14 Clinical Trials for Various Conditions
The purpose of the study is to look at the impact of a metta meditation training on prosocial behavior and socio-affective brain responses. The training involves an 8-week, online administration of guided metta meditation practices aimed at generating feelings of kindness and compassion for other people. The study examines how participants respond to thinking about familiar others and strangers using behavioral and brain-imaging measures. This study will be important for understanding how people develop the capacity to be prosocial towards other individuals, which is a key component of adaptive social behavior.
The purpose of this 12-month study is to compare how well two programs help older adults make physical activity a regular habit.
This study investigated the human-animal interaction (HAI) and bond (HAB) between a canine trained in therapy techniques or a canine plush toy and youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) during animal-assisted therapy (AAT) sessions. The purpose of this study is to explore identified gaps in knowledge pertaining to AAT in pediatric ASD care management by documenting human interaction between either a live canine or the plush toy canine during AAT sessions and evaluating prosocial behaviors observed during and after AAT sessions. This study addressed the following research questions: 1. How do children with autism ages 2 to 18 years interact with a live canine during AAT sessions? 2. How do children with autism ages 2 to 18 years interact with a toy plush dog during AAT sessions? 3. Is there a difference in HAI in the live canine group and the toy plush dog group? 4. Is there a difference in prosocial behavior observed during AAT sessions between the live canine group and the toy plush dog group? 5. Is there a difference in behavior after AAT sessions between the live canine group and the toy plush dog group? Participants were randomly assigned to either the live canine or toy plush dog group. Adaptive functioning and social responsiveness evaluations were obtained to compare baseline behavior between the two groups. Participants attended an AAT session once weekly for 6 to 8 weeks. Each group received the same therapy provided by the therapist; the only difference being the incorporation of a live canine during the therapy session. Caregivers completed a weekly assessment depicting participants' positive and negative affect at the beginning of each session. Caregivers also completed a monthly assessment noting strengths and difficulties in social functioning and behavior at the start of the first, middle, and final session. AAT sessions were recorded and behavior occurring during the sessions was coded to note HAI and HAB that occurred during the sessions.
The purpose of this study is to compare two exercise programs to determine how well they help older adults make exercise a regular habit after 9 months.
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if mindfulness and yoga can improve attention, problem-solving, memory, emotional awareness, and impulsivity in preschoolers. The main questions it aims to answer are: Can a 30-minute, once-a-week mindfulness and yoga program (Calm \& Alert) over seven weeks in preschool classrooms increase emotional regulation during the school day? Can a 30-minute, once-a-week mindfulness and yoga program decrease negative behavioral incidences during the school day? Can a 30-minute, once-a-week mindfulness and yoga program increase prosocial behaviors like caring, sharing, and perspective-taking during the school day? Researchers will compare the effects of students who participated in the mindfulness and yoga program to students in classrooms who did not receive the program. Student participants will be asked to complete a short self-regulation task test before and after the mindfulness program. Teachers will rate the students on their prosocial behavior before and after the mindfulness program and record negative behavioral incidents over the study period.
The goal of this randomized trial is to test the effectiveness of two universal classroom-based mindfulness social and emotional learning (SEL) programs (one for students and one for teachers) by examining behavioral outcomes on 5th and 6th grade students and their teachers. The main questions it aims to answer are: * What are the singular and combined effects of a mindfulness-based SEL education programs for teachers and their students on the development of students' and their teachers' social, emotional, and cognitive competence, and well-being? * Can mindfulness-based SEL education programs for students and teachers foster the creation of caring, inclusive, equitable, and collaborative classroom contexts? * Can mindfulness-based SEL education programs support the development of students' and teachers' prosocial attitudes, mindsets that positively impact student learning? * Are the effects durable beyond the end of the programs with regard to the singular and combined mindfulness-based SEL interventions? A total of 24 classrooms will be randomized into one of three study conditions: 1. Mindfulness SEL program for Educators only 2. Mindfulness SEL program for Educators and Mindfulness SEL program for Students in combination, and 3. "Business as usual" (comparison groups in which regular classroom SEL curricula is implemented). Data will be obtained via multiple objective and subjective methods (e.g., self- and teacher-reports, peer behavioral assessments) from different sources (e.g., self-, peer-, and teacher-reports). Data will also be collected to monitor implementation of the two programs. To explore the ways in which these two programs impact student, teacher, and classroom outcomes, data will be analyzed to compare students and teachers in the three conditions. In Phase One (year one), the investigators will conduct an experimental "outcome" study to examine the singular and combined effects of the two programs by comparing pre-test and post-test measures across the three conditions. In Phase Two (year two), the investigators will conduct a six-month follow up with those teachers and students who participated in Phase One in order to determine the degree to which the program effects are durable after the program has ended.
