Intervention ConditionEduSocHealth2NCT07637422
Online Socio-emotional Dyad Training for Healthcare Professionals' Well-being and Social Skills, Phase II.
A study testing Empathy- and compassion-based socio-emotional mental training (EmCo) in people with Intervention Condition and Control Condition, run by Max Planck Social Neuroscience Lab at 1 site in Germany.
Trial summary
Edu:Social Health Care Project Phase II is a non-randomized waitlist-controlled trial with sequential recruitment of the intervention and waitlist control groups (nrWLC), designed to evaluate the effects of a partner-based Dyad-based empathy-compassion mental training (EmCo) intervention on healthcare professionals… Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 to 68 yearsHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Intervention Condition, Control Condition
- What is being tested?
- Empathy- and compassion-based socio-emotional mental training (EmCo)
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 666 participants
- Where
- 1 siteGermany
- Study dates
- 2 Sep 2026to 3 Apr 2027
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 to 68 years
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Between 18- and 65-years old.
- Currently practicing a healthcare profession in Germany or Austria 2a. Belongs to one of the eligible state-regulated professions with legally defined independent responsibility for patient care, including diagnosis, treatment, psychotherapy, maternity care, or the overall nursing process (e.g., physician, psychotherapist, midwife, or registered nurse).
- 2b. Regular direct contact with patients or clients as part of the professional role (3) Proficient in German. (4) Informed consent. (5) No diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder within the past two years. (6) Stable internet access and necessary technical equipment (mobile phone with internet access).
- No regular contemplative practice (≤ 50 hours total within the past six months); healthy population, non-clinical population.
Who cannot join
- Insufficient German proficiency. (9) Lack of stable internet access or required devices (mobile phone with internet access).
- No informed consent. (11) Not currently practicing the profession, or working only in administrative, research, or teaching roles without patient contact.
- 11a. Professions are excluded if their primary role is supportive, assistive, emergency transport, preventive, counseling-focused, or based on prescribed adjunct therapies rather than independent responsibility for patient care, along with non-human-related professions. This includes, for example, nursing assistants, health psychologists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, dietitians, massage therapists, paramedics (Sanitäter), and other comparable support or adjunct roles.
- 11b. No regular direct patient or client contact (12) Regular contemplative practice (> 50 hours in the past six months (e.g., dyad, mindfulness, compassion-based practices).
- Current psychiatric diagnosis or therapy, or reaching screening cutoffs on:
- Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9 ; Martin et al., 2006 ; Löwe et al., 2004 ; Cutoff ≥ 15 ; or endorsing suicidality on the item 9),
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- Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7; Löwe et al., 2007; Spitzer et al., 2006; Cutoff ≥ 15)
- Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20; Bagby et al., 1994; Ritz \& Kannapin, 2000; Cutoff ≥ 61)
- Standardized Assessment of Personality - Abbreviated Scale (SAPAS; Moran et al., 2003; Söchtig et al., 2012, Cutoff ≥ 4).
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
Germany1 site
Social Neuroscience Lab manages the Edu:Social study-based application (app)
Berlin, State of Berlin, 10557
About this study
Official title: The Edu:Social Health Care Project Phase II: Investigating the Effects of an Online Socio-emotional Dyad Intervention on Healthcare Professionals' Mental Health, Resilience, Social Competencies and Behaviors.
Edu:Social Health Care Project Phase II is a non-randomized waitlist-controlled trial with sequential recruitment of the intervention and waitlist control groups (nrWLC), designed to evaluate the effects of a partner-based Dyad-based empathy-compassion mental training (EmCo) intervention on healthcare professionals with regard to following primary outcome domains: 1) mental health, 2) resilience, 3) social cohesion and support, 4) social skills, 5) coping and emotion regulation, and 6) social behaviors.
One main goal is to examine the effects of such adapted 8-week EmCo Dyad intervention within the health care context, with a particular focus on strengthening healthcare professionals' mental health, resilience, social skills and behaviors, and social cohesion as well as fostering interprofessional attitudes by pairing every week study partners across different healthcare disciplines with each other for practicing their daily Dyads (e.g., nurses will practice daily via app with medical doctors or midwives).
Read more
A further aim is to validate the novel Dyad Voice Assessment (DYVA) task, which explores the use of app-based voice recordings as indicators of healthcare professionals' emotional states during their daily partner-based Dyad practice. By combining healthcare professionals' self-reported practice-related emotions with partner-based evaluations, this approach aims to generate new and innovate, more objective markers of training-induced changes in emotional processing and regulation over time in a real-live applied setting.
The final aim is to investigate the cognitive and affective mechanisms and factors underlying observed changes in healthcare professionals' mental health, resilience, social cohesion, social skills and social behaviors, that may explain observed training-related effects in primary outcome domains. Based on previous research, we expect the socio-emotional EmCo Dyad training to activate evolutionary old care- and affiliation-based motivational systems that foster positive affect and motivation, acceptance, trust social capacities and behavioral tendencies. These processes should go along with reduction in loneliness, stress and other mental vulnerabilities (anxiety, depression, burn-out etc.) and foster social skills such as empathy, compassion as well as social cohesion and resilience.
Read the detailed description
Healthcare professionals experience high rates of mental health difficulties, including stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression, with burnout prevalence among physicians and nurses estimated between 30% and over 50% depending on the work context and country. These challenges have intensified in recent years, partly also due to the world-wide Covid19 pandemic, with increased workload, time pressure, and exposure to emotionally demanding situations contributing to elevated psychological distress and reduced well-being. Chronic occupational stress in this population is associated not only with impaired mental health and reduced work engagement but also with decreased quality of care and increased risk of medical errors. Given these high job demands and vulnerabilities, interventions such as mindfulness- and compassion-based programs and socio-emotional training have shown promise in reducing burnout and enhancing resilience and well-being among healthcare professionals. At the same time, these interventions allow to foster social skills such as empathy, compassion and high-quality listening which are essential to healthcare professions.
