Improving Mental Health and Well-Being Via Awe Walks

• ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03550144
• Recruitment Status: Completed
• First Posted: June 8, 2018
• Last Update Posted: October 12, 2018
• Sponsor: University of California, San Francisco
• Collaborator: University of California, Berkeley
• Information provided by (Responsible Party): Virginia Sturm, PhD, University of California, San Francisco

Study Description

Brief Summary:

Awe is a powerful positive emotion that offsets negative emotion and fosters prosocial behavior. This study examined the effects of awe on health and well-being in healthy older adults. Half of the participants took a weekly "awe walk" while the other half took a weekly walk with no further instructions.

Condition or disease	Intervention/treatment	Phase
Awe; Compassion; Anxiety	Behavioral: Awe Walk; Behavioral: Control Walk	Not Applicable

Detailed Description:

Awe fosters well-being and positive emotions that promote social relationships. Awe shifts attention from ourselves to the outside world and is associated with diminished self-focused attention. We aimed to increase awe in healthy older adults to test whether greater awe experience would lead to gains in other types of positive emotional experience and reductions in negative emotional experience.

Study Design

• Study Type: Interventional (Clinical Trial)
• Actual Enrollment: 60 participants
• Allocation: Randomized
• Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single (Participant)
• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Official Title: Effects of Awe on Mental Health and Well-Being
• Actual Study Start Date: December 5, 2016
• Actual Primary Completion Date: December 10, 2017
• Actual Study Completion Date: May 26, 2018

Arms and Interventions

Arm	Intervention/treatment
Experimental: Awe Walk Condition; Participants were instructed to take at least one (~15 minute) walk per week for 8 consecutive weeks. Participants were told to seek the experience of feeling awe. Participants were told to keep a fairly light to moderate pace and were encouraged to walk alone and without interruption from a mobile device.	Behavioral: Awe Walk; To examine the effect of weekly awe walks in cognitively healthy older adults.
Active Comparator: Control Walk Condition; Participants were instructed to take at least one (~15 minute) walk per week for 8 consecutive weeks. Participants were told to keep a fairly light to moderate pace and were encouraged to walk alone and without interruption from a mobile device.	Behavioral: Control Walk; To examine the effect of weekly walks in cognitively healthy older adults.

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures :

1. Daily awe experience questionnaire [ Time Frame: 8 weeks ]
   Increase in awe experience

Secondary Outcome Measures :

1. Daily compassion experience questionnaire [ Time Frame: 8 weeks ]
   Increase in daily compassion experience
2. Daily negative emotional experience questionnaire [ Time Frame: 8 weeks ]
   Decrease in daily negative emotional experience
3. Generalized Anxiety Disorder- 7 Item Scale [ Time Frame: 8 weeks ]
   Decrease in anxiety
4. Satisfaction With Life Scale [ Time Frame: 8 weeks ]
   Increase in well-being

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 40 Years to 90 Years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Sexes Eligible for Study: All
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Stable medical condition for 3 months prior to screening
• Reliant informant with frequent contact with participant who is available to provide observations of participant
• Fluent in English or Spanish
• Age: 40 and above
• Able to complete baseline assessments
• Education or work history sufficient to exclude mental retardation
• Physically acceptable for this study as confirmed by medical history, physical exam, neurological exam and clinical tests

Exclusion Criteria:

• Major memory concerns/diagnosed memory condition
• Korsakoff encephalopathy
• Active substance abuse
• Brain tumor
• Active neoplastic disease (skin tumors other than melanoma are not exclusionary)
• Parkinson's disease
• Multiple sclerosis (untreated)
• Sleep apnea
• History of clinically significant stroke
• Current evidence or history in the past 2 years of epilepsy, focal brain lesion, cancer, steroid use, or DSM-IV criteria for any major psychiatric disorder including psychosis, major depression, bipolar disorder, alcohol or substance abuse
• Blindness, deafness, language difficulties or any other disability which may prevent the participant from participating or cooperating in the protocol

Contacts and Locations

Locations

United States, California

UCSF Memory and Aging Center

San Francisco, California, United States, 94158

Sponsors and Collaborators

University of California, San Francisco

University of California, Berkeley

Investigators

• Principal Investigator: Virginia E Sturm, PhD; University of California, San Francisco

  Study Documents (Full-Text)

Documents provided by Virginia Sturm, PhD, University of California, San Francisco:

Study Protocol  [PDF] November 22, 2016

Statistical Analysis Plan  [PDF] November 22, 2016

More Information

Additional Information:

Greater Good Science Center 

Global Brain Health Institute 

Publications:

Keltner D, Haidt J. Approaching awe, a moral, spiritual, and aesthetic emotion. Cogn Emot. 2003 Mar;17(2):297-314. doi: 10.1080/02699930302297.

Kaup AR, Byers AL, Falvey C, Simonsick EM, Satterfield S, Ayonayon HN, Smagula SF, Rubin SM, Yaffe K. Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms in Older Adults and Risk of Dementia. JAMA Psychiatry. 2016 May 1;73(5):525-31. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2016.0004.

Williams JE, Paton CC, Siegler IC, Eigenbrodt ML, Nieto FJ, Tyroler HA. Anger proneness predicts coronary heart disease risk: prospective analysis from the atherosclerosis risk in communities (ARIC) study. Circulation. 2000 May 2;101(17):2034-9.

Fredrickson BL, Cohn MA, Coffey KA, Pek J, Finkel SM. Open hearts build lives: positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2008 Nov;95(5):1045-1062. doi: 10.1037/a0013262.

Stellar JE, John-Henderson N, Anderson CL, Gordon AM, McNeil GD, Keltner D. Positive affect and markers of inflammation: discrete positive emotions predict lower levels of inflammatory cytokines. Emotion. 2015 Apr;15(2):129-33. doi: 10.1037/emo0000033. Epub 2015 Jan 19.

Diener E, Chan MY. Happy people live longer: Subjective well-being contributes to health and longevity. .Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being 2011;3:1-43

Levenson RW, Ascher E, Goodkind M, McCarthy M, Sturm V, Werner K. Chapter 25 Laboratory testing of emotion and frontal cortex. Handb Clin Neurol. 2008;88:489-98. doi: 10.1016/S0072-9752(07)88025-0. Review.

Emmons RA, McCullough ME. Counting blessings versus burdens: an experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2003 Feb;84(2):377-89.

• Responsible Party: Virginia Sturm, PhD, Assistant Professor, University of California, San Francisco
• ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03550144
• Other Study ID Numbers: 16-20001
• First Posted: June 8, 2018
• Last Update Posted: October 12, 2018
• Last Verified: May 2018

Individual Participant Data (IPD) Sharing Statement:

• Plan to Share IPD: Undecided

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Drug Product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Device Product: No

Keywords provided by Virginia Sturm, PhD, University of California, San Francisco:

Awe; Compassion; Anxiety; Positive emotions; Aging