Pilot Evaluation of Peer-support Coaching to Increase Adherence to Online Self-help for College Mental Health

NCT04573465 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 11308
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 236
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study aims to test if coaching can improve program adherence to an online mental health program in college students if delivered by undergraduate peers. Participants will be randomly assigned to either receive phone coaching, text message coaching, or no coaching. It is hypothesized that participants who receive phone coaching will exhibit greater adherence to the provided online mental health program than participants who receive text message coaching or no coaching.

Conditions

Treatment Adherence

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• ACT Guide Module Completion

  Number of modules completed within ACT Guide, out of a total of 12 modules. This is automatically recorded within the ACT Guide program, and is not self-reported.

  Post-treatment (10 weeks after baseline)

• Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21; Osman et al., 2012)

  A self-report measure for depression, anxiety, and stress . Items are rated on a 4-point Likert scale from 0 (did not apply to me at all) to 3 (applied to me most of the time), with a higher score indicating a worse outcome. Minimum total of 0 and maximum total of 63.

  Post-treatment (10 weeks after baseline)

Secondary Outcomes (26)

• Short Form of the Revised Vanderbilt Therapeutic Alliance Scale adapted for coaching (VTAS-R; Shelef & Diamond, 2008)

  After completion of first contact with coach and post-treatment (10 weeks after baseline)

• Mental Health Continuum Short Form (MHC-SF; Keyes, 2005)

  Post-treatment (10 weeks after baseline)

• The Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ-II; Bond et al., 2011)

  Post-treatment (10 weeks after baseline)

• Comprehensive assessment of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy processes (CompACT; Francis, Dawson, & Golijani-Moghaddam, 2016)

  Post-treatment (10 weeks after baseline)

• Client Satisfaction Questionnaire adapted to Internet-based interventions (CSQ-I; Boß et al., 2016)

  Post-treatment (10 weeks after baseline)

Study Arms (3)

Phone Coaching Condition

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will receive weekly, 10-15 minute phone coaching from a trained peer-support coach throughout the 10 weeks that they use ACT Guide, an online program for general mental health. Coaches will adhere to an ACT-based protocol that includes reinforcing adherence, identifying and problem solving non-adherence, strengthening and generalizing ACT skills, and using ACT skills to increase commitment to ongoing program adherence.

Behavioral: Phone Coaching; Behavioral: ACT Guide

Text Message Coaching Condition

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants assigned to the text messaging condition will receive weekly text messages from their peer-support coach throughout the 10 weeks that they use ACT Guide, an online program for general mental health. These text messages will reflect content delivered in the phone coaching group, but through a briefer protocol that accounts for the abbreviated, asynchronous nature of texting. Text messages will similarly focus on reinforcing adherence, problem solving non-adherence, strengthening ACT skills, and using ACT to increase program adherence. However, these areas will be covered in short messages and with limited exchanges between participants and coaches due to the asynchronous nature of texting.

Behavioral: Text Message Coaching; Behavioral: ACT Guide

No Coaching Condition

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Participants will be asked to use ACT Guide, an online program for general mental health, over the course of 10 weeks while receiving no coaching.

Behavioral: ACT Guide

Interventions

Phone Coaching BEHAVIORAL

Participants receiving phone coaching receive one 10-15 minute phone call each week from their randomly assigned peer-support coach. During coaching calls, the peer-support coach will discuss ACT Guide usage with the participant (e.g., asking how many modules the participant completed, asking what the participant liked/disliked about the modules, etc.).

Phone Coaching Condition

Text Message Coaching BEHAVIORAL

Participants receiving text message coaching receive text messages on a weekly basis from their randomly assigned peer-support coach. Text messages from the peer-support coach will discuss ACT Guide usage with the participant (e.g., asking how many modules the participant completed).