In recent years, classic mindfulness-based interventions focusing on individual mental practices have been expanded to include partner-based social practices, known as Dyads, which particularly target social skills such as empathy, (self-)compassion, and social cohesion. However, despite growing research on student well-being, partner-based Dyadic interventions have not yet been systematically investigated in healthcare contexts. Available evidence suggests that Dyads may be more effective than solitary mindfulness practices in reducing loneliness and social stress, strengthening social connection and cohesion, and enhancing resilience and optimism. Moreover, findings indicate that dyadic social practices engage mechanisms that differ from those underlying traditional mindfulness-based interventions.
Empathy, (self-)compassion, and deep, high-quality listening are core socio-emotional skills in healthcare, supporting effective communication and emotional understanding when providing care for patients across medical and therapeutical domains. However, empathy can lead to empathic distress when individuals are repeatedly exposed to others' suffering, whereas compassion is considered more protective, as it relies on altruistic and care-based motivational systems associated with positive affect and regulatory processes that buffer emotional overwhelm. Despite this distinction, empathy and compassion have not yet been systematically taught in healthcare contexts in an evidence-based manner. To address this gap, the Edu:Social Health Care phase II implements the empathy-compassion Dyad training program (EmCo), which trains a variety of different healthcare professionals to distinguish between empathy (empathic listening), empathy regulation to avoid moving into empathic distress during the first four weeks, and (self)compassion and compassionate listening during the subsequent four weeks.
The EmCo program builds on the Affect Dyad developed in the ReSource project and the online Dyad 10-week intervention program with weekly online coachings and daily app-based Dyads implemented in the CovSocial project. The ReSource project demonstrated the effectiveness of partner-based dyadic mental training in inducing brain plasticity, while both the ReSource and CovSocial projects showed beneficial effects on reducing stress, enhancing psychological resilience, and strengthening social cohesion across multiple indicators of biopsychosocial health. Unlike the ReSource and CovSocial projects, the present program includes a novel empathy-versus-compassion listening component. Further, compared with earlier 10-week online Dyad programs, EmCo reduces the intervention duration to eight weeks, aligning with standard mindfulness-based interventions such as MBSR and MBCT and improving feasibility for implementation in healthcare and educational settings.
The present study is implemented as a non-randomized controlled trial in a sample of healthcare professionals (target N = 600). A multimethod assessment strategy will be used, including self-report validated trait and state questionnaires, behavioral computer tasks delivered at home through webapp, and ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methods based on push-notifications by the app. These different assessments are capturing changes across mental health, resilience, social cohesion and support, social skills, coping and emotion regulation, and social behaviors (e.g., listening, attachment behaviors).
Participants assigned to the EmCo intervention group and the non-randomized waitlist control condition (nrWLC) are recruited concurrently from the same participant pool. After providing informed consent, participants will be pre-screened via a questionnaire and an interview with the intervention trainers. The allocation to empathy-compassion training group (EmCo) or non-randomized waitlist control group (nrWLC) will be based on expressed availability and indicated preference of the participants regarding the two intervention periods for the EmCo Dyad training (option 1: one in autum 2026; option 2: one beginning of 2027) as well as on certain matching criteria, such as gender, age, PHQ-9-scores, to obtain two comparable groups.
All participants will complete a pre-test (T0) assessment phase, including baseline psychometric measures, computer-based tasks, and ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Participants in the intervention group will then attend two onboarding sessions (Onboarding I and II) and complete an 8-week program delivered via a web and smartphone application, including daily Dyad practices and weekly 1.5-hour online coaching sessions with expert mental training teachers. During this period, they will complete weekly self-reports, EMA, and daily pre-post Dyad practice ratings (DPR). The nrWLC will complete EMA and scheduled assessments during the same period. At the end of the first EmCo intervention period, all participants will complete a post-test (T1) assessment comparable to the pre-test. Following completion of the initial post-test (T1), participants in the nrWLC will start their 8-week socio-emotional Dyad intervention (EmCo). The nrWLC will complete additional post-test assessments (T2) after completion of their EmCo training.
The study constitutes Phase II of the Health Care umbrella project, extending the intervention framework previously implemented with healthcare students in Phase I (NCT07407413) to practicing healthcare professionals.
- Conditions
- Intervention Condition, Control Condition
- Being tested
- Empathy- and compassion-based socio-emotional mental training (EmCo), Non-randomized waitlist control group (nrWLC)
- Keywords
- Mental Training, Dyad training, Compassionate Listening, Empathic Listening, Empathy, Compassion, Mental-Health, Online & App-based Training, Resilience, Social Cohesion, Social Skills, AI-based Voice Assessment, Healthcare professionals
- Medical subject headings
- Psychological Well-Being, Social Skills
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Empathy- and compassion-based socio-emotional mental training (EmCo)Behavioural
- Participants engage in a structured 13-minute partner-based contemplative exercise. Each dyad reflects on two experiences from the previous 24 hours: one involving a difficult emotion and one involving gratitude. Partners take turns speaking while the other listens non-judgmentally. During weeks 1-4, the practice emphasizes empathic listening; during weeks 5-8, compassionate listening. Participants are instructed to attend to bodily sensations associated with the emotions described. The practice aims to improve coping with difficult emotions, empathic and compassionate listening, (self)acceptance, compassion, gratitude, resilience.
- Participants also attend eight 1.5-hour online group sessions led by Expert Dyad teachers. The coaching sessions help deepen the Dyad practice and educate participants about body language, coping better with difficult emotions/stress, the benefits of empathy versus compassion and the act of listening from a mindset of empathy versus compassion.