This project focuses on social and character development of elementary and middle school-aged children and responds to an urgent national need that schools improve their capacity to address a range of student outcomes, including social skills, character, behavior, academic achievement and health outcomes. This study is a school-based randomized trial to evaluate the Positive Action program. The Positive Action program was designed to promote social and character development and improve behavior and school performance.
The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of the Positive Action program on reducing negative behaviors, increasing positive behaviors and improving academic achievement of elementary school students.
Racial and ethnic minority children who live in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities are disproportionately impacted by pandemic and climate-induced disasters. Although effective interventions have been designed to treat mental health related symptoms in post-disaster settings, accessible, empirically supported prevention interventions are needed to prevent the onset of mental and behavioral health issues among these children. Building on our preliminary findings, the proposed study examines the efficacy and implementation of a COVID-19 adapted disaster focused prevention intervention, Journey of Hope-C19, in preventing behavioral health and interpersonal problems among racial and ethnic minority children who live in low-resource high poverty communities.
This study tests the hypothesis that modifying the media diet of preschool children so that they watch more prosocial programming and less violent programming will result in decreased aggression and increased prosocial behavior.
The purpose of this research is to evaluate the effect of animal-assisted therapy (AAT) on prosocial behavior and emotional regulation in children with developmental delay, behavioral concerns, or autism spectrum disorder. Service dog use in the pediatric population who have these concerns is increasing and more studies are indicated to determine best practice for incorporating canines into traditional therapy sessions to enhance therapeutic outcomes. The hypothesis for this study is that inclusion of the canine will enhance therapy sessions and produce a lasting effect on prosocial behavior and emotional regulation after AAT sessions have concluded.
It has been demonstrated that behavior on the AlAn's (altruism-antisocial) game is related to Moral Elevation response. Moral Elevation is a positive response to another's act of generosity "of charity, gratitude, fidelity, generosity or any other strong display of virtue". The constellation of emotional, physical and psychological aspects of a Moral Elevation response have been well described. Moral Elevation can be elicited with stimulus stories or videos and measured with self-report questionnaires. The experience of Moral Elevation is associated with subsequent prosocial and affiliative behaviors. Additionally, the research has linked Moral Elevation response with behavior on the AlAn's game. This study will test whether behavior on the AlAn's Short Game v.2 is related to Moral Elevation response and extend prior work by testing whether viewing the Moral Elevation stimulus prior to playing the AlAn's Short Game v.2 is associated with differences in game behavior. The study will also test whether psychopathic traits will correlate with game behavior.
This project is focused on the neural and behavioral correlates of two different videos games that will be used as training tools. The two video games, developed by the Games Learning Society research group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) and the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, are tailored to train mindfulness, particularly the regulation of attention; and prosocial behavior, especially sensitivity to others, in adolescents. This study will evaluate the hypothesis that systematic playing of mindfulness and prosocial games will change brain function in specific attentional, social and emotional circuits in potentially beneficial ways, and will impact performance on cognitive tasks of attention, and on measures of social cue perception and the propensity to share and behave altruistically. The investigators will employ behavioral and functional MRI-based neuroimaging measures to evaluate the investigators hypothesis.
Sexual violence (SV) is a significant public health problem particularly among 18-24 year old populations. A major risk factor for SV is alcohol use, which via its negative impact on cognitive abilities and decision-making acts as a barrier to intervening in situations at-risk for a SV. This study has two main goals: (1) to determine the effects of proximal alcohol use on young (age 21 to 25) men's prosocial bystander behavior in situations considered at-risk for SV, and (2) to determine the efficacy of an evidence-based, web-based program called RealConsent, which has been augmented to include alcohol-specific content within the context of bystander SV ("RealConsent2.0"), on men's prosocial bystander behavior. The primary study endpoint is prosocial bystander behavior and will be assessed via two modes: (1) a virtual reality (VR) environment ("B-SAVE") and (2) a validated self-report measure of bystander behavior that has been modified to include assessment of proximal alcohol use and presence of alcohol within the context.