Social Media Artistic tRaining in Teenagers
试验速览
- 阶段
- 不适用
- 状态
- 已完成
- 入组人数
- 61
- 试验地点
- 2
- 主要终点
- Post - Pre changes in social media profiles followed in social media
研究概览
简要总结
The primary goal of this interventional study is to explore whether 3 months of arts-based digital interventions can change the way in which teenagers (13-16 years of age) use social media and are affected by them. The main questions it aims to answer are:
- Can we give teenagers new, stimulating, and more goal-oriented ways of using social media through arts-based digital trainings and active discussions around social media?
- Can these arts-based digital interventions also help teenagers to overcome the negative consequences of social media overuse (such as depression, anxiety, and reduced attention and cognitive performance)? Secondarily, this study also aims to explore the brain and behavioral traits associated with these arts-based interventions to better understand how they work.
Researchers will compare a music composition intervention with two other interventions: an active control intervention based on visual-arts instead of music (i.e., photography), and a passive approach to control for the mere pass of time.
Participants will:
- Complete a baseline and a post-intervention evaluation where researchers will obtain measures of cognitive performance (attention and executive functions, mainly), mood, mental health, brain structure and function, and social media usage and attitudes towards these platforms.
- Complete weekly measures regarding their use of social media platforms and their mood.
- Complete 3-month arts-based composition / edition intervention (based on music or visual-arts/photography), or the equivalent time with no intervention (passive control group).
The motivation of this study was driven by the observation that, in recent years, there has been an increasing use of social media and digital devices in teenagers, while the scientific community still does not fully understand the effects of the overuse of these digital means and platforms. Moreover, some of the negative effects described to be associated with the passive overuse of social media tap on the same brain structures that are benefited by musical and artistic trainings. Hence, we thought it could be worth trying to use arts-based training to help teenagers compensate for or overcome the negative effects of social media at the neural, cognitive, mood and mental health levels.
This study introduces novelty through three main aspects. Firstly, it employs a digital art creation approach that requires no classical art training, making it more accessible and less intimidating. Secondly, it incorporates commonly used digital devices (e.g., phones/tablets) and motivating environments into the learning process, integrating the development of new digital skills and the practice of critical thinking around the use of SM into normal classroom activities. Finally, the study employs a multi-methodological approach to explore the brain mechanisms underlying mental-health and cognitive changes resulting from arts-based interventions.
Finally, we believe that conclusions from SMART will:
- set the basis for developing preventive and therapeutic interventions for depression and anxiety in teenagers,
- promote educational programs that provide optimal tools for adolescents to navigate social media in a healthy manner, and
- inspire educational policy.
详细描述
- Project Description Smart devices and social media (SM) have become prevalent among teenagers, raising questions about their effects on mental health and cognition. Most recent research has focused on the negative effects of SM overuse, including an increased risk of developing depression and anxiety, and alterations in cognitive functions, mainly attention. However, SM have also proven to have positive influences, such as promoting social interaction, creativity, and wellness, among others. Hence, the issue does not seem to be the time spent on SM per se, but the type of activity, content, and engagement the adolescents carry out on these platforms. As the U.S. Surgeon General recently warned, with the increasing use of smart devices and SM in youth, more resources must be dedicated to assessing which SM activities are beneficial or detrimental for the developing brain of adolescents.
On the other hand, prior research suggests that art-based interventions, such as those based on music, improve mental health, and promote plastic changes in brain networks related to executive function and emotional regulation. Interestingly, these same brain areas and functions are known to be affected by SM passive overuse.
Thus, here, the investigators use music and visual arts interventions to transform adolescent usage of SM, with the aim of mitigating the negative effects of excessive passive use of these platforms. The research team hypothesizes that both music and visual art interventions will improve mental health and enhance cognition. Further, researchers expect this cognitive and mental-health improvement to be paired with structural changes in brain centers related to emotional processing and executive function. 2. Research Question The main motivation and research question behind SMART is whether art appreciation and practice can change the way teenagers interact on SM, overcoming the negative influence of smart devices and social media platforms, and ultimately leading to beneficial cognitive and emotional effects. The first specific goal is to transform the use of social media in teenagers by providing them with digital (i.e., using software solutions) arts-based training, tools, and goal-oriented activities that they can implement in SM, while stimulating their critical thinking about these platforms. The investigators hypothesize that these tools and reflections will help the participants have a healthier relationship with SM, aiding them, for instance, to be critical about the content shared online, to look for healthier and more respectful online interactions, and/or to look for more stimulating activities to do online.