Non-randomized waitlist control group (nrWLC)Other
Participants in the control group will not receive the intervention. They will complete pre- and post-test procedures consisting primarily of self-report questionnaires, and behavioral tasks, as well as ecological momentary assessment (EMA) conducted on four days within two weeks at pre-test and post-test 1 \& 2.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Empathy- and compassion-based socio-emotional mental training (EmCo) | Experimental | EmCo includes onboarding sessions, weekly coaching, and daily Dyad practice over 8 weeks. Receives: Behavioral: Empathy- and compassion-based socio-emotional mental training (EmCo) |
| Non-randomised waitlist control group (nrWLC) | Other | Initially, participants in the non-randomised waitlist control group will not receive the intervention and will be offered the EmCo training only after the intervention group has completed the EmCo training program. Receives: Other: Non-randomized waitlist control group (nrWLC) |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21)
A scale measuring depression, anxiety, and stress (Henry \& Crawford, 2005; Nilges \& Essau, 2021). Higher scores indicate more depression, anxiety, and stress
Measured: Assessed at baseline (pre-test) and after the 8-week intervention period (post-test 1 & 2)
Maslach burnout inventory-human services survey (MBI-HSS)
A scale measuring burnout (Maslach, 1996). Higher scores indicate more burnout.
Measured: Assessed at baseline (pre-test) and after the 8-week intervention period (post-test 1 & 2)
UCLA Loneliness Scale (UCLA)
A scale measuring loneliness severity (Döring \& Bortz, 1993; Russell et al., 1980). Higher scores indicate more loneliness.
Measured: Assessed at baseline (pre-test) and after the 8-week intervention period (post-test 1 & 2)
Connor Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC)
A scale measuring psychological resilience (Connor \& Davidson, 2003; Sarubin et al., 2015). Higher scores indicate more resilience.
Measured: Assessed at baseline (pre-test) and after the 8-week intervention period (post-test 1 & 2)
Social closeness (IOS per profession)
A scale measuring the felt closeness between persons or groups/communities using a visual representation (Aron et al., 1992; Kinnunen \& Windmann, 2013). Higher score indicates more social closeness.
Measured: Assessed at baseline (pre-test) and after the 8-week intervention period (post-test 1 & 2)
Interprofessionalism Scale (IPAS-D)
A scale (Norris et al., 2015; Pedersen et al., 2020) measuring attitudes that relate to the Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice (IPEC Report, 2011). Higher scores indicate more positive attitudes toward collaborative practice.
Measured: Assessed at baseline (pre-test) and after the 8-week intervention period (post-test 1 & 2)
Social Support Scale (F-SozU K-6)
A scale measuring the subjective feeling of having support available (Kliem et al., 2015). Higher scores indicate greater perceived social support.
Measured: Assessed at baseline (pre-test) and after the 8-week intervention period (post-test 1 & 2)
Socio-Affective Video Task (SoVT)
This task assesses behavioral empathy and compassion using emotional video clips (Klimecki et al., 2014). Higher scores indicate more empathy or more compassion.
Measured: Assessed at baseline (pre-test), after 4 weeks of empathic listening training (mid-intervention) and after the 4 weeks of compassionate listening training (post-test 1 & 2)
Sussex-Oxford Compassion Scale for Self and Others (SOCS)
A scale measuring self-compassion (SOCS-S) and compassion for others (SOCS-O; Gu et al., 2020). Higher scores indicate more compassion.
Measured: Assessed at baseline (pre-test), after 4 weeks of empathic listening training (mid-intervention) and after the 4 weeks of compassionate listening training (post-test 1 & 2)
Mentalization Scale (MENTS)
A scale measuring the capacity of envisioning one's and others' behaviors with reference to the underlying mental states (Dimitrijević et al., 2018). Higher scores suggesting a more sophisticated capacity for mentalizing.
Measured: Assessed at baseline (pre-test) and after the 8-week intervention period (post-test 1 & 2)
Prosodic Feature Pitch
Acoustic assessment of the prosodic speech feature pitch (measured in Hz) during participants' daily Dyad practice, analyzed using audEERING devAIce software.
Measured: Assessed weekly from week 1 to week 8, as part of the Dyad Voice Assessment (DYVA)
Prosodic Feature Loudness
Acoustic assessment of the prosodic speech feature loudness (unitless) during participants' daily Dyad practice, analyzed using audEERING devAIce software.
Measured: Assessed weekly from week 1 to week 8, as part of the Dyad Voice Assessment (DYVA)
Prosodic Feature Speaking Rate
Acoustic assessment of the prosodic speech feature speaking rate (measured in syllables per minute) during participants' daily Dyad practice, analyzed using audEERING devAIce software.
Measured: Assessed weekly from week 1 to week 8, as part of the Dyad Voice Assessment (DYVA)
Prosodic Feature Intonation
Acoustic assessment of the prosodic speech feature intonation (unitless) during participants' daily Dyad practice, analyzed using audEERING devAIce software.
Measured: Assessed weekly from week 1 to week 8, as part of the Dyad Voice Assessment (DYVA)
Affect Dimensions of Vocalized Emotional Expressions
Assessment of continuous affective dimensions of vocalized emotional expressions during participants' daily Dyad practice using audEERING devAIce software. The following parameters will be assessed: arousal, valence, and dominance (each ranging from -1 to 1). Based on arousal-valence scores, the following affect-quadrant values will be calculated: high-arousal-high-valence; low-arousal-high-valence; low-arousal-low-valence; and high-arousal-low valence.
Measured: Assessed weekly from week 1 to week 8, as part of the Dyad Voice Assessment (DYVA)
Affect Categories of Vocalized Emotional Expressions
Classification of vocalized emotional expressions intro affect categories during participants' daily Dyad practice, analyzed using audEERING devAIce software. The following parameters will be assessed: angry, happy, and sad, expressed as unitless values ranging from 0 to 1 representing category likelihood.
Measured: Assessed weekly from week 1 to week 8, as part of the Dyad Voice Assessment (DYVA)
Stress intensity
Custom items based on the Stress Appraisal Measure (SAM; Delahaye et al., 2015; Peacock \& Wong, 1990) measuring stress intensity. Higher scores indicate more intense stress.
Measured: Assessed using an EMA design with five push-notification measurements per day, distributed across five 3-hour intervals, on four days within a two-week period, at pre-test (Baseline) and after the 8-week intervention period (post-intervention).
Coping strategies
Custom items based on the Brief-COPE (Carver, 1997; Knoll et al., 2005) and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ; Garnefski et al., 2001; Loch et al., 2011) measuring Coping Strategies (Acceptance, Positive Reinterpretation, Social Support, Rumination, Self-Blame, Distraction). Higher scores indicate a higher use of the specified coping strategies.
