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Psychosocial Functioning clinical trials at University of California Health

2 research studies open to eligible people

Showing trials for
  • Mindfulness Meditation Neuroimaging Study for Undergraduates

    open to all eligible people

    This study is designed to test the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation intervention classes on psychosocial health outcomes. Additionally, the investigators would like to examine changes in the brain that might occur following the mindfulness meditation intervention. The investigators are particularly interested in changes in brain activity that are correlated with changes in inflammation-related markers in the blood. The nervous system and immune system are closely connected, and both are influenced by mindfulness. However, it is unclear whether changes in neural activity are linked with changes in inflammation. A compelling feature of mindfulness interventions is their potential for reducing inflammatory activity; however, this has not been examined in college students. In addition to measuring psychosocial outcomes, the investigators will employ sophisticated, vertically-integrated measures of inflammatory biology that allow the study team to probe intervention effects on circulating markers of inflammation. Thus, the investigators intend to recruit 60 undergraduate students and will randomize them into either a 6-week standardized mindfulness intervention or to a wait-list control group. Participants will complete brain scans, provide blood samples for immune analysis, and complete questionnaires at pre- and post-intervention assessments

    at UCLA

  • UCLA REST Study (REsearch on Sleep Techniques)

    open to eligible people ages 18-20

    Sleep disturbance has a range of negative effects on psychosocial and biological processes important for academic and social success as well as mental and physical health among adolescents and young adults. Limited, inconsistent, and poor quality sleep lead to anxiety, depressive feelings, loneliness, and fatigue over time. These symptoms, in turn, interfere with the ability to get a good night's rest. Sleep disruption can also upregulate inflammatory processes during the years of adolescence and young adulthood in ways that can create risk for the development of chronic health conditions (e.g., diabetes, depression, cardiovascular disease) in later adulthood. Sleep, however, is also a modifiable health behavior, leading many institutions to embark upon efforts to improve the sleep of their students. The challenge is to identify programs and interventions that can simultaneously improve sleep, be delivered at scale, and be easily completed by students. UCLA has developed and validated a group-based mindfulness intervention, Mindful Awareness Practices (MAPs), that has demonstrated beneficial effects on sleep in adults and may offer a promising, scalable approach for reducing sleep disturbance and improving associated psychological and biological outcomes in college students. However, this approach requires validation in this population relative to sleep education programs, which increasingly dominate the college landscape. To address this important public health problem, the investigators propose to conduct a single site, two-arm, parallel group randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of the validated, group-based, six-week MAPs intervention vs. sleep education, an active time and attention matched control condition, for first year undergraduate students who report poor sleep at this critical transition year. The investigators are aiming to enroll approximately 240 participants. Participants will complete questionnaires, provide blood samples for immune analysis and will be provided with wrist actigraphs to wear for 7 days, in order to collect objective measurements of sleep at pre- and post-intervention visits, and at a 3-month follow-up visit. Additional follow-up assessments will take place at 6-month, and 12-month post-intervention to evaluate persistence of effects.

    at UCLA

Our lead scientists for Psychosocial Functioning research studies include .

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