Picture This: Bringing Joy Into Focus and Developing Healthy Habits of Mind

NCT07313696 | Completed

• 2 other identifiers: H26061ID# 43893
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 259
• Locations: 0 countries
• Sites: N/A

Brief Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to test whether photography-based, smartphone exercises can increase well-being and reduce depressive symptoms in college and graduate students. The main questions it aims to answer are: Can savoring and/or social sharing of positive experiences via smartphone photography improve emotional well-being? Does attentional retraining toward positive stimuli reduce depressive symptoms? Researchers compared: Picture This! (21 days of taking daily photos of things that elicited a positive emotion, savoring the moment, and reviewing the photos at the end of each day) Picture This! Plus Social Sharing (21 days taking daily photos of things that elicited a positive emotion, savoring the moment, and reviewing the photos at the end of each day + sharing photos each week with a friend/family member) Document This! (21 days of taking "day in the life" photos each day and reviewing them each evening) Passive control group (21 days without instructions to take photos) To see if the positive emotion-focused intervention conditions (Picture This! and Picture This! Plus Social Sharing) outperformed neutral (Document This!0 or no-photo conditions in improving psychological health. Participants were: Randomly assigned to one of four groups. Asked to complete baseline and follow-up questionnaires and computer tasks. Three active conditions: Take 2+ photos daily for 3 weeks. Upload photos to a secure drive. Complete nightly savoring exercises and surveys. (Social Sharing group only) Share photos weekly with a friend/family member. All participants completed weekly surveys and a final lab visit with follow-up assessments.

Conditions

College Student Mental Health; Mindfulness; Positive Emotions; Savoring; Intervention Study

Keywords

positive psychology; intervention; photography; savoring; mindfulness; well-being

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (6)

• Mean level change from baseline to study completion in depressive symptoms for individuals in the PT and PTPSS intervention groups

  Self-reported depressive symptoms measured using the Beck Depression Inventory-II total score at pre and post-intervention. Potential range is 0-63, with higher scores represented worse functioning/outcomes.

  from baseline to study completion (approximately 21-30 days)

• Increase in mean levels of positive affect from baseline to study completion for individuals in the PT and PTPSS intervention groups

  Positive affect was self-reported using the Modified Differential Emotion Scale (MDES). Potential range is 0 to 40, with higher scores reflecting higher levels of assessed emotions.

  from baseline to study completion (approximately 21-30 days)

• Mean level Change in Savoring Beliefs from baseline to study completion for individuals in the PT and PTPSS intervention groups

  Savoring beliefs were self-reported using the Savoring Beliefs Inventory (SBI) total score and subscales. Potential range is 24 to 168, with higher scores reflecting better outcomes/higher savoring beliefs.

  from baseline to study completion (approximately 21-30 days)

• Mean level Increase in mindfulness from baseline to study completion for individuals in the PT and PTPSS intervention groups

  Self reported mindfulness on the Carolina Empirically-Derived Mindfulness Inventory. Total score and subscale scores. Potential range 32-160 with higher scores reflecting higher levels of mindfulness / better outcomes.

  from baseline to study completion (approximately 21-30 days)

• Mean level Increase in life satisfaction from baseline to study completion for individuals in the PT and PTPSS intervention groups

  Self-reported life satisfaction using the Brief Satisfaction with Life Scale. Potential range 5-35, with higher scores reflecting higher satisfaction with life / better outcome.

  from baseline to study completion (approximately 21-30 days)

• Mean level Increase in perceived social support for individuals in the PTPSS intervention group from baseline to study completion

  Self report using the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) Social Support Survey. Range is 1 to 5. Mean score calculated, with higher levels indicating more social support / better outcome.

  from baseline to study completion (approximately 21-30 days)

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• Mean level Increase in self-esteem for individuals in the PT and PTPSS intervention groups from baseline to study completion

  from baseline to study completion (approximately 21-30 days)

• Mean level Increase in gratitude from baseline to study completion for individuals in the PT and PTPSS intervention groups

  from baseline to study completion (approximately 21-30 days)

• mean level Decrease in physical health symptoms from baseline to study completion

  from baseline to study completion (approximately 21-30 days)

• Mean level Improvement in sleep from baseline to study completion for individuals in the PT and PTPSS intervention groups

  from baseline to study completion (approximately 21-30 days)

Other Outcomes (4)

• Mean Level Changes in cognitive style for individuals in the PT and PTPSS intervention groups

  from baseline to study completion (approximately 21-30 days)

• Changes in Attentional Bias for individuals in the PT and PTPSS intervention groups

  from baseline to study completion (approximately 21-30 days)

• Change in interpretation bias in individuals in the PT and PTPSS intervention groups

  from baseline to study completion (approximately 21-30 days)

Study Arms (4)

Picture This!