Measured: Assessed using an EMA design with five push-notification measurements per day, distributed across five 3-hour intervals, on four days within a two-week period, at pre-test (Baseline) and after the 8-week intervention period (post-intervention).
Active Empathic Listening Scale (AELS)
A scale measuring active empathic listening (Bodie, 2011). Higher scores indicate more active empathic listening.
Measured: Assessed at baseline (pre-test), after 4 weeks of empathic listening training (mid-intervention) and after the 4 weeks of compassionate listening training (post-test 1 & 2)
Attachment behavior (ASQ)
A self-report questionnaire measuring attachment-related behaviors in interpersonal relationships, including proximity seeking, avoidance, and security (Hexel, 2004). Higher scores indicate more pronounced attachment-related behaviors.
Measured: Assessed at baseline (pre-test) and after the 8-week intervention period (post-test 1 & 2)
Secondary outcomes (20)
Positive Affect (Affect Grid) (explanatory mechanism)
Assessment of emotional state (valence) and arousal (Russell et al., 1989). Higher scores on valence and arousal indicate more positive affect and higher arousal.
Measured: Assessed weekly during the course of 8 weeks of intervention
Emotion Acceptance (EAQ) (explanatory mechanism)
A self-report questionnaire measuring emotional awareness, and acceptance of emotions (Beblo et al., 2011; Kisley et al., 2025).
Measured: Assessed weekly during the course of 8 weeks
Gratitude Questionnaire-6 (GQ-5-G) (explanatory mechanism)
A scale measuring gratitude (Hudecek et al., 2021; McCullough et al., 2002). Higher scores indicate more gratitude.
Measured: Assessed weekly during the course of 8 weeks
Self-Kindness Scale (SCS-SF) (explanatory mechanism)
A self-report questionnaire measuring self-kindness and compassionate attitudes toward oneself (Hupfeld \& Ruffieux, 2011; Raes et al., 2011). Higher scores indicate greater self-kindness.
Measured: Assessed weekly during the course of 8 weeks
Positive Interpretation Bias (ERT) (explanatory mechanism)
This task assesses the tendency to judge persons' facial expressions more positively using morphed sequences of facial expressions (DeBruine \& Jones, 2017; Griffiths et al., 2015). Higher scores indicate a stronger positive interpretation bias.
Measured: Assessed at baseline (pre-test) and after the 8-week intervention period (post-test 1 & 2)
Weekly-Mentalizing items (explanatory mechanism)
Two study-based items measuring the capacity to understand one's own and others' mental states (Dimitrijević et al., 2018). Higher scores indicate greater mentalizing ability.
Measured: Assessed thrice a week during the course of 8 weeks
Short Loneliness Scale (SLS) (explanatory mechanism)
A short scale measuring frequency, intensity, and duration of loneliness (Hughes et al., 2004; Qualter et al., 2021). Higher scores indicate more loneliness.
Measured: Assessed weekly during the course of 8 weeks
Perceived Stress (PSS-10) (explanatory mechanism)
A self-report questionnaire measuring the degree to which situations in one's life are appraised as stressful (Cohen et al., 1983; Klein et al., 2016). Higher scores indicate greater perceived stress.
Measured: Assessed weekly during the course of 8 weeks
Depression (PHQ-2) (explanatory mechanism)
A brief self-report screening measure assessing core depressive symptoms, including depressed mood and anhedonia (Kroenke et al., 2003). Higher scores indicate greater depressive symptom severity.
Measured: Assessed weekly during the course of 8 weeks
Empathic Concern & Distress (IRI) (explanatory mechanism)
A scale measuring different facets of social emotions, including personal distress and empathic concern (Davis, 1980; Paulus, 2009). Higher scores indicate higher personal distress or empathic concern.
Measured: Assessed weekly during the course of 8 weeks
Trust (KUSIV3) (explanatory mechanism)
A self-report questionnaire measuring generalized interpersonal trust, including trust in others' reliability and integrity (Beierlein et al., 2012). Higher scores indicate greater interpersonal trust.
Measured: Assessed weekly during the course of 8 weeks
In-group-Out-group bias (ERT) (explanatory mechanism)
This task assesses the tendency to judge persons from one's own group to be more positive in facial emotion recognition using morphed sequences of facial expressions (DeBruine \& Jones, 2017; Griffiths et al., 2015). Higher scores indicate a stronger in-group-out-group bias.
Measured: Assessed at baseline (pre-test) and after the 8-week intervention period (post-test 1 & 2)
Coping strategies (explanatory mechanism)
Custom items based on the Brief-COPE (Carver, 1997; Knoll et al., 2005) and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ; Garnefski et al., 2001; Loch et al., 2011) measuring Coping Strategies (Acceptance, Positive Reinterpretation, Social Support, Rumination, Self-Blame, Distraction). Higher scores indicate a higher use of the specified coping strategies.
Measured: Assessed weekly during the course of 8 weeks
DPR-Affect (Affect Grid; explanatory mechanism)
Assessment of emotional state (valence) and arousal (Russell et al., 1989) just before starting the Dyad. Higher scores on valence and arousal indicate more positive affect and higher arousal.
Measured: Assessed for 8 weeks during intervention period, before the daily exercise
Dyad closeness - Inclusion of Other in Self Scale (explanatory mechanism)
Assessment of how close participants felt to their Dyad partner (post-Dyad exercise). Higher scores indicate more closeness (Aron et al., 1992; Kinnunen \& Windmann, 2013)
Measured: Assessed for 8 weeks during intervention period, only in the intervention group, after the daily exercise
DPR-involvement (explanatory mechanism)
Assessment of listening involvement (1 custom item; only post-Dyad exercise). Higher scores indicate more listening involvement.
Measured: Assessed for 8 weeks during intervention period, only in the intervention group, after the daily exercise
Dyad listening quality (DPR- listening-quality)
Custom items (self-generated) measuring the quality of listening to the Dyad partner. Higher scores indicate a higher degree of active, attentive listening.
