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  • Brief mindfulness-based intervention of ‘STOP (Stop, Take a Breath, Observe, Proceed) touching your face’: a study protocol of a randomised controlled trial

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Brief mindfulness-based intervention of ‘STOP (Stop, Take a Breath, Observe, Proceed) touching your face’: a study protocol of a randomised controlled trial
  1. Yanhui Liao1,2,3,
  2. Ling Wang4,
  3. Tao Luo5,6,
  4. Shiyou Wu7,
  5. Zhenzhen Wu8,9,
  6. Jianhua Chen10,
  7. Chen Pan11,
  8. Yunfei Wang8,9,
  9. Yueheng Liu8,9,
  10. Qinghua Luo12,
  11. Xin Guo13,
  12. Liqin Xie14,
  13. Jun Zhou15,
  14. Wei Chen1,2,
  15. Jinsong Tang1,2
  1. 1Department of Psychiatry, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
  2. 2Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, China
  3. 3Addictions Department, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK
  4. 4Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care, King’s College London, London, UK
  5. 5Department of Social Medicine and Health Management, Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China
  6. 6The Treatment Center for Addiction, Jiangxi Mental Hospital, Nanchang, China
  7. 7Department of Psychiatry, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University, Qiannan, China
  8. 8Department of Psychiatry, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
  9. 9National Clinical Research Center on Mental Disorders, Changsha, China
  10. 10Shanghai Clinical Research Center for Mental Health, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
  11. 11Department of Clinical Psychology, The Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
  12. 12Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
  13. 13Psychiatry Department, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
  14. 14Department of Educational Affairs, Changsha Social Work College, Changsha, China
  15. 15Nursing Department, School of Medicine, Changsha Social Work College, Changsha, China
  1. Correspondence to Dr Yanhui Liao; liaoyanhui{at}zju.edu.cn

Abstract

Introduction Face-touching behaviour often happens frequently and automatically, and poses potential risk for spreading infectious disease. Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have shown its efficacy in the treatment of behaviour disorders. This study aims to evaluate an online mindfulness-based brief intervention skill named ‘STOP (Stop, Take a Breath, Observe, Proceed) touching your face’ in reducing face-touching behaviour.

Methods and analysis This will be an online-based, randomised, controlled, trial. We will recruit 1000 participants, and will randomise and allocate participants 1:1 to the ‘STOP touching your face’ (both 750-word text and 5 min audio description by online) intervention group (n=500) and the wait-list control group (n=500). All participants will be asked to monitor and record their face-touching behaviour during a 60 min period before and after the intervention. Primary outcome will be the efficacy of short-term mindfulness-based ‘STOP touching your face’ intervention for reducing the frequency of face-touching. The secondary outcomes will be percentage of participants touching their faces; the correlation between the psychological traits of mindfulness and face-touching behaviour; and the differences of face-touching behaviour between left-handers and right-handers. Analysis of covariance, regression analysis, χ2 test, t-test, Pearson’s correlations will be applied in data analysis. We will recruit 1000 participants from April to July 2020 or until the recruitment process is complete. The follow-up will be completed in July 2020. We expect all trial results to be available by the end of July 2020.

Ethics and dissemination The study protocol has been approved by the Ethics Committee of Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, an affiliate of Zhejiang University, Medical College (No. 20200401-32). Study results will be disseminated via social media and peer-reviewed publications.

Trial registration number NCT04330352.

  • education & training (see medical education & training)
  • mental health
  • public health
  • health & safety
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-041364

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors YLiao and JT developed and designed the study. YLiao, CP and QL developed STOP Practice, YLiao developed the ‘STOP touching your face’ training programme. YLiao discussed with LW and WC on the planning and conduct of the study, and discussed with YLiu and JT on the acquisition of data and the planning of data analysis. YLiao, LW, TL, SW, ZW, JC, CP, YW, LX and JZ conducted the interventions. JT and YLiu conducted data analysis. YLiao took the lead in drafting the manuscript protocol with contributions by JT and JC. QL, XG and WC advised the study design, and coordinated study approval. All authors read and proposed critical comments, as well as approved the manuscript for publication.

    • Funding The research is supported by Zhejiang University special scientific research fund for COVID-19 prevention and control (2020XGZX046), the ‘Hundred Talents Programme’ funding from Zhejiang University, and the K.C. Wong Postdoctoral Fellowship to study at King’s College London (KCL). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to write the report or to submit the paper for publication.

    • Competing interests YLiao developed the ‘STOP touching your face’ training programme.

    • Patient consent for publication Not required.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.