Defining Stress and Sleep as Modifiable Intervention Targets in Correctional Officers to Reduce Mental and Physical Health Risk

The study will use a waitlist-control design to examine the effectiveness of a brief (4-week) online mindfulness-based intervention aimed at reducing stress and improving sleep quality. A proxy, convenience sample of 50 criminology majors will be recruited and randomized into the active intervention or waitlist condition. The intervention requires participants to complete one mindfulness education module every week for 4 weeks, and to practice a 15-minute formal guided mindfulness meditation at least five times per week across the 4 weeks. Participants will also be taught evidence-based sleep improvement techniques, will be provided education for when to use the techniques, and will be encouraged to implement the techniques to improve sleep. Validated self-report measures of stress, anxiety, mood, and sleep quality will be assessed pre- and post-intervention. Adherence to the mindfulness practice will be monitored online and self-report assessments of sleep technique implementation will be collected. Sleep patterns will be assessed using a Philips Respironics Spectrum 2 Actiwatch, which is a wrist-worn device that measures movement and light exposure and estimates sleep-wake patterns. Lastly, multiple saliva samples pre- and post-intervention will be collected and analyzed by ELISA with a multiplex cytokine assay. Cortisol, α-amylase, and the four analytes with known deleterious roles in cellular and behavioral stress responsiveness will be measured simultaneously: interleukin-1beta, interleukin-6, interleukin-8, and Tumour Necrosis Factor-alpha will be examined pre- and post-intervention.