Measured: Assessed weekly from week 1 to week 8, after the Dyad practice
Dyad empathic and compassionate listening skills (DPR-listening-skills)
Custom items (self-generated) measuring the self-rated skill of listening empathically and compassionately to the Dyad partner's telling of the difficult situation and the event that they are grateful for. Higher scores indicate a higher degree of empathic or compassionate listening respectively.
Measured: Assessed weekly from week 1 to week 8, after the Dyad practice
DPR-Emotions
Emotion intensities (of e.g., happiness, gratitude, sadness, anger) rated by the speaker and by the listener of a Dyad directly after the Dyad.
Measured: Assessed weekly from week 1 to week 8, as part of the Dyad Voice Assessment (DYVA)
DPR-Listening-Affect
Custom items (self-generated) measuring the self-rated affective state during listening to the Dyad partner's telling of the difficult situation and the event that they are grateful for. Higher scores indicate a more positive affect.
Measured: Assessed weekly from week 1 to week 8, after the Dyad practice
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted9 Jun 2026
- Study start2 Sep 2026
- Primary completion20 Dec 2026 (estimated)
- Study completion3 Apr 2027 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Intervention ConditionStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Basic science
- Allocation
- Non-randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Model description
- The study constitutes Phase II of the Health Care umbrella project, extending the intervention framework previously implemented with healthcare students in Phase I (NCT07407413) to practicing healthcare professionals.
- Masking
- Double blind
- Who is masked
- Investigator, Outcomes assessor
- Enrolment
- 666 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Max Planck Social Neuroscience Lab
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
- Investigators
- Tania Singer, Prof. Dr., Principal investigator, Social Neuroscience Lab, Max Planck SocietyPatrick Kutschar, Ass. - Prof. Dr., Principal investigator, Paracelsus Medizinische Privatuniversität (PMU)Beate Priewasser, Dr., Principal investigator, Paracelsus Medizinische Privatuniversität (PMU)Antonia Dinzinger, Dr., Principal investigator, Paracelsus Medizinische Privatuniversität (PMU)Philipp Beuchel, Dr., Principal investigator, Social Neuroscience Lab, Max Planck SocietyAnanda Zeas-Sigüenza, Dr., Principal investigator, Social Neuroscience Lab, Max Planck Society
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07637422
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- Edu:Social HealthCare Project2
- Acronym
- EduSocHealth2
- Status last verified
- May 2026
- First submitted
- 26 May 2026
- Last updated
- 15 Sep 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 15 Sep 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- The Edu:Social Health Care Project Phase II: Investigating the Effects of an Online Socio-emotional Dyad Intervention on Healthcare Professionals' Mental Health, Resilience, Social Competencies and Behaviors.
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07637422
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- EduSocHealth2 / Edu:Social HealthCare Project2
- Conditions
- Intervention Condition, Control Condition
- Keywords
- Mental Training, Dyad training, Compassionate Listening, Empathic Listening, Empathy, Compassion, Mental-Health, Online & App-based Training
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Enrolling by invitation
- Enrolment
- 666 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- Max Planck Social Neuroscience LabUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 2 Sep 2026 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 20 Dec 2026 (estimated)
- Study completion
- 3 Apr 2027 (estimated)
- First posted
- 9 Jun 2026 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
Edu:Social Health Care Project Phase II is a non-randomized waitlist-controlled trial with sequential recruitment of the intervention and waitlist control groups (nrWLC), designed to evaluate the effects of a partner-based Dyad-based empathy-compassion mental training (EmCo) intervention on healthcare professionals with regard to following primary outcome domains: 1) mental health, 2) resilience, 3) social cohesion and support, 4) social skills, 5) coping and emotion regulation, and 6) social behaviors.
One main goal is to examine the effects of such adapted 8-week EmCo Dyad intervention within the health care context, with a particular focus on strengthening healthcare professionals' mental health, resilience, social skills and behaviors, and social cohesion as well as fostering interprofessional attitudes by pairing every week study partners across different healthcare disciplines with each other for practicing their daily Dyads (e.g., nurses will practice daily via app with medical doctors or midwives).
A further aim is to validate the novel Dyad Voice Assessment (DYVA) task, which explores the use of app-based voice recordings as indicators of healthcare professionals' emotional states during their daily partner-based Dyad practice. By combining healthcare professionals' self-reported practice-related emotions with partner-based evaluations, this approach aims to generate new and innovate, more objective markers of training-induced changes in emotional processing and regulation over time in a real-live applied setting.
The final aim is to investigate the cognitive and affective mechanisms and factors underlying observed changes in healthcare professionals' mental health, resilience, social cohesion, social skills and social behaviors, that may explain observed training-related effects in primary outcome domains. Based on previous research, we expect the socio-emotional EmCo Dyad training to activate evolutionary old care- and affiliation-based motivational systems that foster positive affect and motivation, acceptance, trust social capacities and behavioral tendencies. These processes should go along with reduction in loneliness, stress and other mental vulnerabilities (anxiety, depression, burn-out etc.) and foster social skills such as empathy, compassion as well as social cohesion and resilience.
Detailed description
Healthcare professionals experience high rates of mental health difficulties, including stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression, with burnout prevalence among physicians and nurses estimated between 30% and over 50% depending on the work context and country. These challenges have intensified in recent years, partly also due to the world-wide Covid19 pandemic, with increased workload, time pressure, and exposure to emotionally demanding situations contributing to elevated psychological distress and reduced well-being. Chronic occupational stress in this population is associated not only with impaired mental health and reduced work engagement but also with decreased quality of care and increased risk of medical errors. Given these high job demands and vulnerabilities, interventions such as mindfulness- and compassion-based programs and socio-emotional training have shown promise in reducing burnout and enhancing resilience and well-being among healthcare professionals. At the same time, these interventions allow to foster social skills such as empathy, compassion and high-quality listening which are essential to healthcare professions.
