An interventional study of Interactive Mindfulness Breathing ChatGPT-Powered Intervention and Interactive Mind Wandering ChatGPT-Powered Intervention in Perceived Stress, Positive and Negative Affect and State Anxiety, sponsored by Singapore Management University. Recruiting at 1 site in Singapore. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 30 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-01-12.
Sponsored by Singapore Management University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science
Brief mindfulness intervention is a short form is a form of short-duration practice, typically delivered for around 30 minutes or less (Howarth et al., 2019). It can be conducted in various formats, including a short breathing exercise or body scan (Palascha et al., 2021), and are increasingly offered through digital platforms, including app-based formats.
Empirical evidence has examined the efficacy of brief mindfulness intervention and yielded mixed results. For some studies, positive effects were found, while some studies found no supporting evidence. Such inconsistencies may be due to the several current limitations of brief mindfulness intervention. Firstly, the duration of the intervention is too short. Given this brevity, these short practices may not offer the same immersion and depth that traditional mindfulness may offer. Secondly, most brief mindfulness utilised audio-based formats, which tend to be passive in nature and may not fully engage participants. Lastly, for brief mindfulness delivered through app-based platforms, these applications adopt a self-help approach, which may lower engagement and user commitment. Moreover, these applications also relied on audio guides which lacks the student-facilitator engagement found in traditional classes.
To address the current limitations within the literature, a between-within-subjects experiment will be conducted where participants will be randomly assigned to one of the three conditions: (1) an interactive brief mindfulness breathing ChatGPT-powered intervention, (2) an interactive mind-wandering ChatGPT-powered control, or (3) a mindfulness breathing audio control. We hypothesise that the brief mindfulness breathing ChatGPT-powered intervention group will have significant improvements in well-being outcomes as compared to the other two control groups. By exploring the potential of an interactive ChatGPT-powered intervention, this study aims to understand its efficacy in improving well-being.
168 studies on the registry are indexed under Self-Control; 22 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 210 is above the median of 88 across 144 interventional studies indexed under Self-Control.
Browse Self-Control studies →Singapore Management University is the lead sponsor of 4 studies on the registry; 2 are open to participants now.
Compared within Self-Control, this study's primary condition as ClinicalTrials.gg classifies it; the registry's first condition term is Anxiety Disorders. The counts are of registry records indexed under each term, refreshed daily. How we classify →
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The intervention is a ChatGPT-powered mind wandering bot configured using a 15-minute guided exercise adapted from Hafenbrack et al. (2014), Clinton et al. (2018), and Arch and Craske (2006). The session is divided into one-minute segments: the first minute provides settling instructions (for example, inviting participants to adopt a comfortable position), followed by step-by-step guidance of the mindfulness breathing exercise. To foster reflection and encourage active engagement, the chatbot was trained to interact with the participants using interactive prompts. This includes asking questions, such as "When you are ready, please share...What feeling or memory stood out most clearly as your mind wandered?", "When you are ready, please share...where did your attention drift... to just now?".
Other: Interactive Mind Wandering ChatGPT-Powered Intervention
The intervention is a ChatGPT-powered mindfulness breathing bot configured using a 15-minute guided exercise adapted from Hafenbrack et al. (2014), Clinton et al. (2018), and Arch and Craske (2006). The session is divided into one-minute segments: the first minute provides settling instructions (for example, inviting participants to adopt a comfortable position), followed by step-by-step guidance of the mindfulness breathing exercise. To foster reflection and encourage active engagement, the chatbot was trained to interact with the participants using interactive prompts. This includes asking questions, such as " Share what this present moments feel like for you", "What sensations do you notice in your abdomen as you place your hand there?", "Share what stood out to you as you noticed your thoughts, feelings, or sensations just now.".
Other: Interactive Mindfulness Breathing ChatGPT-Powered Intervention
This intervention consists of listening to a 15-minute mindfulness breathing audio-only exercise, adapted from Hafenbrack et al. (2014), Clinton et al. (2018), and Arch and Craske (2006). There will be no verbal interactions in this intervention.
