once completed the program. Altogether, this applied study might help to elucidate whether these important transversal competences and soft skills can improve with mindfulness-based techniques and ultimately could be recommended as part of the official curricula of degree in Higher Education.
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- COMPLETED
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 65
- Students enrolled at the University of Granada, Spain. Bachelor's Degree level
- Current psychotherapy or history of psychotic disorder or neurological condition.
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description MBSR group The MBSR program This arm will instruct the students on the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program. The MBSR is a secular, evidence-based practice originally developed for chronic pain, but which has reported positive results among an array of clinical and nonclinical populations. This program aims to cultivate non-judgmental attention to and awareness of present moment experience while promoting stress reduction. Neuro-muscular stimulation group Neuro-muscular stimulation The students in this arm will receive training on physical wellbeing and neuro-muscular stimulation. Non-specific factors such as number and duration of sessions, or instructor training and qualifications will match the other 2 experimental groups. Active ingredients such as mindfulness or socio-emotional training are not contained in the program. UGRComp group Más Presente, the UGRComp program This arm will instruct the students on the Más Presente program. This is a socio-emotional competence-based program which has been designed following the European LifeComp framework. This program is a combination of theory and practice aimed at developing the core elements of personal, social and learning to learn key competences for lifelong learning.
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Change on the Spanish Short Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SSSRQ) Baseline, 4 months 17 items self-report scale, translated and validated into Spanish, that measures cognitive and behavioural aspects of self-regulation (Garzón et al. 2017). Respondents rate a series of statements on a 5-point Likert scale, with 1 being "strongly disagree" and 5 being "strongly agree"
Change on the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS) Baseline, 4 months A 21-item self-report scale, translated and validated into Spanish, that measures depression, anxiety and stress levels (Henry and Crawford 2005, Bados et al. 2005). Respondents rate a series of statements on a 4-point Likert scale, with 0 being "not at all true of me" and 3 being "very true of me".
Change on the Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) Baseline, 4 months A 39-item self-report scale, translated and validated into Spanish, that measures mindfulness traits (Baer et al 2006, 2010; Cebolla et al 2012). Respondents rate a series of statements on a 5-point Likert scale, with 1 being "never" and 5 being "very often".
Change on the Basic Empathy Scale (BES) Baseline, 4 months A 20-item self-report scale, translated and validated into Spanish, that measures affective and cognitive empathy (Villadangos et al. 2016). Respondents rate a series of statements on a 5-point Likert scale, with 1 being "strongly disagree" and 5 being "strongly agree".
Change on the Mind Wandering questionnaire (MW) Baseline, 4 months An 8-item self-report scale, translated and validated into Spanish, that measures the levels of the mind wandering trait (Carriere et al. 2013). Respondents rate a series of statements on a 7-point Likert scale, with 1 being "almost never" and 7 being "almost always".
Change on Guilford's Alternative Uses Test (GAU) Baseline, 4 months Scoring in terms of originality, fluency, elaboration and flexibility. The higher the score the better the creativity and divergent thinking.
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Concentration of participants Baseline, 4 months Every two questionnaires a control question will be inserted in order to test internal validity.
Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) Baseline, 4 months A 24-item self-report scale to assess neuroticism and social conformity and desirability. Respondents rate a series of statements on a yes/no scale.
Qualitative questionnaire on students' experience 4 months This qualitative questionnaire with open ended questions builds directly on the results from the quantitative phase. The quantitative results are interpreted in more detail through the qualitative data.
Academic qualifications extracted from the subjects' undergraduate transcript Up to 4 years Results from primary outcome are associated with academic performance of students' core subjects.
Trial Locations
- Locations (1)
University of Granada
🇪🇸Granada, Spain