Group Singing for Cardiovascular Health
What You Need to Know Before You Apply
What is the purpose of this trial?
The overall objective of the planned future clinical trial is to test our central hypothesis that habitual singing over several weeks, similar to habitual exercise, will lead to sustained and favorable vascular adaptation, thereby lowering cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. The overall objective of this study is to refine and protocolize the singing interventions and test the feasibility of our future trial design. Our team has studied individual singing. Collective singing, as in a choir or small group, is associated with a positive sense of social inclusion, well-being, and improved mood, including in older adults.
Are You a Good Fit for This Trial?
This trial is for adults with a history of coronary artery disease, evidenced by conditions like heart attack, stent placement, bypass surgery, significant artery narrowing or high calcium scores. It aims to explore the benefits of group singing on cardiovascular health.Inclusion Criteria
Timeline for a Trial Participant
Screening
Participants are screened for eligibility to participate in the trial
Treatment
Participants engage in group singing sessions or individual sing-along video series for 12 weeks
Follow-up
Participants are monitored for adherence and retention after the intervention
What Are the Treatments Tested in This Trial?
Interventions
- Hybrid Group Singing
Trial Overview
The study tests whether regular group singing can improve vascular health and lower the risk of heart disease. Participants will engage in hybrid group singing sessions or follow an instructional sing-along video series over several weeks.
How Is the Trial Designed?
2
Treatment groups
Active Control
Participants in this arm watch and sing to an online video series independently. The video series is created by a professor of voice with older students in the videos. We plan to use REDCap to deliver the assigned videos at set times and frequencies and display the videos in an embedded audio player for the subjects. Use of REDCap will allow us to track when subjects are watching the videos with reminders sent up to five times. We will also include 2 questions at the end on how much they enjoyed the video (scale 1-10) and how much of the 40 minutes were sung. Inserting questions at the end confirms that participants likely viewed the entire video.
Group singing sessions are a hybrid of in-person and virtual participation with in-person participation encouraged. Intake forms will be used to assess musical preference, prior music experience, and pertinent medical conditions to consider. Songs will be selected based on music preference of the subjects. At the start of each session, the music therapist will review the importance of singing and lead the group in taking deep breaths together. Throughout sessions, the therapist will encourage subjects to sing as much as possible, explaining that it's not about how they sound but how they feel. Initially, the group singing format will be 40 minutes of singing (includes a vocal warm-up), three times weekly, for a total of 12 weeks. The total singing time is the same as in the solo singing video arm. Based on focus group feedback, the formats could change. However, we will aim to keep total singing time the same (i.e., 120 minutes of singing per week).
Find a Clinic Near You
Who Is Running the Clinical Trial?
Medical College of Wisconsin
Lead Sponsor
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