Mental Health Apps for Mild Psychological Distress Amongst Adolescents

NCT04376723 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 20010
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 5
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study investigates mental health mobile apps, to understand their efficacy in reducing mild levels of psychological distress amongst adolescents. All participants will be provided with an app which is already available in the public domain, and will be asked to use the app for guided self-help. Half of participants will receive a weekly telephone call, whilst the other half will not.

Conditions

Psychological Distress

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Kessler 10

  10 item self-report measure of psychological distress with five response categories (none of the time, a little of the time, some of the time, most of the time, all of the time). Scores range from 10 to 50; a higher score indicates more psychological distress.

  Through study completion, an average of 18 weeks

• Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire-Short

  18 item self-report process measure of cognitive strategies to regulate emotions with five response categories (almost never, rarely, occasionally, frequently, almost always). This measure has nine subscales, with two items each (self-blame, acceptance, rumination, positive refocusing, refocus on planning, positive reappraisal, putting into perspective, catastrophising, other-blame). Scores per subscale range from 2 to 10; higher scores indicate greater use of specific cognitive strategies, some of which are favourable and others indicate negative thinking styles.

  Through study completion, an average of 18 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale

  Through study completion, an average of 18 weeks

• CompACT-8

  Through study completion, an average of 18 weeks

Other Outcomes (2)

• Personal Questionnaire

  Through study completion, an average of 18 weeks

• Change Interview

  Up to 18 weeks

Study Arms (1)

Assisted self-guidance

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will be asked to use the app for five weeks and will be contacted via telephone once a week by a researcher to provide a rationale for using the app, or to offer any information about the app itself. This will not be used to provide therapeutic intervention.

Other: Mental Health Mobile Application

Interventions

Mental Health Mobile Application OTHER

Mobile phones will not be provided to participants, but app subscriptions will be provided.

Assisted self-guidance

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 13 Years - 18 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Be aged 13-18 years, as the proposed research aims to investigate "adolescents".
• Have capacity to give informed consent, to ensure the integrity of participants and prioritise their best interests.
• Be awaiting input from the Healthy Minds Lincolnshire service, given the method of recruitment, prospective participants will be on a waiting list for the named service.
• Be experiencing psychological distress, to fulfil the research aims.

You may not qualify if:

• Accessing crisis support, to ensure that necessary support is not being withheld due to research participation.
• They do not speak and understand English, to ensure the app-intervention and measures (which are in English) may be completed, and so interviews may be conducted without a translator.
• They are unable to access or use a smart device, the internet, and the app, as they must be able to access a device daily and be technology literate to utilise the intervention.
• For 13-15 year olds: parental consent must also be provided to take part. If this is not provided, they will be unable to participate. Those aged 16-18 years can provide consent for themselves.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Lincoln: lead
• Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Lincolshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Lincoln, Lincolnshire, LN5 7RZ, United Kingdom

Location

Related Publications (2)

• Grist R, Porter J, Stallard P. Mental Health Mobile Apps for Preadolescents and Adolescents: A Systematic Review. J Med Internet Res. 2017 May 25;19(5):e176. doi: 10.2196/jmir.7332.

  PMID: 28546138 BACKGROUND

• Badesha K, Wilde S, Dawson DL. Mental health mobile application self-help for adolescents exhibiting psychological distress: A single case experimental design. Psychol Psychother. 2023 Mar;96(1):223-248. doi: 10.1111/papt.12436. Epub 2022 Nov 7.

  PMID: 36345016 DERIVED

Study Officials

• David Dawson, DClinPsy

  University of Lincoln

  STUDY CHAIR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: SUPPORTIVE CARE
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 19, 2020
• First Posted: May 6, 2020
• Study Start: September 1, 2020
• Primary Completion: August 20, 2021
• Study Completion: September 14, 2021
• Last Updated: September 27, 2021

Record last verified: 2021-04

Locations

GB (1)