Jennifer S. Mascaro, Ph.D. - US grants

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed research will use a randomized and controlled, longitudinal paradigm to assess whether a program that trains mindfulness and attention (MAT) meditation affects empathy. Novice subjects will be randomized to the meditation condition or to a control condition, and validated self-report indices of empathy, anxiety, and mindfulness will be collected before and after the intervention to assess the psychosocial outcomes of meditation. Functional neuroimaging (fMRI) of a commonly-used empathy-for-pain task will be conducted pre- and post-intervention to explore the neural changes underlying these psychosocial outcomes. An emerging neurobiological model of human empathy that proposes an affective and a cognitive component to the empathic response will be evaluated in order to assess neurological outcomes. The relationship between empathic responding and negative dispositionality will be explored by evaluating whether meditation decouples empathy from anxiety. It is hypothesized that (1.) Subjects randomized to the MAT intervention will have enhanced empathy compared to those randomized to the control condition. (2.) Subjects randomized to the MAT intervention will have increased neural activity in the anterior insula and medial prefrontal cortex during an empathy-for-pain task. (3.) Subjects randomized to the MAT condition will have a decrease in the relationship between empathy and heart rate variability (HRV), and a decrease in the relationship between neural activity in the anterior insula and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, an area linked with perceived distress. Prior to implementation of this research proposal, I will receive training in all relevant physiological and neuroimaging techniques, as well as in the theoretical bases of Buddhist contemplative philosophy and meditation. In this way, the aims of this proposal are directly related to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine's missions to rigorously explore complementary healing practices as well as to train researchers in complementary and alternative medicine. This project will have direct relevance to public health, as it will help determine whether mindfulness meditation enhances empathy, and it will elucidate the neurological changes that underlie psychosocial outcomes. These results will be widely disseminated in order to inform the diverse domains in which meditation is utilized to increase human well-being. Moreover, by investigating a technique which may increase empathy, our results may be used to enhance prosocial behavior, and may inform the treatment of psychopathologies marked by a lack of empathy, such as autism and psychopathy. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]

Project Summary: The purpose of the current proposal is to enable the PI to transition to an independent research investigator, with expertise in the implementation and evaluation of meditation in integrative oncology. The proposed training plan includes structured mentoring, hands-on training, and didactic coursework in integrative oncology research methods, pre-implementation and implementation science methods and theory, as well as a rigorous proposed research study. The proposed research leverages a well-accepted clinical service of highly trained and embedded clinicians ? hospital chaplains ? to deliver an adapted, evidence-based compassion meditation program, CBCT (Cognitively-Based Compassion Training), for blood cancer patients hospitalized for hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT). Due to chemotherapy-induced toxicity and early post-transplant complications, patients receiving HSCT experience a multitude of acute physical symptoms that negatively impact their quality of life and psychosocial well-being. Identifying and effectively implementing evidence-based interventions to improve well-being for cancer survivors in an imperative to advancing cancer care. The central tenet of this proposal is that chaplain-delivery of CBCT at the hospital bedside will reduce several significant barriers to accessing meditation, including for racial and ethnic groups and for low-income patients who typically encounter barriers to access, as well as for patients during initial diagnosis and treatment who are least likely to engage in integrative interventions. The research objective is to establish the feasibility and acceptability of CBCT delivered by hospital chaplains at the bedside during HSCT, and to evaluate changes in depression and quality of life in patients receiving CBCT. The concomitant career training will allow the PI to develop the expertise to identify novel points of entry for integrative approaches to improve well-being and quality of life during and after cancer treatment, to adapt and optimize interventions for embedded delivery, and to evaluate clinically relevant outcomes. When paired with her expertise in mind-body science and the biological bases of social connection, as well as continued hands-on training in psychoneuroimmunology and contemplative science, the PI will pursue a long-term research program to evaluate integrative approaches to well-being in the hospital. Therefore, this award would allow the PI to accomplish her goal of becoming an independent, academic research investigator, while advancing the research objective of identifying, optimizing, and evaluating a novel hospital-based approach to reduce depression and improve quality of life during cancer treatment.