NASA - Computerized Stress and Anxiety Managment Program for Long-Duration Space Flight
Researchers in the ADRC have incorporated the use of technology in managing and treating stress and anxiety problems. The CALM study is an example of that treatment approach and a newly funded study by NASA is aimed at furthering that work.
Stress and anxiety-related problems on short and long-duration space missions can seriously compromise the efficiency and safety of the crew. The first objective of this proposal is to develop a self-directed, autonomous, interactive multimedia program to train crewmembers how to recognize, assess, detect, prevent, and manage stress and anxiety on extended spaceflights. The computer program would be principally used in pre-flight training, with booster sessions or interventions available in orbit as needed. In this model of implementation, the skills learned prior to a mission would help to "inoculate" fliers to severe stress reactions thereby enhancing flight-task performance and crew health, safety and efficiency. The computer program will comprise empirically supported stress and anxiety management strategies. Beyond the development of the autonomous, computer-based stress and anxiety management program, this project has two additional specific aims; to evaluate the efficacy of the program with an analog astronaut sample of Navy Pilots in a randomized controlled trial with a comparison group, and to revise the computer program as needed, based on data from the efficacy trial and qualitative feedback from a sample of astronauts who evaluate the program for usability and acceptability.
Principal Investigator
Raphael D. Rose, Ph.D., UCLA
310-825-9048
rose@psych.ucla.edu
Co-Investigators
- Michelle G. Craske, Ph.D - UCLA
- James Carter, Ph.D. - Harvard Medical School
- Jay Buckey, MD - Dartmouth Medical School
This work supported by the National Space Biomedical Research Institute through NASA NCC 9-58.