AnxietyNCT07085897
Web-based Single-session Growth Mindset Intervention for Allied Health Practicum Trainees to Reduce Anxiety
A study testing Web-based Single-session Intervention of Mindset on Intelligence, Failure, and Emotion (We-SMILE) for allied health practicum trainees in people with Anxiety, run by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Trial summary
Practicum is a critical component of professional training, offering essential experiential learning opportunities that support the development of future practitioners. However, existing research indicates that practicum can be particularly challenging for allied health students, who must navigate both academic… Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and older
- Conditions the study is for
- Anxiety
- What is being tested?
- Web-based Single-session Intervention of Mindset on Intelligence, Failure, and Emotion (We-SMILE) for allied health practicum trainees
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 120 participants
- Where
- No sites listed yet
- Study dates
- 10 Aug 2025to 31 Mar 2026
- 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 years and older
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Students enrolled in allied health programmes who are about to commence their practicums or have recently entered practicum.
Who cannot join
- (1) do not consent to participate, (2) cannot concentrate for at least 45 minutes to complete the intervention and questionnaires, (3) have a disability or serious physical or mental illness resulting in poor condition, and (4) do not participate in the practicum.
Trial locations and contacts
No sites are listed yet. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
About this study
Official title: Efficacy of an Integrated Growth Mindset Intervention on Reducing Anxiety for Practicum Training Among Students in the Allied Health Professions: Study Protocol for a Two-Arm Randomised Controlled Trial
Practicum is a critical component of professional training, offering essential experiential learning opportunities that support the development of future practitioners. However, existing research indicates that practicum can be particularly challenging for allied health students, who must navigate both academic learning adjustments and complex healthcare environments. Emerging evidence also highlights the potential value of low-intensity, self-guided interventions in enhancing practicum trainees' psychological preparedness. Based on the findings, this present project adapts an integrated intervention-the Web-based Single-Session Intervention on Mindset regarding Intelligence, Failure, and Emotion (We-SMILE)-specifically for practicum students in allied health professions and examines its efficacy to adjust their mindsets and manage practicum-related challenges more effectively.
Using a two-arm randomised controlled trial, the proposed study will examine the efficacy of We-SMILE for allied health practicum trainees in reducing anxiety, as well as improving perceived stress, performance anxiety, practicum-related concerns, psychological status, learning orientation, confidence, resilient coping, and time management.
Read more
Students commencing their practicums will be recruited from allied health programmes and randomly assigned to either existing pre-practicum training plus intervention or the training-as-usual control group. Participants will be assessed at three time-points: baseline before intervention (T1), two weeks post-intervention (T2) and two months post-intervention (T3). The intention-to-treat principle and linear-regression-based maximum likelihood multi-level models will be used for data analysis.
Feasibility and Potential: This project brings together experts in mindset research, fieldwork coordinators, and programme leaders, ensuring the feasibility of the study. It will not only generate evidence on the adapted We-SMILE intervention for allied health practicum trainees but also offer a scalable and accessible model for enhancing the well-being of trainees in other healthcare and helping professions.
- Conditions
- Anxiety
- Being tested
- Web-based Single-session Intervention of Mindset on Intelligence, Failure, and Emotion (We-SMILE) for allied health practicum trainees
- Medical subject headings
- Anxiety Disorders
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Web-based Single-session Intervention of Mindset on Intelligence, Failure, and Emotion (We-SMILE) for allied health practicum traineesBehavioural
The intervention is structured into three video-and-exercise sessions. Part one focuses on students' mindsets in coping with practicum-related challenges and their attitudes towards setbacks, encouraging them to shift from a 'fear-of-failure' mindset to a 'failure-is-enhancing' mindset. Part two introduces the nature and concept of neuroplasticity to promote students' understanding of effective learning. Part three centers on providing guidance for students on strategies to cope with stress and emotional turbulence with growth mindset regarding emotion.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Web-based Single-session Intervention of Mindset on Intelligence, Failure, and Emotion (We-SMILE) | Experimental | The intervention is structured into three video-and-exercise sessions. Part one focuses on students' mindsets in coping with practicum-related challenges and their attitudes towards setbacks, encouraging them to shift from a 'fear-of-failure' mindset to a 'failure-is-enhancing' mindset. Part two introduces the nature and concept of neuroplasticity to promote students' understanding of effective learning. Part three centers on providing guidance for students on strategies to cope with stress and emotional turbulence with growth mindset regarding emotion. Receives: Behavioral: Web-based Single-session Intervention of Mindset on Intelligence, Failure, and Emotion (We-SMILE) for allied health practicum trainees |
| Training-as-usual group | No intervention | The training-as-usual group will continue the regular practicum training. |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Anxiety related to practicum
Anxiety related to practicum will be measured by four items, including "level of anxiety about starting the practicum", "how much your anxiety will interfere with their learning", "how prepared you are for the practicum" and "how excited you are to participate in the practicum". Each statement will be rated on a 10-point Likert scale, ranging from 1=completely not anxious, very small, completely unprepared, and completely unexcited to 10=extremely anxious, very great, perfectly prepared, and extremely excited.
