The Youth Mindful Awareness Program

Overview

The Youth Mindful Awareness Program (YMAP) study is designed to examine how three remotely-delivered  programs affect teens’ moods. Teens are randomly assigned (like flipping a coin) to one of three groups. One group will participate in the mindfulness program, which includes meeting with a coach once per week for 9 weeks over zoom for about 30 minutes. The second group will participate in an expressive writing group and meet with a coach once per week for 30 minutes. Expressive writing is a simple journaling technique that helps people understand and deal with emotions in their lives. Expressive writing has been shown to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, reduce stress, increase resilience, and improve cognitive functioning. Lastly, the third group will complete mood assessments and gain access to the mindfulness and expressive writing materials after the end of the program.There are two parts to the coached programs–coaching sessions and  practice (see Treatment Procedures below). The ideas and  practices in the program focus on things like being more aware of ourselves in the present moment, finding ways to create “balance” if we’re feeling stressed, and being kinder to, and more accepting of, ourselves. If you are interested in participating or interested in having your teenager participate, please click here to learn more about the program or click here to complete an interest form.

Eligibility Criteria

Participants in this program must be between the ages of 12 and 17. Participants must also live in one of the states in which we have participating universities: California, Illinois, or Tennessee. Teens who enroll in the study must speak and read English (at least at a 4th grade level), although parent consent forms and parent surveys are available in Spanish for California residents. These are the eligibility criteria for enrolling; after signing up, the baseline assessments described below will help us determine if the full study would be a good fit for each teen.

Screening Procedures and Baseline Assessments

All parts of the study are conducted remotely, using phone calls, Zoom meetings, and internet-based surveys. If you wish to enroll your teen in YMAP, a researcher will set up a phone call with you to review the consent form and ask a few questions about health and education. The baseline (or pre-program) assessments include several steps: (1) a brief (~5 min) survey, (2) a longer survey and interview over Zoom, (3) a series of short surveys texted 4 times per day over seven days, called Mini Mood Logs and (4) a final set of online tasks and parent survey. Each of these steps will help our research team determine whether the full study is a good fit for your teen.

Program and Study Procedures

If the study is a good fit, teens will be randomized to one of three conditions Those who are randomized to expressive writing or mindfulness will be assigned acoach, with whom they will meet weekly, for 30minutes per session, for 9 weeks. Each week, the coach will teachthe material and help plan practices in-between sessions. All teens will be asked to complete brief (~5 min) weekly surveys for 9 weeks after completing the baseline assessments. Following that, they will complete a set of post-program assessments similar to the baseline. This includes a survey, an interview, a set of online tasks, and a second round of Mini Mood Logs, as well as a parent survey.

Payment and Fees

There are no fees for the assessments or program. Because the program is delivered remotely, there are no costs associated with travel. Teens may be compensated up to $300 for participation in the study. Compensation is based on completion of assessments. Parents will be compensated up to $30 for completing  parent surveys. Compensation is in the form of electronic gift cards.

Contact Information

For further information about this project, contact:
Jessie Allenbach
You can also visit our website for more information or to fill out an interest form: https://youth-mindful-awareness-program.org/

Principal Investigators and IRB Approval

UCLA Principal Investigators: Michelle Craske, PhD, and Denise Chavira, PhD. This study is conducted in collaboration with Judy Garber, PhD, at Vanderbilt University (lead Principal Investigator), and with Emma Adam, PhD, and Richard Zinbarg, PhD, at Northwestern University.

UCLA IRB has approved reliance on Vanderbilt University’s IRB for primary oversight.

UCLA IRB: #21-0502

UCLA IRB Reliance Approval date: 4/16/2024

VU IRB: #202263

VU IRB Approval date:1/23/2024