In recent years, classic mindfulness-based interventions focusing on individual mental practices have been expanded to include partner-based social practices, known as Dyads, which particularly target social skills such as empathy, (self-)compassion, and social cohesion. However, despite growing research on student well-being, partner-based Dyadic interventions have not yet been systematically investigated in healthcare contexts. Available evidence suggests that Dyads may be more effective than solitary mindfulness practices in reducing loneliness and social stress, strengthening social connection and cohesion, and enhancing resilience and optimism. Moreover, findings indicate that dyadic social practices engage mechanisms that differ from those underlying traditional mindfulness-based interventions.
Empathy, (self-)compassion, and deep, high-quality listening are core socio-emotional skills in healthcare, supporting effective communication and emotional understanding when providing care for patients across medical and therapeutical domains. However, empathy can lead to empathic distress when individuals are repeatedly exposed to others' suffering, whereas compassion is considered more protective, as it relies on altruistic and care-based motivational systems associated with positive affect and regulatory processes that buffer emotional overwhelm. Despite this distinction, empathy and compassion have not yet been systematically taught in healthcare contexts in an evidence-based manner. To address this gap, the Edu:Social Health Care phase II implements the empathy-compassion Dyad training program (EmCo), which trains a variety of different healthcare professionals to distinguish between empathy (empathic listening), empathy regulation to avoid moving into empathic distress during the first four weeks, and (self)compassion and compassionate listening during the subsequent four weeks.
The EmCo program builds on the Affect Dyad developed in the ReSource project and the online Dyad 10-week intervention program with weekly online coachings and daily app-based Dyads implemented in the CovSocial project. The ReSource project demonstrated the effectiveness of partner-based dyadic mental training in inducing brain plasticity, while both the ReSource and CovSocial projects showed beneficial effects on reducing stress, enhancing psychological resilience, and strengthening social cohesion across multiple indicators of biopsychosocial health. Unlike the ReSource and CovSocial projects, the present program includes a novel empathy-versus-compassion listening component. Further, compared with earlier 10-week online Dyad programs, EmCo reduces the intervention duration to eight weeks, aligning with standard mindfulness-based interventions such as MBSR and MBCT and improving feasibility for implementation in healthcare and educational settings.
The present study is implemented as a non-randomized controlled trial in a sample of healthcare professionals (target N = 600). A multimethod assessment strategy will be used, including self-report validated trait and state questionnaires, behavioral computer tasks delivered at home through webapp, and ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methods based on push-notifications by the app. These different assessments are capturing changes across mental health, resilience, social cohesion and support, social skills, coping and emotion regulation, and social behaviors (e.g., listening, attachment behaviors).
Participants assigned to the EmCo intervention group and the non-randomized waitlist control condition (nrWLC) are recruited concurrently from the same participant pool. After providing informed consent, participants will be pre-screened via a questionnaire and an interview with the intervention trainers. The allocation to empathy-compassion training group (EmCo) or non-randomized waitlist control group (nrWLC) will be based on expressed availability and indicated preference of the participants regarding the two intervention periods for the EmCo Dyad training (option 1: one in autum 2026; option 2: one beginning of 2027) as well as on certain matching criteria, such as gender, age, PHQ-9-scores, to obtain two comparable groups.
All participants will complete a pre-test (T0) assessment phase, including baseline psychometric measures, computer-based tasks, and ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Participants in the intervention group will then attend two onboarding sessions (Onboarding I and II) and complete an 8-week program delivered via a web and smartphone application, including daily Dyad practices and weekly 1.5-hour online coaching sessions with expert mental training teachers. During this period, they will complete weekly self-reports, EMA, and daily pre-post Dyad practice ratings (DPR). The nrWLC will complete EMA and scheduled assessments during the same period. At the end of the first EmCo intervention period, all participants will complete a post-test (T1) assessment comparable to the pre-test. Following completion of the initial post-test (T1), participants in the nrWLC will start their 8-week socio-emotional Dyad intervention (EmCo). The nrWLC will complete additional post-test assessments (T2) after completion of their EmCo training.
The study constitutes Phase II of the Health Care umbrella project, extending the intervention framework previously implemented with healthcare students in Phase I (NCT07407413) to practicing healthcare professionals.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Basic science
- Allocation
- Non-randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Double blind (investigator, outcomes assessor)
- Number of arms
- 2
- Model description
- The study constitutes Phase II of the Health Care umbrella project, extending the intervention framework previously implemented with healthcare students in Phase I (NCT07407413) to practicing healthcare professionals.
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Empathy- and compassion-based socio-emotional mental training (EmCo) | Experimental | Behavioral: Empathy- and compassion-based socio-emotional mental training (EmCo)EmCo includes onboarding sessions, weekly coaching, and daily Dyad practice over 8 weeks. |
| Non-randomised waitlist control group (nrWLC) | Other | Other: Non-randomized waitlist control group (nrWLC)Initially, participants in the non-randomised waitlist control group will not receive the intervention and will be offered the EmCo training only after the intervention group has completed the EmCo training program. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 to 68 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (4 listed)
- Between 18- and 65-years old.
- Currently practicing a healthcare profession in Germany or Austria 2a. Belongs to one of the eligible state-regulated professions with legally defined independent responsibility for patient care, including diagnosis, treatment, psychotherapy, maternity care, or the overall nursing process (e.g., physician, psychotherapist, midwife, or registered nurse).
- 2b. Regular direct contact with patients or clients as part of the professional role (3) Proficient in German. (4) Informed consent. (5) No diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder within the past two years. (6) Stable internet access and necessary technical equipment (mobile phone with internet access).
- No regular contemplative practice (≤ 50 hours total within the past six months); healthy population, non-clinical population.
Key exclusion criteria (9 listed)
- Insufficient German proficiency. (9) Lack of stable internet access or required devices (mobile phone with internet access).
- No informed consent. (11) Not currently practicing the profession, or working only in administrative, research, or teaching roles without patient contact.
