In Progress

Lisa Militello, Inbal Nahum-Shani, Fabian Okeke, Michael Sobolev, Deborah Estrin

The stressors of parenting are normative and unavoidable. Mindfulness meditation is a promising modality for stress-regulation. Mindfulness-based stress reduction demonstrated positive changes in psychological or physiological outcomes related to anxiety/stress. Mobile devices make mindfulness, and other stress-regulation exercises accessible and convenient to use anytime and anywhere. However, engagement in mobile-based stress regulation exercises is suboptimal. The goal of this pilot study is to investigate whether contextual data regarding parent state (temporary behaviors, feelings, or experiences) can be used to inform the delivery of real-time recommendations to engage in stress-regulation activities. During this 30 day pilot study, parent with child(ren) (up to 18 years) at home will be micro-randomized every day to either a prompt recommending a mobile-based stress-regulation exercise or no prompt. The study will explore if and under what conditions a recommendation prompt is more useful compared to no prompt in terms of (a) promoting engagement with a mobile-based stress-regulation exercise; and b) reducing daily level of stress.

View all d3c Projects HERE.