An interventional study of Guided Mindfulness Meditation and Neutral Story Listening in Test Anxiety, Stress, Psychological and Cognitive Aging, sponsored by University of South Carolina. Not yet recruiting at 4 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 50 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-11-09.
Sponsored by University of South Carolina · Not applicable, Interventional, and Diagnostic
Older adults from disadvantaged backgrounds may score lower on memory and thinking tests because of test anxiety and stress, not because of true memory problems. This can lead to being wrongly diagnosed with dementia. This study will test whether a short, 15-minute guided meditation before taking a memory and thinking test helps older adults do better on the test and feel less stressed. About 60 adults age 50 and older, with lower education and income levels, will take part. Participants will be randomly assigned to either listen to a guided meditation or listen to a neutral story for 15 minutes before taking the test. The study will measure stress using heart rate, blood pressure, saliva samples, and a stress questionnaire.
This pilot study examines whether a brief mindfulness meditation intervention, administered immediately before cognitive testing, can reduce measurement bias caused by test-related anxiety in older adults from low-income, low-education backgrounds. Participants are randomized to a 15-minute guided mindfulness meditation session or a 15-minute neutral story-listening control session, both administered immediately before the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Physiological stress markers (heart rate variability, blood pressure, salivary pH) and self-reported anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) are assessed to evaluate the intervention's effect on stress. Assessments and physiological data collection are administered via a custom application developed by the study team, which standardizes test administration and scoring.
844 studies on the registry are indexed under Stress, Psychological; 136 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 60 is below the median of 84 across 688 interventional studies indexed under Stress, Psychological.
Browse Stress, Psychological studies →University of South Carolina is the lead sponsor of 197 studies on the registry; 42 are open to participants now.
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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.
Short tests of memory and thinking, each scored out of 30. Lower scores suggest more difficulty; criteria give a range, either to include people with memory problems or to leave them out.
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.
MMSE and MoCA
Short tests of memory and thinking, each scored out of 30. Lower scores suggest more difficulty; criteria give a range, either to include people with memory problems or to leave them out.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Participants complete a 15-minute guided mindfulness meditation session immediately before completing the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA).
Behavioral: Guided Mindfulness Meditation
Participants listen to a 15-minute neutral, non-mindfulness story immediately before completing the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA).
Behavioral: Neutral Story Listening
A 15-minute audio-guided mindfulness meditation session delivered via the study application, administered immediately before cognitive testing.
A 15-minute audio recording of a neutral, non-mindfulness-based story delivered via the study application, administered once immediately before cognitive testing.
Change in MoCA Total Score
Cognitive performance measured using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), ranging from 0 to 30, with higher scores indicating better cognitive performance, administered by an examiner immediately after the assigned 15-minute intervention session.
Time frame: Immediately following the 15-minute intervention session (single study visit)
Change in Heart Rate Variability
Change in heart rate variability measured continuously via the study application before and during the assigned intervention session.
Time frame: Baseline to immediately post-session
Change in Systolic Blood Pressure
Change in systolic blood pressure measured via automated cuff before and immediately after the assigned intervention session.
Time frame: Baseline to immediately post-session
Change in Salivary pH
Change in salivary pH measured via test strips before and immediately after the assigned intervention session.
Time frame: Baseline to immediately post-session
Change in State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Score
Change in self-reported state anxiety measured using the State Anxiety subscale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), a 20-item scale ranging from 20 to 80, with higher scores indicating greater state anxiety, administered at baseline and immediately after the assigned intervention session.
Time frame: Baseline to immediately post-assessment
Change in Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) Score
Change in self-reported perceived stress measured using the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), ranging from 0 to 40, with higher scores indicating greater perceived stress, administered at baseline and immediately after the assigned intervention session.
Time frame: Baseline to immediately post-assessment
Recruitment Rate
Percentage of eligible individuals screened who agree to enroll in the study.
Time frame: Up to 4 months
Retention Rate
Percentage of enrolled participants who complete their assigned study visit.
Time frame: Day 1
Intervention Adherence
Percentage of participants who complete the full 15-minute assigned intervention session (mindfulness meditation or story-listening control), as recorded by the study application
Time frame: Day 1
Participant Acceptability
Acceptability assessed via a 3-item investigator-developed measure: (1) enjoyment of the session, (2) comfort during the session, (3) perceived health benefit. Each item is rated on a 3-point scale (No / Neutral / Yes) and reported individually.
Time frame: Day 1
Task Feasibility (Participant-Reported)
Feasibility assessed via a 2-item investigator-developed measure: (1) physical ease of the seated/lying position, (2) clarity of the recorded audio instructions. Each item is rated on a 3-point scale and reported individually.
Time frame: Day 1
Plan to share: Undecided — Data sharing plans have not yet been finalized. As a pilot study with a small sample size (n=60), the investigators will determine after study completion whether de-identified individual participant data will be made available, and if so, under what conditions (e.g., data use agreement, timeframe, and mechanism of access).
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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 ↗
This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in Nov 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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