An interventional study of STOP4P and Informational Video and Supportive Activities in Anxiety, sponsored by Hung Vuong Hospital. Not yet recruiting at 1 site in Vietnam. Open to female participants, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-25.
Sponsored by Hung Vuong Hospital · Not applicable, Interventional, and Supportive care
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if STOP-4P can lower anxiety in pregnant women having amniocentesis.
Amniocentesis is a prenatal test. A doctor uses a needle to collect a small amount of fluid around the baby.
The main question this trial aims to answer is: Does STOP-4P lower anxiety compared with other forms of support and routine care?
Researchers will compare three groups: (1) The STOP-4P group will receive routine care, watch a short video about amniocentesis, take part in simple support activities, and practice STOP-4P before the procedure, (2) The control group will receive the same care, video, and support activities but will not practice STOP-4P and (3) The observational group will receive routine care only.
Participants in the STOP-4P and control groups will be assigned at random. Those in the observational group will be enrolled separately without random assignment.
Researchers will also look at well-being, pain, heart rate, and blood pressure.
Participants will: (1) Answer short questions about anxiety and well-being before amniocentesis and 30 minutes after the procedure, (2) Have their heart rate and blood pressure measured before amniocentesis, at the start of the procedure, and 30 minutes afterward, (3) Complete the activities assigned to their study group and (4) Rate the pain they felt during amniocentesis.
After the main study assessments are completed, all participants will be offered access to STOP-4P and may practice it at home if they choose.
About 2 weeks after amniocentesis, the study team will record the test result, any complications, and how often participants practiced STOP-4P at home. Participants can also talk with the study team about psychological or medical concerns if needed.
Amniocentesis may cause short-term anxiety because pregnant women may worry about the procedure, possible pain or complications, fetal safety, and uncertainty about the test result. The waiting period before amniocentesis was chosen as the intervention window because these concerns are already present before the procedure. It also gives participants time to receive a brief psychological intervention with minimal disruption to routine clinical care.
At enrollment, participants in all three study groups are stratified according to the clinical indication for amniocentesis. Different diagnoses and indications may be associated with different levels of anxiety before the procedure. Stratification helps control these baseline differences and improves comparability among the groups within each stratum before the next group allocation steps.
The protocol also includes a non-randomized observational comparison group receiving routine care alone. This group is enrolled during separate prespecified study sessions. Including this group helps distinguish the added effect of STOP-4P from the effects of other study-related supportive activities and from routine care alone.
All participants are offered access to STOP-4P after the main post-procedure assessment has been completed. This delayed access allows participants who did not receive STOP-4P before amniocentesis to use it while waiting for the test result, without affecting the main study comparison.
Anxiety and well-being are not reassessed at the two-week follow-up because participants' emotional responses may be strongly influenced by the amniocentesis result, especially if the result is abnormal. The later follow-up therefore focuses on clinical information and the use of STOP-4P rather than on evaluating its main anxiety-reduction effect.
7,201 studies on the registry are indexed under Anxiety Disorders; 1,682 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 240 is above the median of 80 across 6,057 interventional studies indexed under Anxiety Disorders.
Browse Anxiety Disorders studies →Hung Vuong Hospital is the lead sponsor of 10 studies on the registry; 4 are open to participants now.
Compared within Anxiety Disorders, the registry's first condition term, which may not be this study's main condition. Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily. How we classify →
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Participants receive routine care, watch a short informational video about amniocentesis, complete simple supportive activities, and practice the web-based STOP-4P intervention before amniocentesis.
Behavioral: STOP4P
Participants receive routine care, watch the same informational video about amniocentesis, and complete the same supportive activities as the STOP-4P group, but do not practice STOP-4P before amniocentesis.
Behavioral: Informational Video and Supportive Activities
Participants receive routine care only before the main post-procedure assessment and do not receive the study video, supportive activities, or STOP-4P during this period.
STOP-4P is a brief, web-based psychological intervention delivered in an interactive, game-like format and completed in about 10 minutes. It includes eight steps: (1) rating the current emotional state on a 1-10 scale; (2) tapping a virtual bell as a cue to stop and pause briefly; (3) practicing slow breathing with a longer exhalation; (4) noticing areas of discomfort or tension in the body, then relaxing the whole body from head to toe; (5) identifying the current emotion by selecting the closest match from six basic emotions; (6) noticing a worrying thought and imagining letting it go; (7) reconnecting with the baby and writing a short loving message to the baby; and (8) rating the emotional state again on the same 1-10 scale. Participants complete STOP-4P while waiting for amniocentesis.
Participants watch a short informational video explaining the amniocentesis procedure. They then write a wish for their baby to place on the "Wish Tree" and create a card for themselves or their baby. These brief activities are intended to provide information and supportive emotional expression before amniocentesis.
Changes in State and Trait Anxiety Scores Before and After Amniocentesis
Anxiety is assessed using the 10-item short form of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). It includes two five-item subscales: state anxiety (STAIS-5) and trait anxiety (STAIT-5). Each subscale has a score range of 5 to 20, with higher scores indicating greater anxiety. Both subscales are scored before amniocentesis and 30 minutes after the procedure. For each subscale, the change is calculated as the score after the procedure minus the score before the procedure. A negative change indicates a decrease in anxiety. Changes in state and trait anxiety scores will be compared separately among the STOP-4P, control, and observational groups.
Time frame: From the waiting period before amniocentesis to 30 minutes after amniocentesis.
Well-being Scores Before and After Amniocentesis
Well-being is assessed using a one-item measure adapted from the Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale. Scores range from 1 to 10, with higher scores indicating greater well-being and a more positive emotional state. Scores are measured before amniocentesis and 30 minutes after the procedure and compared among the STOP-4P, control, and observational groups.
Time frame: During the waiting period before amniocentesis and 30 minutes after amniocentesis.
Pain Intensity After Amniocentesis Measured by the Visual Analog Scale
Participants rate the pain they experienced during amniocentesis using a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) ranging from 0 to 10. A score of 0 indicates no pain, and 10 indicates the worst pain imaginable. Higher scores indicate greater perceived pain. Scores will be compared among the STOP-4P, control, and observational groups.
Time frame: 30 minutes after amniocentesis
Changes in Heart Rate and Blood Pressure at Three Time Points
Heart rate is measured in beats per minute at three time points: during the waiting period before amniocentesis, when the participant gets onto the procedure table, and 30 minutes after amniocentesis. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure are measured at the same three time points, and mean arterial pressure (MAP) is calculated at each time point. For each participant, two changes are calculated separately for heart rate and blood pressure: the value when the participant gets onto the procedure table minus the value during the waiting period, and the value 30 minutes after amniocentesis minus the value during the waiting period. These changes will be compared among the STOP-4P, control, and observational groups.
Time frame: During the waiting period before amniocentesis; when the participant gets onto the procedure table; and 30 minutes after amniocentesis.
From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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