Calmer Life: Testing the Effectiveness of a Treatment for Anxiety
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ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01702220 |
Recruitment Status
:
Completed
First Posted
: October 8, 2012
Last Update Posted
: January 12, 2016
|
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Condition or disease | Intervention/treatment | Phase |
---|---|---|
Generalized Anxiety Disorder Anxiety Disorder NOS | Behavioral: CBT Other: ECC | Not Applicable |
Cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) produces positive outcomes for late-life worry/GAD in academic and primary care settings, but minorities are significantly underrepresented in clinical trials, and standard CBT poorly addresses the needs of low-income minority older adults in underserved communities. More attention needs to be given to service delivery of anxiety treatments for underserved older adults. Calmer Life (CL) is a culturally tailored, participant-centered research study that offers a skills-based intervention for late-life anxiety and includes other elements of care to meet the needs of underserved, minority older adults, including the option to integrate religion/spirituality (R/S), flexible delivery modes, and modular treatment format.
Participants will be randomly assigned to CL or Enhanced Community Care(ECC). CL and ECC will be provided by behavioral health clinicians recruited from partner organizations, psychology trainees, and other research staff over 3 months. Assessments will occur at baseline and 3 months.
Participants in the CL condition can choose up to 12 individual skill sessions, and will be recommended to complete a minimum of 6 sessions. If participants desire to incorporate R/S, an R/S assessment occurs during session 2 to help the provider understand the participant's beliefs and practices. R/S can be integrated into any of the skills learned during the intervention (e.g., deep breathing, self-statements, sleep management) or omitted entirely.
Participants in the ECC condition will receive brief biweekly check in calls to provide information about community resources (including mental health), offer emotional support, and assess symptom severity and need for crisis intervention. Emergency procedures will be followed in crisis situations. After 3 months of ECC is completed, participants in the ECC group will be offered the CL intervention.
Outcome measures will be administered for participants in both groups at baseline, 1 month, and 3 months. Participants in ECC will complete measures at 6 months after completion of CL.
Study Type : | Interventional (Clinical Trial) |
Estimated Enrollment : | 60 participants |
Allocation: | Randomized |
Intervention Model: | Parallel Assignment |
Masking: | Single (Outcomes Assessor) |
Primary Purpose: | Treatment |
Official Title: | Calmer Life: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Participant-Centered Treatment for Anxiety in Low-Income, Older Adults |
Study Start Date : | October 2012 |
Actual Primary Completion Date : | February 2015 |
Actual Study Completion Date : | August 2015 |

Arm | Intervention/treatment |
---|---|
Experimental: CBT |
Behavioral: CBT
6-12 sessions of CBT in person or over the phone
Other Name: Cognitive Behavior Treatment, Cognitive Behavior Therapy
|
Active Comparator: Enhanced Community Care (ECC) |
Other: ECC
6 biweekly sessions of ECC over the telephone
Other Name: Enhanced Community Care
|
- Geriatric Anxiety Inventory [ Time Frame: 3 months ]
- Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ-A) [ Time Frame: 3 months ]
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 [ Time Frame: 3 months ]
- Patient Health Questionnaire-9 [ Time Frame: 3 months ]
- Insomnia Severity Index [ Time Frame: 3 months ]
- Late-Life Functional Disability Index [ Time Frame: 3 months ]
- SF-12 Health Survey [ Time Frame: 3 months ]
- Client Satisfaction Questionnaire [ Time Frame: 3 months ]
- Brief RCOPE [ Time Frame: 3 months ]Religious coping
- Health services use [ Time Frame: 3 months ]
- Use of psychotropic medication [ Time Frame: 3 months ]
- Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness and Spirituality [ Time Frame: 3 months ]
- Satisfaction with Life Scale [ Time Frame: 3 months ]
- Geriatric Depression Scale [ Time Frame: 3 months ]

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Ages Eligible for Study: | 50 Years and older (Adult, Senior) |
Sexes Eligible for Study: | All |
Accepts Healthy Volunteers: | No |
Inclusion Criteria:
- Age 50 and older
- Principal or Co-principal diagnosis of GAD or ADNOS
- Must speak English
- Must have a health care or social service provider and provide written authorization to research team to communicate with their health-care or social service provider
- Must live, work, worship, attend community functions, and/or receive health care in target geographic areas
Exclusion Criteria:
- Active suicidal intent
- Current psychosis
- Mania or substance abuse within the last month
- Cognitive impairment according to a Mini Cog screener score of 3 or lower

To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT01702220
United States, Texas | |
Houston Center for Quality of Care and Utilization Studies | |
Houston, Texas, United States, 77030 |
Principal Investigator: | Melinda A Stanley, PhD | Baylor College of Medicine |
Responsible Party: | Melinda Stanley, Professor, Baylor College of Medicine |
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: | NCT01702220 History of Changes |
Other Study ID Numbers: |
H30928 |
First Posted: | October 8, 2012 Key Record Dates |
Last Update Posted: | January 12, 2016 |
Last Verified: | January 2016 |
Keywords provided by Melinda Stanley, Baylor College of Medicine:
Generalized Anxiety Disorder Geriatric |
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Disease Anxiety Disorders Pathologic Processes Mental Disorders |