During the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing, home confinement, economic challenges, and COVID-19-related illness and deaths significantly impacted mental health in youth. In order to reduce anxiety, scientists used a neuroscience-based mindfulness intervention called Training for Awareness, Resilience, and Action (TARA) to reduce anxiety and depression in adolescents.
Scientists at UC San Francisco led by Olga Tymofiyeva, PhD, associate professor and principal investigator in the BrainChange lab, conducted an individually randomized waitlist-controlled trial (RCT) with two objectives. The first was to test the feasibility of TARA, delivered partially over Zoom. The second was to assess changes in the emotional wellbeing in healthy adolescents between the ages of 14-18 years old during the pandemic.
First, the team of investigators randomized 21 healthy adolescents to…
