NCT06518616

Meditation to Reduce Firefighter Distress

Reducing Psychological Distress in Fire Fighters With an Asynchronous App- Based Meditation Intervention

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: Phase 2
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 192 (estimated)
• Sponsor: University of Arizona · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The more than one million firefighters in the United States provide critical emergency medical services in communities they serve and are on the front lines of healthcare delivery, including in the post-pandemic world. As a result of exposure to occupational stressors, a high proportion of firefighters experience considerable stress-related burden including psychological distress (i.e., increased features of anxiety and depression). To address this need, this project will test the efficacy of a 10-day meditation intervention (i.e., 10 individual prerecorded audio units delivered by smartphone app) among career firefighters to decrease psychological distress (i.e., anxiety and depression).

Detailed description

The goal of this study is to test the efficacy of a 10-day meditation intervention (i.e., 10 individual prerecorded audio units delivered by smartphone app) versus an active attention control (i.e., 10-day health education intervention with 10 individual prerecorded audio units delivered by smartphone app) to reduce psychological distress among N=160 career firefighters (to address possible attrition, N=192 firefighters will be consented and enrolled). The following specific aims will guide the research: Aim 1. Examine whether firefighters' psychological distress (i.e., features of anxiety \[primary outcome\], depression) is reduced at 10 days, 30 days, and 3 months after the meditation intervention versus an active attention control. Features of anxiety, features of depression will be assessed at baseline (T1), after the 10-day intervention (T2), 30 days later (T3), and 3 months later (T4). Aim 2: Explore the extent to which reductions in psychological distress from the meditation intervention are mediated by mindfulness and perceived social connection.

Conditions

• Psychological Distress

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	10-day meditation intervention	prerecorded meditation units delivered by smartphone app
BEHAVIORAL	10-day health education intervention	prerecorded health education units delivered by smartphone app

Timeline

• Start date: 2024-12-03
• Primary completion: 2026-08-31
• Completion: 2027-02-28
• First posted: 2024-07-24
• Last updated: 2025-11-12

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States