Anxiety & Depression Association of America

Feasibility Testing a Meditation App for Professionals Working With Youth in the Legal System

Purpose

This feasibility clinical trial aims to assess the feasibility of implementing a 1-month app-based meditation program with officers in the juvenile legal system and other professionals working directly with legal-involved youth.

Conditions

Anxiety
Depression
Burnout, Professional
Emotion Regulation

Eligibility

Eligible Ages: Over 18 Years
Eligible Genders: All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

- Currently working with youth in the juvenile legal system or related juvenile
services and programming

- English speaking

- Able to understand and provide consent

- At least 18 years old

- Have an Android or Apple smartphone

Study Design

Phase: N/A
Study Type: Interventional
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Intervention Model Description: Participants will be individually randomized at a 1:1 ratio to 1 of 2 smartphone app conditions: (1) AIM+, a 30-day mindfulness meditation app, or (2) Resource+, a 30-day informational app that is matched to AIM+ for time and structure but provides information on local resources relevant to youth.
Primary Purpose: Prevention
Masking: Single (Outcomes Assessor)

Arm Groups

Arm	Description	Assigned Intervention
Experimental Action In Mindfulness (AIM)+	Participants randomized to the intervention arm will receive the AIM+ mindfulness meditation app.	Behavioral: Action In Mindfulness (AIM)+ AIM+ is a smartphone-based app that teaches mindfulness meditation to professionals working with legal-involved youth over a 30-day "path." Each day of the path consists of a brief (approximately 5- to 10-minute) audio-guided meditation practice, with brief videos interspersed to illustrate key concepts and promote engagement. In addition to the 30 daily path files, users have access to a menu of "to go" audio-guided meditation practices that they can use as relevant to their workday (e.g., for professionals to listen to before attending a meeting). AIM+ also includes a menu of audio-guided meditation practices that officers can share with the youth on their caseloads (e.g., for youth to listen to before attending court).
Active Comparator Resource+	Participants randomized to the active control arm will receive the Resource+ informational resource app.	Behavioral: Resource+ Resource+ is a smartphone-based app that is matched to AIM+ for time and structure, but it includes information on community resources that professionals can provide to the youth with whom they work in place of the meditation content featured in AIM+.

Recruiting Locations

More Details

Status: Recruiting
Sponsor: University of Illinois at Chicago

Study Contact

Ashley D Kendall, PhD
312-355-1836
akendall@uic.edu

Detailed Description

Professionals working with legal-involved youth experience high levels of depression, anxiety, and workplace burnout. Mindfulness meditation targets emotion regulation-which appears to be a common mechanism underlying depression, anxiety, and burnout-and it can be effectively delivered via smartphone app. This project will assess the feasibility of implementing a 1-month app-based meditation program with officers and other professionals working with legal-involved youth in Cook County, which houses one of the nation's largest juvenile legal systems. The findings are intended to inform the development of a future, fully-powered hybrid effectiveness-implementation randomized controlled trial (RCT).

Notice

Study information shown on this site is derived from ClinicalTrials.gov (a public registry operated by the National Institutes of Health). The listing of studies provided is not certain to be all studies for which you might be eligible. Furthermore, study eligibility requirements can be difficult to understand and may change over time, so it is wise to speak with your medical care provider and individual research study teams when making decisions related to participation.