Study on the Impact of Well-Being Courses

University of Groningen researchers Dr. Chris May and Dr. Marieke van Vugt are conducting a study examining the effects of participation in a well-being course.

We are seeking couples for this study! One member of the couple will participate in a well-being course, while the other will serve as a control. Control participants will be provided with the means to participate in a well-being course after the study (see “Benefits” below).

Eligibility requirements

• You must be in a romantic relationship and participate in the study with your partner.
• Participants must be age 50 or younger.
• You should interact with your partner every day, on average.
• You must be proficient in English, the language of the study and well-being courses.
• You must be willing and sufficiently available to complete the requirements of the study, as detailed below.
• Neither you or your partner have had a regular (near daily) mindfulness meditation practice in the past year, a component discussed in the well-being courses detailed below.
• You do not have a mental health history which includes psychosis or schizophrenia.

Participation details

• One member of the relationship will participate in one of two randomly selected well-being courses.
  • Courses last 8-weeks, and will be offered online. Courses consist of watching short video lessons each week, and participating in 3 one-hour online discussion sessions, approximately every 2 weeks.
  • Some participants may be asked (depending on random assignment to a particular experimental condition) to practice daily exercises lasting between 15 - 20 minutes.

• Both members of the relationship will complete short questionnaires (taking approximately 5 minutes) every day for the duration of the 8-week course.
• Both members of the relationship will complete assessments both before and after the 8-week course.
• Total participation time (including assessments before the start of the course, the daily short questionnaires during the course, and assessments after the course) is approximately 10 weeks.

Benefits

• Either you or your partner will be enrolled, at no cost to you, in a professionally-led well-being course.
  • Those not in a well-being course during the study will be given access to one afterwards.
  • You may benefit from the specific skills and lessons taught in the well-being course in which you participate.
• Participants will receive €25 at the successful completion of the study.
• A subset of couples may be asked to participate in more extensive testing before and after the course. In this more extensive testing, your “brain waves” will be measured while you interact with your partner on a computer-based task.
  • If you are in one of these selected couples, both you and your partner will each receive an additional €15 per testing session (up to €30 per person).
  • You can also request to receive images of your brain waves.
• All participants will be contributing to cutting-edge scientific research on well-being!

For any questions, please email Liv Ziegfeld at l.u.ziegfeld student.rug.nl

Do this before 18 March!