Reactions to Distress (RED) In Louisville, KY Study

Not Applicable

Recruiting

• Conditions: Threat Sensitivity

• Registration Number: NCT07016945
• Lead Sponsor: University of Louisville

Brief Summary

The goal of this study is to understand whether race-related stress can impact the way people direct their attention and what interventions may be helpful for attention.

Detailed Description

Race-related stress is a public health problem and a known predictor of severe psychological symptoms in Black Americans. Although there is a strong link between race-related stress and adverse mental health outcomes, limited research has examined the transdiagnostic mechanisms that explain how experiencing race-related stress contributes to psychological symptoms or what interventions might effectively target these mechanisms. The scientific premise of this study is that race-related stress may contribute to disproportionate allocation of attention toward threatening stimuli (i.e., attention bias to threat), a known predictor of stress-related symptoms. This attentional bias may be modifiable through a brief, culturally-informed mindfulness intervention.

Racial identity is hypothesized to be a key individual difference factor that influences the extent to which race-related stress affects attention bias to threat, as well as the degree to which a mindfulness intervention can mitigate these biases. The study will recruit 200 Black adults from the community who have experienced race-related stress to participate in a laboratory study targeting three specific aims:

To use eye-tracking methods to examine whether race-related stress (compared to non-race-related stress) leads to greater attention bias to threat;

To test whether a brief mindfulness meditation (compared to a neutral audio condition) reduces attention bias to threat;

To investigate whether racial identity moderates (a) the effect of the race-related stress manipulation on attention bias to threat and (b) the efficacy of the mindfulness intervention in reducing attention bias to threat.

This project includes a strong undergraduate training component designed to promote student engagement in psychological research and provide hands-on experience and comprehensive mentorship to support future research careers.

This research addresses critical gaps in the literature by investigating how race-related stress influences threat-related attentional processes, evaluating whether these processes can be altered by mindfulness-based strategies, and identifying for whom such interventions are most effective. The study utilizes a novel manipulation of race-related stress, an objective and theoretically grounded psychological mechanism (attention bias), precise assessment tools (eye-tracking), and an experimentally manipulated intervention (mindfulness), thereby addressing key limitations in existing research. Findings are expected to advance understanding of the psychological effects of racism and inform strategies to reduce mental health disparities among historically marginalized and underserved populations.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2024-07-25
• Status Verified: 2025-06
• Study First Submitted: 2025-06-02
• Study First Submitted QC: 2025-06-09
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-06-09
• Study First Posted: 2025-06-12
• Last Update Posted: 2025-06-12
• Primary Completion: 2027-04-30
• Study Completion: 2027-04-30

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 270

Inclusion Criteria

• Eligibility for this study will include a positive response to the following questions: 1) Do you identify as Black or African American? 2) Have you ever in your lifetime personally experienced or witnessed another person experience any acts of racism or racial microaggressions? 3) Are you willing to complete a 1.5-hour study at the University of Louisville in the next 2 weeks? 4) Are you 18 or older?

Exclusion Criteria

• None

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: SINGLE_GROUP

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Free viewing task	10 minutes	Free Viewing Task. This is the outcome measure for both manipulations listed above. To assess attention bias to threat, we will use a free-viewing task in which participants are instructed to freely view a pair of images side by side across two blocks of 60 trials each. In Block 1, participants will view two types of image pairs: one threatening (i.e., angry face) and one neutral (i.e., neutral facial expression) or both neutral.
Affect	5 minutes	To ensure that the manipulations outlined above are having the intended effect (increase in NA/ decrease in PA after stress manipulation and the opposite after the mindfulness manipulation), participants will complete the 20-item PANAS after each manipulation. The items ask participants to indicate how they are feeling in the moment in terms of both negative affect (e.g., distressed, interested) and positive affect (e.g., strong, inspired) on a scale of 1 (very slightly or not at all) to 5 (very much). Scores are summed to create a total negative affect and positive affect score.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Davidson Hall; 🇺🇸 Louisville, Kentucky, United States