Measured: Baseline, 2-week and 8-week follow-ups
Secondary outcomes (8)
Psychological states
Psychological states will be assessed by the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-8 Items (DASS-8) is a set of three self-report scales designed to measure the psychological states of depression, anxiety and stress. Each of the depression and anxiety sub-scales of the DASS-8 contain 3 items while the stress sub-scale contains 2 items. Each item can be scored from 0 (Did not apply to me at all) to 3 (Applied to me very much, or most of the time).
Measured: Baseline, 2-week and 8-week follow-ups
Performance anxiety
Performance anxiety will be examined by the sub-scale of cognitive anxiety from the Performance Test Anxiety questionnaire (PTA). Respondents indicated how they were thinking and feeling about their practicum (using a 5-point scale on which 1=totally disagree and 5=totally agree) in response to the items.
Measured: Baseline, 2-week and 8-week follow-ups
Learning orientation
Learning orientation will be assessed by five items (e.g., "I like to learn new knowledge in practicums."). Each item will be rated by a five-point Likert scale from 1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree.
Measured: Baseline, 2-week and 8-week follow-ups
Confidence
Confidence will be assessed by a six-item self-developed scale. Items generated from interviews with practicum students, such as "I am confident that I can listen to comments from supervisors/colleagues/service users with an open mind." and "I am confident that I can manage my time well and cope with my practicum work and schoolwork at the same time.". Each item needs to be rated from 1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree.
Measured: Baseline, 2-week and 8-week follow-ups
Resilient Coping
Resilient Coping will be measured by a self-report four-item Brief Resilient Coping Scale (BRCS). Items will be scored from 1 (Does not describe me at all) to 5 (Describe me very well). A sample item is "I look for creative ways to alter difficult situations".
Measured: Baseline, 2-week and 8-week follow-ups
Perceived stress
Stress will be examined by the Perceived Stress Scale-4 items (PSS-4). It measures the degree to which situations in one's life over the past month are appraised as stressful. Each item will be scored from 0 (Never) to 4 (Very often). Total score is determined by adding together the scores of each of the four items. Questions 2 and 3 are reverse coded.
Measured: Baseline, 2-week and 8-week follow-ups
Practicum-related concerns
Practicum-related concerns will be assessed using a self-developed six-item scale designed to reflect the concerns of allied health students.
Measured: Baseline, 2-week and 8-week follow-ups
Time management
Time management will be assessed using the 'Setting Goals and Priorities' sub scale of the Time Management Behavior (TMB) Scale, which includes ten items. Each item is rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (seldom true) to 5 (very often true).
Measured: Baseline, 2-week and 8-week follow-ups
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted25 Jul 2025
- Study start10 Aug 2025 (estimated)
- Primary completion31 Jan 2026 (estimated)
- Study completion31 Mar 2026 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for AnxietyStudies 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
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Double blind
- Who is masked
- Investigator, Outcomes assessor
- Enrolment
- 120 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07085897
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- HSEARS20250608002
- Status last verified
- Jun 2025
- First submitted
- 17 Jul 2025
- Last updated
- 25 Jul 2025
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- Undecided
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 25 Jul 2025. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Efficacy of an Integrated Growth Mindset Intervention on Reducing Anxiety for Practicum Training Among Students in the Allied Health Professions: Study Protocol for a Two-Arm Randomised Controlled Trial
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07085897
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- HSEARS20250608002
- Conditions
- Anxiety
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Not yet recruiting
- Enrolment
- 120 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- The Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 10 Aug 2025 (estimated)
- Primary completion
- 31 Jan 2026 (estimated)
- Study completion
- 31 Mar 2026 (estimated)
- First posted
- 25 Jul 2025 (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.
Practicum is a critical component of professional training, offering essential experiential learning opportunities that support the development of future practitioners. However, existing research indicates that practicum can be particularly challenging for allied health students, who must navigate both academic learning adjustments and complex healthcare environments. Emerging evidence also highlights the potential value of low-intensity, self-guided interventions in enhancing practicum trainees' psychological preparedness. Based on the findings, this present project adapts an integrated intervention-the Web-based Single-Session Intervention on Mindset regarding Intelligence, Failure, and Emotion (We-SMILE)-specifically for practicum students in allied health professions and examines its efficacy to adjust their mindsets and manage practicum-related challenges more effectively.