- 11a. Professions are excluded if their primary role is supportive, assistive, emergency transport, preventive, counseling-focused, or based on prescribed adjunct therapies rather than independent responsibility for patient care, along with non-human-related professions. This includes, for example, nursing assistants, health psychologists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, dietitians, massage therapists, paramedics (Sanitäter), and other comparable support or adjunct roles.
- 11b. No regular direct patient or client contact (12) Regular contemplative practice (> 50 hours in the past six months (e.g., dyad, mindfulness, compassion-based practices).
- Current psychiatric diagnosis or therapy, or reaching screening cutoffs on:
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Empathy- and compassion-based socio-emotional mental training (EmCo)1. Participants engage in a structured 13-minute partner-based contemplative exercise. Each dyad reflects on two experiences from the previous 24 hours: one involving a difficult emotion and one involving gratitude. Partners take turns speaking while the other listens non-judgmentally. During weeks 1-4, the practice emphasizes empathic listening; during weeks 5-8, compassionate listening. Participants are instructed to attend to bodily sensations associated with the emotions described. The practice aims to improve coping with difficult emotions, empathic and compassionate listening, (self)acceptance, compassion, gratitude, resilience. 2. Participants also attend eight 1.5-hour online group sessions led by Expert Dyad teachers. The coaching sessions help deepen the Dyad practice and educate participants about body language, coping better with difficult emotions/stress, the benefits of empathy versus compassion and the act of listening from a mindset of empathy versus compassion. | Behavioural | Empathy- and compassion-based socio-emotional mental training (EmCo) |
| Non-randomized waitlist control group (nrWLC)Participants in the control group will not receive the intervention. They will complete pre- and post-test procedures consisting primarily of self-report questionnaires, and behavioral tasks, as well as ecological momentary assessment (EMA) conducted on four days within two weeks at pre-test and post-test 1 \& 2. | Other | Non-randomised waitlist control group (nrWLC) |
Primary outcome
Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21)
Time frame: Assessed at baseline (pre-test) and after the 8-week intervention period (post-test 1 & 2)
A scale measuring depression, anxiety, and stress (Henry \& Crawford, 2005; Nilges \& Essau, 2021). Higher scores indicate more depression, anxiety, and stress
Maslach burnout inventory-human services survey (MBI-HSS)
Time frame: Assessed at baseline (pre-test) and after the 8-week intervention period (post-test 1 & 2)
A scale measuring burnout (Maslach, 1996). Higher scores indicate more burnout.
UCLA Loneliness Scale (UCLA)
Time frame: Assessed at baseline (pre-test) and after the 8-week intervention period (post-test 1 & 2)
A scale measuring loneliness severity (Döring \& Bortz, 1993; Russell et al., 1980). Higher scores indicate more loneliness.
Connor Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC)
Time frame: Assessed at baseline (pre-test) and after the 8-week intervention period (post-test 1 & 2)
A scale measuring psychological resilience (Connor \& Davidson, 2003; Sarubin et al., 2015). Higher scores indicate more resilience.
Social closeness (IOS per profession)
Time frame: Assessed at baseline (pre-test) and after the 8-week intervention period (post-test 1 & 2)
A scale measuring the felt closeness between persons or groups/communities using a visual representation (Aron et al., 1992; Kinnunen \& Windmann, 2013). Higher score indicates more social closeness.
Interprofessionalism Scale (IPAS-D)
Time frame: Assessed at baseline (pre-test) and after the 8-week intervention period (post-test 1 & 2)
A scale (Norris et al., 2015; Pedersen et al., 2020) measuring attitudes that relate to the Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice (IPEC Report, 2011). Higher scores indicate more positive attitudes toward collaborative practice.
Social Support Scale (F-SozU K-6)
Time frame: Assessed at baseline (pre-test) and after the 8-week intervention period (post-test 1 & 2)
A scale measuring the subjective feeling of having support available (Kliem et al., 2015). Higher scores indicate greater perceived social support.
Socio-Affective Video Task (SoVT)
Time frame: Assessed at baseline (pre-test), after 4 weeks of empathic listening training (mid-intervention) and after the 4 weeks of compassionate listening training (post-test 1 & 2)
This task assesses behavioral empathy and compassion using emotional video clips (Klimecki et al., 2014). Higher scores indicate more empathy or more compassion.
Sussex-Oxford Compassion Scale for Self and Others (SOCS)
Time frame: Assessed at baseline (pre-test), after 4 weeks of empathic listening training (mid-intervention) and after the 4 weeks of compassionate listening training (post-test 1 & 2)
A scale measuring self-compassion (SOCS-S) and compassion for others (SOCS-O; Gu et al., 2020). Higher scores indicate more compassion.
Mentalization Scale (MENTS)
Time frame: Assessed at baseline (pre-test) and after the 8-week intervention period (post-test 1 & 2)
A scale measuring the capacity of envisioning one's and others' behaviors with reference to the underlying mental states (Dimitrijević et al., 2018). Higher scores suggesting a more sophisticated capacity for mentalizing.
Prosodic Feature Pitch
Time frame: Assessed weekly from week 1 to week 8, as part of the Dyad Voice Assessment (DYVA)
Acoustic assessment of the prosodic speech feature pitch (measured in Hz) during participants' daily Dyad practice, analyzed using audEERING devAIce software.
Prosodic Feature Loudness
Time frame: Assessed weekly from week 1 to week 8, as part of the Dyad Voice Assessment (DYVA)
Acoustic assessment of the prosodic speech feature loudness (unitless) during participants' daily Dyad practice, analyzed using audEERING devAIce software.
Prosodic Feature Speaking Rate
Time frame: Assessed weekly from week 1 to week 8, as part of the Dyad Voice Assessment (DYVA)
Acoustic assessment of the prosodic speech feature speaking rate (measured in syllables per minute) during participants' daily Dyad practice, analyzed using audEERING devAIce software.
Prosodic Feature Intonation
Time frame: Assessed weekly from week 1 to week 8, as part of the Dyad Voice Assessment (DYVA)
Acoustic assessment of the prosodic speech feature intonation (unitless) during participants' daily Dyad practice, analyzed using audEERING devAIce software.
