An Internet-Based Intervention to Alleviate Stress During Social Isolation With Guided Relaxation and Meditation: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Background Psychophysiological stress and decreased well-being are relevant issues during prolonged social isolation periods. Relaxation practices may represent helpful exercises to cope with anxiety and stressful sensations. Objective The aim of this research protocol is to test whether remote relaxation practices such as natural sounds, deep respiration, and body scan meditation promote relaxation and improved emotional state and reduce psychomotor activation and the preoccupation related to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods The study population will consist of 3 experimental groups that will randomly receive one of 3 internet-based audio clips containing a single session of guided breathing exercise, guided body scan exercise, or natural sounds. The participants will listen to the fully automated audio clip for 7 minutes and complete pre-post self-assessment scales on their perceived relaxation, psychomotor activation, level of worry associated with COVID-19, and emotional state. At the end of the session, the participants will also be asked to provide qualitative reports on their subjective experiences. Results Analyses will be performed to test the differences in the efficacy of the different audio clips in an internet-based intervention on 252 participants (84 per group), investigating whether natural sounds or remote guided practices such as deep respiration and body scan meditation positively enhance the participants’ perceived psychological state. Conclusions The study will provide information on if and to what extent guided practices can help in reducing psychological side effects related to social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) PRR1-10.2196/19236

Worry during the initial height of the COVID-19 crisis in an Italian sample

“…This induced people to rush at shopping centers to stock up essential goods to be ready for the foreseen lockdown weeks, including surgical masks and hand sanitizing gel that quickly went out of stock. Lockdown was officially adopted on March 9, 2020 and the government issued a declaration stating which activities should stay closed until new instructions were communicated (Pizzoli, Marzorati, Mazzoni, & Pravettoni, 2020). As a consequence, many people lost their job or were put on payroll subsidies.…”

The Contagion of Sentiments during the COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis: The Case of Isolation in Spain

“…Additionally, it coincides with Thelwall et al [ 8 ] that sentiment detection in social media is challenging and can provide an interesting insight into facing the crisis, especially for those institutions with competences in this field. In any event, there are a few literature works focused on monitoring sentiments in social media [ 9 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 15 ] but not many through a health lens [ 5 , 7 ] while taking into account the usefulness of analysis in health crisis management by considering all the responsible actors.…”

“…Previous literature has addressed this issue by focusing on economic and financial crisis impacts [6] and how media content studies have been applied in health crisis management, which have been observed more from the communication point of view and more specifically through a public relations lens [1,4]. Although some authors have already pointed out that feelings expressed in online conversations can be contagious both in a positive [9,15] and a negative way [11][12][13], this work covers the gap by analyzing the public's sentiments in digital ecosystems as a health issue. The emotional reactions detected were in line with the general sentiment captured by the analysis of Thelwall et al [8] and Neubaum and Krämer [10].…”

“…Furthermore, people that who felt strong negative emotions are more likely to accept anger inducing rumors [14]; thus, reinforcing, through feedback, the emotional effects. Within this context, recent research has proposed ways to reduce the stress of the population during social isolation with promising results [15]. However, to the best of the authors' knowledge, there are no profound studies about the emotional impact produced by the COVID-19 social distancing reported in the literature.…”

Web-Based Relaxation Intervention for Stress During Social Isolation: Randomized Controlled Trial

“…The research protocol followed the CONSORT-EHEALTH (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) V1.6 Guidelines [ 22 ] and the principles stated in the Declaration of Helsinki (59th WMA General Assembly, Seoul, 2008). The research protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the first author’s university on April 30, 2020, and registered with the following International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/19236 [ 23 ].…”