Using a two-arm randomised controlled trial, the proposed study will examine the efficacy of We-SMILE for allied health practicum trainees in reducing anxiety, as well as improving perceived stress, performance anxiety, practicum-related concerns, psychological status, learning orientation, confidence, resilient coping, and time management.
Students commencing their practicums will be recruited from allied health programmes and randomly assigned to either existing pre-practicum training plus intervention or the training-as-usual control group. Participants will be assessed at three time-points: baseline before intervention (T1), two weeks post-intervention (T2) and two months post-intervention (T3). The intention-to-treat principle and linear-regression-based maximum likelihood multi-level models will be used for data analysis.
Feasibility and Potential: This project brings together experts in mindset research, fieldwork coordinators, and programme leaders, ensuring the feasibility of the study. It will not only generate evidence on the adapted We-SMILE intervention for allied health practicum trainees but also offer a scalable and accessible model for enhancing the well-being of trainees in other healthcare and helping professions.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Double blind (investigator, outcomes assessor)
- Number of arms
- 2
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Web-based Single-session Intervention of Mindset on Intelligence, Failure, and Emotion (We-SMILE) | Experimental | Behavioral: Web-based Single-session Intervention of Mindset on Intelligence, Failure, and Emotion (We-SMILE) for allied health practicum traineesThe intervention is structured into three video-and-exercise sessions. Part one focuses on students' mindsets in coping with practicum-related challenges and their attitudes towards setbacks, encouraging them to shift from a 'fear-of-failure' mindset to a 'failure-is-enhancing' mindset. Part two introduces the nature and concept of neuroplasticity to promote students' understanding of effective learning. Part three centers on providing guidance for students on strategies to cope with stress and emotional turbulence with growth mindset regarding emotion. |
| Training-as-usual group | No intervention | –The training-as-usual group will continue the regular practicum training. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (1 listed)
- Students enrolled in allied health programmes who are about to commence their practicums or have recently entered practicum.
Key exclusion criteria (1 listed)
- (1) do not consent to participate, (2) cannot concentrate for at least 45 minutes to complete the intervention and questionnaires, (3) have a disability or serious physical or mental illness resulting in poor condition, and (4) do not participate in the practicum.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Web-based Single-session Intervention of Mindset on Intelligence, Failure, and Emotion (We-SMILE) for allied health practicum traineesThe intervention is structured into three video-and-exercise sessions. Part one focuses on students' mindsets in coping with practicum-related challenges and their attitudes towards setbacks, encouraging them to shift from a 'fear-of-failure' mindset to a 'failure-is-enhancing' mindset. Part two introduces the nature and concept of neuroplasticity to promote students' understanding of effective learning. Part three centers on providing guidance for students on strategies to cope with stress and emotional turbulence with growth mindset regarding emotion. | Behavioural | Web-based Single-session Intervention of Mindset on Intelligence, Failure, and Emotion (We-SMILE) |
Primary outcome
Anxiety related to practicum
Time frame: Baseline, 2-week and 8-week follow-ups
Anxiety related to practicum will be measured by four items, including "level of anxiety about starting the practicum", "how much your anxiety will interfere with their learning", "how prepared you are for the practicum" and "how excited you are to participate in the practicum". Each statement will be rated on a 10-point Likert scale, ranging from 1=completely not anxious, very small, completely unprepared, and completely unexcited to 10=extremely anxious, very great, perfectly prepared, and extremely excited.
8 secondary outcomes
Psychological states
Time frame: Baseline, 2-week and 8-week follow-ups
Performance anxiety
Time frame: Baseline, 2-week and 8-week follow-ups
Learning orientation
Time frame: Baseline, 2-week and 8-week follow-ups
Confidence
Time frame: Baseline, 2-week and 8-week follow-ups
Resilient Coping
Time frame: Baseline, 2-week and 8-week follow-ups
Perceived stress
Time frame: Baseline, 2-week and 8-week follow-ups
Practicum-related concerns
Time frame: Baseline, 2-week and 8-week follow-ups
Time management
Time frame: Baseline, 2-week and 8-week follow-ups
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 25 Jul 2025.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: Undecided
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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.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Web-based Single-session Intervention of Mindset on Intelligence, Failure, and Emotion (We-SMILE) for allied health practicum trainees in people with Anxiety, run by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
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 1 inclusion and 1 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: opening soon, as of the sponsor's last update on 25 Jul 2025. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
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?
Contact Shimin Zhu, PhD (+852 2766 5787, jasmine.zhu@polyu.edu.hk), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Anxiety related to practicum (time frame: Baseline, 2-week and 8-week follow-ups). 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 25 Jul 2025.