Affect Dimensions of Vocalized Emotional Expressions
Time frame: Assessed weekly from week 1 to week 8, as part of the Dyad Voice Assessment (DYVA)
Assessment of continuous affective dimensions of vocalized emotional expressions during participants' daily Dyad practice using audEERING devAIce software. The following parameters will be assessed: arousal, valence, and dominance (each ranging from -1 to 1). Based on arousal-valence scores, the following affect-quadrant values will be calculated: high-arousal-high-valence; low-arousal-high-valence; low-arousal-low-valence; and high-arousal-low valence.
Affect Categories of Vocalized Emotional Expressions
Time frame: Assessed weekly from week 1 to week 8, as part of the Dyad Voice Assessment (DYVA)
Classification of vocalized emotional expressions intro affect categories during participants' daily Dyad practice, analyzed using audEERING devAIce software. The following parameters will be assessed: angry, happy, and sad, expressed as unitless values ranging from 0 to 1 representing category likelihood.
Stress intensity
Time frame: Assessed using an EMA design with five push-notification measurements per day, distributed across five 3-hour intervals, on four days within a two-week period, at pre-test (Baseline) and after the 8-week intervention period (post-intervention).
Custom items based on the Stress Appraisal Measure (SAM; Delahaye et al., 2015; Peacock \& Wong, 1990) measuring stress intensity. Higher scores indicate more intense stress.
Coping strategies
Time frame: Assessed using an EMA design with five push-notification measurements per day, distributed across five 3-hour intervals, on four days within a two-week period, at pre-test (Baseline) and after the 8-week intervention period (post-intervention).
Custom items based on the Brief-COPE (Carver, 1997; Knoll et al., 2005) and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ; Garnefski et al., 2001; Loch et al., 2011) measuring Coping Strategies (Acceptance, Positive Reinterpretation, Social Support, Rumination, Self-Blame, Distraction). Higher scores indicate a higher use of the specified coping strategies.
Active Empathic Listening Scale (AELS)
Time frame: Assessed at baseline (pre-test), after 4 weeks of empathic listening training (mid-intervention) and after the 4 weeks of compassionate listening training (post-test 1 & 2)
A scale measuring active empathic listening (Bodie, 2011). Higher scores indicate more active empathic listening.
Attachment behavior (ASQ)
Time frame: Assessed at baseline (pre-test) and after the 8-week intervention period (post-test 1 & 2)
A self-report questionnaire measuring attachment-related behaviors in interpersonal relationships, including proximity seeking, avoidance, and security (Hexel, 2004). Higher scores indicate more pronounced attachment-related behaviors.
20 secondary outcomes
Positive Affect (Affect Grid) (explanatory mechanism)
Time frame: Assessed weekly during the course of 8 weeks of intervention
Emotion Acceptance (EAQ) (explanatory mechanism)
Time frame: Assessed weekly during the course of 8 weeks
Gratitude Questionnaire-6 (GQ-5-G) (explanatory mechanism)
Time frame: Assessed weekly during the course of 8 weeks
Self-Kindness Scale (SCS-SF) (explanatory mechanism)
Time frame: Assessed weekly during the course of 8 weeks
Positive Interpretation Bias (ERT) (explanatory mechanism)
Time frame: Assessed at baseline (pre-test) and after the 8-week intervention period (post-test 1 & 2)
Weekly-Mentalizing items (explanatory mechanism)
Time frame: Assessed thrice a week during the course of 8 weeks
Short Loneliness Scale (SLS) (explanatory mechanism)
Time frame: Assessed weekly during the course of 8 weeks
Perceived Stress (PSS-10) (explanatory mechanism)
Time frame: Assessed weekly during the course of 8 weeks
Depression (PHQ-2) (explanatory mechanism)
Time frame: Assessed weekly during the course of 8 weeks
Empathic Concern & Distress (IRI) (explanatory mechanism)
Time frame: Assessed weekly during the course of 8 weeks
Trust (KUSIV3) (explanatory mechanism)
Time frame: Assessed weekly during the course of 8 weeks
In-group-Out-group bias (ERT) (explanatory mechanism)
Time frame: Assessed at baseline (pre-test) and after the 8-week intervention period (post-test 1 & 2)
Coping strategies (explanatory mechanism)
Time frame: Assessed weekly during the course of 8 weeks
DPR-Affect (Affect Grid; explanatory mechanism)
Time frame: Assessed for 8 weeks during intervention period, before the daily exercise
Dyad closeness - Inclusion of Other in Self Scale (explanatory mechanism)
Time frame: Assessed for 8 weeks during intervention period, only in the intervention group, after the daily exercise
DPR-involvement (explanatory mechanism)
Time frame: Assessed for 8 weeks during intervention period, only in the intervention group, after the daily exercise
Dyad listening quality (DPR- listening-quality)
Time frame: Assessed weekly from week 1 to week 8, after the Dyad practice
Dyad empathic and compassionate listening skills (DPR-listening-skills)
Time frame: Assessed weekly from week 1 to week 8, after the Dyad practice
DPR-Emotions
Time frame: Assessed weekly from week 1 to week 8, as part of the Dyad Voice Assessment (DYVA)
DPR-Listening-Affect
Time frame: Assessed weekly from week 1 to week 8, after the Dyad practice
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 15 Sep 2026.
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part.
Tania Singer, Prof. Dr. principal investigator
Social Neuroscience Lab, Max Planck Society
Patrick Kutschar, Ass. - Prof. Dr. principal investigator
Paracelsus Medizinische Privatuniversität (PMU)
Beate Priewasser, Dr. principal investigator
Paracelsus Medizinische Privatuniversität (PMU)
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Empathy- and compassion-based socio-emotional mental training (EmCo) in people with Intervention Condition and Control Condition, run by Max Planck Social Neuroscience Lab at 1 site in Germany.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 4 inclusion and 9 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: enrolling by invitation, as of the sponsor's last update on 15 Sep 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in Germany. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) (time frame: Assessed at baseline (pre-test) and after the 8-week intervention period (post-test 1 & 2)). The study lists 20 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 15 Sep 2026.