Text Message Coaching Condition

ACT Guide BEHAVIORAL

ACT Guide is an online self-help program based on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), targeting acceptance, mindfulness, and values-based processes. It is intended to be used for 20 to 40 minutes at time, a few times a week. While using ACT Guide, participants will read about concepts relevant to ACT and engage in guided experiential exercises, with additional exercises being assigned to be completed in between sessions as homework.

No Coaching Condition; Phone Coaching Condition; Text Message Coaching Condition

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• USU undergraduate student
• Fluent in English

You may not qualify if:

• Must have not used ACT Guide in the past

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Utah State University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Utah State University

Logan, Utah, 84322, United States

Location

Related Publications (9)

• Boss L, Lehr D, Reis D, Vis C, Riper H, Berking M, Ebert DD. Reliability and Validity of Assessing User Satisfaction With Web-Based Health Interventions. J Med Internet Res. 2016 Aug 31;18(8):e234. doi: 10.2196/jmir.5952.

  PMID: 27582341 BACKGROUND

• Bond FW, Hayes SC, Baer RA, Carpenter KM, Guenole N, Orcutt HK, Waltz T, Zettle RD. Preliminary psychometric properties of the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II: a revised measure of psychological inflexibility and experiential avoidance. Behav Ther. 2011 Dec;42(4):676-88. doi: 10.1016/j.beth.2011.03.007. Epub 2011 May 25.

  PMID: 22035996 BACKGROUND

• Francis A, Dawson D, Golijani-Moghaddam N. The development and validation of the Comprehensive assessment of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy processes (CompACT). Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science. 2016; 5(3): 134-145.

  BACKGROUND

• Keyes CL. Mental illness and/or mental health? Investigating axioms of the complete state model of health. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2005 Jun;73(3):539-48. doi: 10.1037/0022-006X.73.3.539.

  PMID: 15982151 BACKGROUND

• Osman A, Wong JL, Bagge CL, Freedenthal S, Gutierrez PM, Lozano G. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21): further examination of dimensions, scale reliability, and correlates. J Clin Psychol. 2012 Dec;68(12):1322-38. doi: 10.1002/jclp.21908. Epub 2012 Aug 28.

  PMID: 22930477 BACKGROUND

• Levin ME, Krafft J, Hicks ET, Pierce B, Twohig MP. A randomized dismantling trial of the open and engaged components of acceptance and commitment therapy in an online intervention for distressed college students. Behav Res Ther. 2020 Mar;126:103557. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2020.103557. Epub 2020 Jan 22.

  PMID: 32014692 BACKGROUND

• Levin ME, Haeger JA, Pierce BG, Twohig MP. Web-Based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Mental Health Problems in College Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Behav Modif. 2017 Jan 1;41(1):141-162. doi: 10.1177/0145445516659645. Epub 2016 Jul 20.

  PMID: 27440189 BACKGROUND

• Shelef K, Diamond GM. Short form of the revised Vanderbilt therapeutic alliance scale: development, reliability, and validity. Psychother Res. 2008 Jul;18(4):433-43. doi: 10.1080/10503300701810801.

  PMID: 18815995 BACKGROUND

• Shim M, Mahaffey B, Bleidistel M, Gonzalez A. A scoping review of human-support factors in the context of Internet-based psychological interventions (IPIs) for depression and anxiety disorders. Clin Psychol Rev. 2017 Nov;57:129-140. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2017.09.003. Epub 2017 Sep 12.

  PMID: 28934623 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Treatment Adherence and Compliance

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Health Behavior; Behavior

Study Officials

• Michael E Levin, PhD

  Utah State University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: SUPPORTIVE CARE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor

Model Details: Participants will be randomly assigned with equal likelihood to receive the online intervention with coaching delivered through weekly phone calls, the online intervention with coaching delivered through weekly text messages, or the online intervention with no coaching.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 27, 2020
• First Posted: October 5, 2020
• Study Start: September 28, 2020
• Primary Completion: June 24, 2021
• Study Completion: July 5, 2021
• Last Updated: September 29, 2021

Record last verified: 2021-09

Locations

US (1)