Other: Mindfulness Breathing Audio-only
The intervention is a ChatGPT-powered mindfulness breathing bot configured using a 15-minute guided exercise adapted from Hafenbrack et al. (2014), Clinton et al. (2018), and Arch and Craske (2006). The session is divided into one-minute segments: the first minute provides settling instructions (for example, inviting participants to adopt a comfortable position), followed by step-by-step guidance of the mindfulness breathing exercise. To foster reflection and encourage active engagement, the chatbot was trained to interact with the participants using interactive prompts. This includes asking questions, such as " Share what this present moments feel like for you", "What sensations do you notice in your abdomen as you place your hand there?", "Share what stood out to you as you noticed your thoughts, feelings, or sensations just now.".
The intervention is a ChatGPT-powered mind wandering bot configured using a 15-minute guided exercise adapted from Hafenbrack et al. (2014), Clinton et al. (2018), and Arch and Craske (2006). The session is divided into one-minute segments: the first minute provides settling instructions (for example, inviting participants to adopt a comfortable position), followed by step-by-step guidance of the mindfulness breathing exercise. To foster reflection and encourage active engagement, the chatbot was trained to interact with the participants using interactive prompts. This includes asking questions, such as "When you are ready, please share...What feeling or memory stood out most clearly as your mind wandered?", "When you are ready, please share...where did your attention drift... to just now?".
This intervention consists of listening to a 15-minute mindfulness breathing audio-only exercise, adapted from Hafenbrack et al. (2014), Clinton et al. (2018), and Arch and Craske (2006). There will be no verbal interactions in this intervention.
Stress
Participants' current stress levels will be measured with a single item ("How stressed do you feel right now?"), rated on an 11-point scale (0 = No stress, 10 = Extreme stress).
Time frame: Change from pre-intervention (baseline, before intervention) to immediately post-intervention (after the 15-minute session)
Positive and Negative Affect
Participants' affective states will be measured using the 18-item Circumplex Model of Affect Scale (Russell, 1980), which assesses emotional states across two separate dimensions: positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA). Participants are required to indicate the extent to which they currently experience each emotion on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = Not at all, 5 = Extremely), in response to the question, "Overall, how do you feel right now?".
Time frame: Change from pre-intervention (baseline) to immediately post-intervention (after the 15-minute session)
State Anxiety
Participants' state anxiety levels will be measured with the 6-item Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI; Marteau \& Bekker, 1992), rated on a 4-point Likert scale (1 = Not at all, 4 = Very much). Participants are required to rate how they generally feel in response to statements presented (e.g., "I feel calm", "I am tense", "I feel upset").
Time frame: Change from pre-intervention (baseline) to immediately post-intervention (after the 15-minute session).
Self-control Capacity
Participants' self-control capacity will be measured with the 5-item Brief State Self-Control Capacity Scale (SMS-5; Ciarocco et al., 2009; Linder et al., 2015), rated on a 7-point Likert scale (1 = Very untrue of me, 7 = Very true of me). Participants are required to rate how they feel in response to the statements presented (e.g., "I feel drained now", "I feel lazy now", "I feel like my willpower is gone now").
Time frame: Change from pre-intervention (baseline) to immediately post-intervention (after the 15-minute session).
State Mindfulness Attention
Mindful Attention State. Participants' state mindfulness attention levels will be measured with the 21-item State Mindfulness Scale (SMS; Tanya \& Bernstein, 2013; Ruimi et al., 2022), on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = Not at all, 5 = Very well). Participants are required to rate how they feel in response to the statements presented (e.g., "I was aware of different emotions that arose in me", "I noticed many small details of my experience", "I felt that I was experiencing the present moment fully").
Time frame: Change from pre-intervention (baseline) to immediately post-intervention (after the 15-minute session).
PDFs hosted by the registry, ClinicalTrials.gov.
Started Oct 2025 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for May 2026, 7 months after the start.
Of 104 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Self-Control, half reached primary completion within 16 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 5 and three quarters within 34. This study's planned 7 months is below that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 105 studies reached it within 16 months; a quarter within 5 and three quarters within 34.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
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Singapore Management University