Effects of a Qi Gong Program on Dissociative Symptoms in Patients Who Have Experienced Childhood Trauma

NCT07670663 — Not applicable, Not yet recruiting, 90 participants, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de la Réunion

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Effects of a Qi Gong Program on Dissociative Symptoms in Patients Who Have Experienced Childhood Trauma: a Randomized Controlled Trial

Registry	NCT07670663, acronym Qi-T
Status	Not yet recruiting
Phase	Not applicable
Study type	Interventional; randomized, parallel, masking: double, treatment
Enrollment	90 (Estimated)
Sponsor	Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de la Réunion (Other)
Conditions	Psychiatry
Interventions	Qi-Gong (Other)
Dates	start 2026-09-01 (estimated), primary completion 2029-01-01 (estimated), completion 2029-03-01 (estimated), first posted 2026-06-26, last updated 2026-09-23

-Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate whether participation in 12 Qi Gong sessions (intervention group), compared with usual care without Qi Gong (control group), reduces dissociative symptoms, as measured by the Dissociative Experience Scale-II (DES-II), between T0 and T1, in outpatients hospitalized for psychiatric disorders related to aversive experiences during childhood.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

\- a) To assess whether participation in the Qi Gong program leads to a reduction in symptoms related to complex trauma, b) To assess whether participation in the Qi Gong program leads to an increase in the level of mindfulness c) To explore whether the effect of the Qi Gong program on reducing dissociative symptoms varies according to participants' baseline level of dissociation (Dissociative Experiences Scale-II ) d) To explore whether the effect of the Qi Gong program on reducing dissociative symptoms is sustained over time e) To explore the experiences of patients who participated in the Qi Gong sessions following the intervention.

This is a randomized controlled trial with parallel groups:

* Intervention group: participation in 12 Qi Gong sessions led by a trained professional, in addition to standard care
* Control group: standard care, without access to Qi Gong sessions during the study period.

Participants will be required to:

* complete 3 questionnaires : Dissociative Experience Scale-II (DES-II), International Trauma Questionnaire (ITQ) , Mindfull Attention Awarness Scale (MAAS )
* attend one Qi Gong session per week for 12 weeks (including a group debriefing) or receive standard care at a medical-psychological center (without Qi Gong)
* complete the same questionnaires (DES-II, ITQ, MAAS) after the 12 weeks
* complete the DES-II questionnaire 2 months later

Expand all sections · Collapse all

+Arms and interventions

Arm	Type	Interventions	Description
Qi-gong	Experimental	Other: Qi-Gong	One Qi Gong session per week for 12 weeks, in groups of six, led by a certified professional.
Routine Care (without Qi Gong)	No intervention		Routine care at a medical-psychological center (appointments with psychologists, doctors, and registered nurses scheduled as part of standard care), excluding participation in Qi Gong sessions

Qi-Gong (Other): 1 Qi Gong session per week for 12 weeks

+Outcome measures

Primary outcomes

Change in dissociative symptoms [3 months after enrollment]: Symptoms of dissociation, as measured by the Dissociative Experiences Scale-II (DES-II), will be compared between the intervention group (Qi Gong sessions) and the control group (usual care without Qi Gong).
To assess whether participation in the Qi-Gong program leads to a reduction in symptoms related to complex trauma [3 months after enrollment]: Change in International Trauma Questionnaire scores between T1 and T0 (T1-T0); The DES-II is a validated 28-item self-report questionnaire used to assess the intensity and frequency of dissociative experiences. It is based on the concept of a dissociative continuum ranging from mild forms (absorption) to more severe forms (amnesia, depersonalization, derealization). Participants rate each item on a Likert scale ranging from 0% to 100%, indicating how often they experience each described phenomenon. The final score is the average of the responses to all 28 items (ranging from 0 to 100%). The higher the score, the more "dissociated" the person is.

Secondary outcomes

To assess whether participation in the Qigong program leads to an increase in the level of mindfulness [3 months after enrollement]: Change in Mindfull Attention Awarness Scale (MAAS) scores between T1 and T0 (T1-T0); The MAAS (Brown \& Ryan 2003) is a 15-item questionnaire scored on a 6-point Likert scale ranging from "Almost Always" (1) to "Almost Never" (6). The total score therefore ranges from 15 to 90. The higher the score, the more frequently the person is mindful.
To investigate whether the effect of the Qigong program on reducing dissociative symptoms varies depending on participants' initial level of dissociation [3 months after enrollment]: Change in the mean DES-II score between T1 and T0 (T1-T0), according to the baseline level of dissociation, as measured by the DES-II. The DES-II is a validated 28-item self-report questionnaire used to assess the intensity and frequency of dissociative experiences. It is based on the concept of a dissociative continuum ranging from mild forms (absorption) to more severe forms (amnesia, depersonalization, derealization). Participants rate each item on a Likert scale ranging from 0% to 100%, indicating how often they experience each described phenomenon. The final score is the average of the responses to all 28 items (ranging from 0 to 100%). The higher the score, the more "dissociated" the person is.
To investigate whether the effect of the Qigong program on reducing dissociative symptoms persists over time [5 months after enrollement]: Change in the mean DES-II score between T2 and T1 (T2 - T1). The DES-II is a validated 28-item self-report questionnaire used to assess the intensity and frequency of dissociative experiences. It is based on the concept of a dissociative continuum ranging from mild forms (absorption) to more severe forms (amnesia, depersonalization, derealization). Participants rate each item on a Likert scale ranging from 0% to 100%, indicating how often they experience each described phenomenon. The final score is the average of the responses to all 28 items (ranging from 0 to 100%). The higher the score, the more "dissociated" the person is.
To explore the experiences of patients who participated in Qi Gong sessions following the intervention. [3 month after enrollment]: The experiences of patients who participated in Qi Gong sessions were assessed through focus groups held after each Qi Gong session, in the form of a debriefing,

+Eligibility

Sex: All, ages: 18 Years to any

Inclusion Criteria:

* 18 years of age or older
* A score above the 10th percentile on the Dissociative Experience Scale-II (DES-II)
* A score above 2 on the ACE scale (Adverse Childhood Experiences by Felitti et al., 1998)
* A medical certificate attesting to the participant's fitness to practice Qigong
* A person enrolled in or receiving benefits from a social security program
* Free, informed, and written consent signed by the participant and the investigator (no later than the day of enrollment and prior to any examination required by the study).

Exclusion Criteria:

* In a suicidal crisis
* In a hallucinatory crisis
* Experiencing a major depressive episode
* Unstabilized
* Pregnant women
* Those who do not understand French
* Under guardianship or conservatorship
* Under judicial protection