EXPERIMENTAL

1. Take 2 or more photographs each day for 21 days of something that elicits positive emotion 2. When taking the photograph, notice: 1) how your body feels physically, 2) what thoughts are going through your mind, 3) what emotions you are experiencing. 3. Save these photographs on your phone. Upload them to the study drive. 4. Each evening for 21 days, take 10 minutes to review the photographs you took during the course of the day. Review the photos you took as a part of the study. 5. Complete nightly savoring exercises online while reviewing photos taken during the day and answer questions about well-being 6. Complete weekly brief questionnaire about well-being 7. Complete pre and post assessments, prior to and at the end of the 21 days

Behavioral: Attentional focus on positive emotion via photography

Picture This! Plus Social Sharing

EXPERIMENTAL

1. Take 2 or more photographs each day for 21 days of something that elicits positive emotion 2. When taking the photograph, notice: 1) how your body feels physically, 2) what thoughts are going through your mind, 3) what emotions you are experiencing. 3. Save these photographs on your phone. Upload them to the study drive. 4. Each evening for 21 days, take 10 minutes to review the photographs you took during the course of the day. Review the photos you took as a part of the study. 5. Complete nightly savoring exercises online while reviewing photos taken during the day and answer questions about well-being 6. Share your photos with a friend/family member each week. Complete questionnaire about sharing experience and weekly brief questionnaire about well-being 7. Complete pre and post assessments, prior to and at the end of the 21 days

Behavioral: Attentional focus on positive emotion via photography; Behavioral: Social Sharing

Document This!

PLACEBO COMPARATOR

1. Take 2 or more photographs each day for 21 days of your "day-in-the-life" 2. When taking the photograph, notice: 1) how your body feels physically, 2) what thoughts are going through your mind, 3) what emotions you are experiencing. 3. Save these photographs on your phone. Upload them to the study drive. 4. Each evening for 21 days, take 10 minutes to review the photographs you took during the course of the day. Review the photos you took as a part of the study. 5. Complete nightly savoring exercises online while reviewing photos taken during the day and answer questions about well-being 6. Complete weekly brief questionnaire about well-being 7. Complete pre and post assessments, prior to and at the end of the 21 days

Behavioral: Taking Photographs of daily life events and moments

No Photo Control

NO INTERVENTION

1. Each evening for 21 days, answer questions about well-being 2. Complete weekly brief questionnaire about well-being 3. Complete pre and post assessments, prior to and at the end of the 21 days

Interventions

Taking Photographs of daily life events and moments BEHAVIORAL

The individuals in the Document This condition will take daily photographs of moments in their lives for 21 days. They are not directed to focus on taking photos that elicit positive affect as the individuals in PT and PTPSS are. They are asked to review their photos each evening and answer questions about them.

Document This!

Social Sharing BEHAVIORAL

For individuals in the social sharing condition, participants were instructed to share their photos for the study each week with a friend or family member of their choice. They were provided a script to help them with the social sharing, if needed.

Picture This! Plus Social Sharing

Attentional focus on positive emotion via photography BEHAVIORAL

The current project aims aim to test a set of exercises using Smartphones with college and graduate students designed to retrain attention toward moments/events/people that elicit positive emotions, encourage the savoring of such moments, increase social connectedness, and in turn, decrease depressive symptoms.

Also known as: savoring, mindfulness

Picture This!; Picture This! Plus Social Sharing

Eligibility Criteria

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

You may qualify if:

• College, university, or grad student in urban area where data collection was taking place
• years old or older
• daily access to a Smartphone with a camera
• daily access to the internet and active email address
• interest in the study

You may not qualify if:

• none

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Georgia State University: lead
• Clark University: collaborator
• John Templeton Foundation: collaborator

Related Publications (1)

• McKee LG, Algoe SB, Faro AL, O'Leary JL, O'Neal CW. Picture This! Bringing joy into Focus and Developing Healthy Habits of Mind: Rationale, design, and implementation of a randomized control trial for young adults. Contemp Clin Trials Commun. 2019 Jun 29;15:100391. doi: 10.1016/j.conctc.2019.100391. eCollection 2019 Sep.

  PMID: 31372571 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Interventions

Mindfulness

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; Behavior Therapy; Psychotherapy; Behavioral Disciplines and Activities

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: November 20, 2025
• First Posted: January 2, 2026
• Study Start: October 31, 2013
• Primary Completion: May 15, 2015
• Study Completion: May 15, 2015
• Last Updated: January 2, 2026

Record last verified: 2025-12

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share