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The Effect of Neurofeedback-assisted Mindfulness Training in Employees With Emotional Labor

Not Applicable
Completed
Conditions
Stress, Psychological
Interventions
Behavioral: stress management and meditation
Registration Number
NCT03787407
Lead Sponsor
Seoul National University Hospital
Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to verify the effect of neurofeedback-assisted mindfulness training for workers. Subjects who can participate in the screening are assigned to one neurofeedback-assisted mindfulness training group, mindfulness only training group, and self-treatment group. The neurofeedback-assisted mindfulness group and the mindfulness group meet with psychologist and have education for the mindfulness training with or without neurofeedback respectively, a total of 4 times, once a week. On the other hand, the self-treatment group provides self-education by providing the stress education kit.

Detailed Description

After screening, Pre-evaluation is conducted on the subjects who agreed to participate in the study. Pre-assessment includes questionnaires related to stress, emotional labor, resilience, sleep, etc., and includes stress-related physiological measures using HRV, 2 lead EEG. After the pre-evaluation, the neurofeedback-assisted mindfulness and mindfulness training group will have education sessions with a psychologist for 30 minutes at a time, once a week, for a total of 4 sessions (one month for a period). The education includes the instruction of the application including mindfulness training, with or without neurofeedback, and the review for the accomplishment of the training. Participants should follow the instruction and the training schedule which is arranged in advance. On the other hand, for a self-care control, the education sessions are not provided and self-learning materials are provided once a week. The purpose of the study is to find the effectiveness of mindfulness training on reduction of stress and severity of emotional labor. Especially, mindfulness training group with neurofeedback might be expected to show the highest improvement in various clinical scales and biomarkers including EEG and HRV.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
96
Inclusion Criteria
  • Workers over the age of 19 and under 65
  • In the Perceived Stress Scale 14 points or more
  • If you are currently taking medication due to psychiatric illnesses such as depression, anxiety disorder, insomnia, etc., the dose must be stabilized for last 6 months, is expected to have no change in drug dose during the clinical trial
  • If you understand the protocol and voluntarily agree to participate
  • If you have an Android phone
Exclusion Criteria
  • Age under 19, adult over 65
  • If you have dementia, intellectual disability, or other cognitive impairment
  • If you have convulsive disorder, stroke, or other neurological disorder
  • If you have psychosis such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder or you have a history
  • If you have a disease that can affect the reliability of HRV test, such as heart disease or lung disease.
  • Has received non-pharmacological psychiatric or counseling treatment within the current or last 6 months.

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Mindfulness training with neurofeedbackstress management and meditationmindfulness training with neurofeedback using mobile application instruction and review of the application will be provided
Mindfulness trainingstress management and meditationmindfulness training using mobile application instruction and review of the application will be provided
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Change from baseline Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) score at 4, 8 weeksBaseline and after 4, 8 weeks later

The full name: Perceived Stress Scale - 10 item form 14-item scale developed by Cohen et al. (1983) that emphasizes subjective perception of stress. Measures the degree of perceived unforeseeable, uncontrollable, and overwhelming experience of stress in the past month. Although the 14-item PSS tend to exhibit good reliability, four of the items tend to perform poorly when evaluated using exploratory factor analysis (Cohen et al., 1988). As a result, the PSS is commonly implemented using the 10-item form. The questions are rated on 5-point Likert scale; 0 (never), 1 (almost never), 2 (sometimes), 3 (fairly often), 4 (very often). Higher scores represent worse outcomes. The scores of each scale sum into the total score. Thus the total score ranges from 0 to 40.

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Change from baseline Korean abbreviation of Occupational Stress Scale (KOSS) scoreBaseline and after 4, 8 weeks later

total of 24 items were used, and each item was not at all (from 1 point) to very much (5 points). The higher the score, the more the job stress means. Job demand, Insufficient job control, job insecurity, interpersonal conflict, Organizational system, Lack of reward and Occupational climate.

Change from baseline Brief resilience scale (BRS) scoreBaseline and after 4, 8 weeks later

It is composed of 6 questions and is evaluated on the 5-point scale (1: not at all, 5: very much)

Heart Rate Variability (HRV)Baseline and after 4, 8 weeks later

HRV is recorded with a device (neuroNicle FX2, Laxtha) which include EEG and HRV recording system. HRV is calculated from pulse rate signal recorded at earlobe.

Stroop testBaseline and after 4, 8 weeks later

assess the ability to inhibit cognitive interference that occurs when the processing of a specific stimulus feature impedes the simultaneous processing of a second stimulus attribute

Change from baseline Korean Emotional Labor Assessment Tool scoreBaseline and after 4, 8 weeks later

The total of 26 items were Emotional expression and control 5 items, organizational monitoring and management system 4 items, forced customer response 4 items, emotional damage 6 items, organizational protection system 7 items, and organizational protection system is reverse coding and summed up. 4 point Likert scale (1 = not at all, 5 = very much), and the possible total score ranges from 26 to 130 points. The higher the score, the more emotional labor means.

Change from baseline Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) scoreBaseline and after 4, 8 weeks later

The total score is 0 to 27, and the higher the total score, the more severe the depressive symptoms. Cutpoints of 5, 10, 15 and 20 represent the thresholds for mild, moderate, moderate severe, and severe depression, respectively.

Korean Mindful Attention Awareness Scale; K-MAASBaseline and after 4, 8 weeks later

Modified from the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, developed by Brown and Ryan (2003). 15-item scale designed to assess a core characteristic of dispositional mindfulness, namely, open or receptive awareness of and attention to what is taking place in the present.

Change from baseline Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS) scoreBaseline and after 4, 8 weeks later

total score of 6 points was used as a breakpoint, this Using the quality index of Pittsburgh Sleep, which is widely used to evaluate the quality of sleep

Quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG)Baseline and after 4, 8 weeks later

EEG is recorded with a device (neuroNicle FX2, Laxtha) which include EEG and HRV recording system. EEG signal is acquired at the prefrontal area, two channels (FP1, FP2) on forehead.

Power spectrum analysis of the EEG data will be performed using Fourier analysis. And absolute power, relative power, of each frequency band, symmetry are included.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Seoul National University Bundang Hospital

🇰🇷

Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do, Korea, Republic of

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