The second specific goal would be to elucidate the behavioral and brain mechanisms behind the potential effects of music and visual-arts interventions on cognitive and emotional processing. Researchers expect the digital arts-based interventions to have positive effects on executive functions, specifically in the realm of attention, and on emotional and mental health markers. Investigators hypothesize that improvements in mental health will correlate with plastic changes in emotional and reward-related centers such as ventral striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Furthermore, the research team predicts that cognitive improvements will be related to plastic changes in prefrontal regions related to attention and executive functions.
As secondary goals, SMART aims to develop art-related training programs that are useful, motivating, and applicable in educational contexts. Investigators would also like them to be applicable to preventive and therapeutic approaches aiming to improve the wellbeing and mental health of patients living with chronic conditions (such as diabetes, cancer, or major depression). Ultimately, the researchers aim to raise awareness of the benefits and importance that art-related activities, especially musical ones, have during development. 3. Research Applications Although some recent and currently ongoing investigations are also working on improving attention and executive functions in children and adolescents through cognitive training, even by using music and visual-arts interventions, the proposed project is the first of its kind in exploring the effects of arts-based training in transforming adolescents' use of SM. If predicted benefits from digital artistic interventions are confirmed, conclusions from SMART will have a ground-breaking impact in policy making regarding adolescents' mental health and education. Moreover, the conclusions and materials developed within this project have the potential to be applied in clinical contexts (e.g., health education, therapeutic purposes) in a wide array of physical and mental health conditions. For instance, arts-based interventions like the ones proposed here could be developed for the management of stress, depression, and anxiety symptoms associated with chronic health conditions such as diabetes or cancer. 4. Methodology High school students (9th graders; ages 13-16) will be recruited and divided into two intervention groups/arms: one focused on music composition/edition and another on photography composition/edition. An additional group that will not complete any intervention will be part of the study as a passive control. Participants will be recruited from Fort Hamilton High School (a public school in Brooklyn, NYC), and other public high schools in the NYC area with which collaboration agreements are being set nowadays. A pre-post longitudinal experimental design will be implemented. A sample size analysis determined that to have 80% of power to detect a large effect in a 2 (Pre/Post) x 3 (Group: Music, Visual Art, Control) mixed between-within repeated measures ANOVA, 18 participants per group are required. Investigators will recruit 30 participants per group to account for attrition. Individual experience in music and visual arts will be taken into account, mostly targeting non-experts but not excluding by that factor. Interventions will be administered in 1-hour sessions twice a week for 3 months (24 sessions; 3-month art-based interventions have been previously optimal at inducing mental health/cognitive improvements and brain plasticity. Interventions will include basic structural concepts from each discipline (musical, visual) so that participants are able to appreciate, edit, and create from scratch their own digital pieces, while maintaining a parallel structure and exigency between both types of interventions.
研究设计
- 研究类型
- Interventional
- 分配方式
- Non Randomized
- 干预模型
- Parallel
- 主要目的
- Basic Science
- 盲法
- None
入排标准
- 年龄范围
- 13 Years 至 16 Years（Child）
- 性别
- All
- 接受健康志愿者
- 是
入选标准
- •We are not concerned with country of birth, native language, race, or gender. Furthermore, we will not exclude subjects based on their neurodevelopmental, neurological, or psychiatric disorders, or based on their background or previous training in music, visual/plastic arts, or film/multimedia.
- •We will recruit participants who are 13-16 years old.
- •If they agree to participate in the neuroimaging sessions, participants will not have any contraindications for completing MEG or MRI scans.
- •In addition, we intend to recruit the parents of child participants to answer questions about their child. For these participants, we have no inclusion criteria except that they are the parent of a child participating in the study.
排除标准
- •We will exclude participants who are not between the ages of 13 and 16 years old.
- •For the additional neuroimaging measures, we will exclude participants who have any contraindications for MEG or MRI if they choose to participate in the optional MEG and MRI scans.
- •For recruiting parents, we will exclude those who are not parents of a child enrolled in the study.
研究组 & 干预措施
Music Composition / Edition
Teenage participants assigned to the 'Music Composition / Edition' (MUS) intervention will receive the 3-month Music Composition Intervention, completing self-reporting weekly measures of mood and social media usage, as well as a pre- and a post-intervention evaluation in which cognitive, mental-health, mood, social media usage and neuroimaging measures will be obtained.
干预措施: Music composition / edition (Behavioral)
Photography Composition / Edition
Teenage participants assigned to the 'Photography Composition / Edition' or Visual-Arts (VIS) intervention will receive the 3-month Photography Composition/Edition Intervention, completing self-reporting weekly measures of mood and social media usage, as well as a pre- and a post-intervention evaluation in which cognitive, mental-health, mood, social media usage and neuroimaging measures will be obtained.
干预措施: Photography composition / edition (Behavioral)
Control
Teenage participants assigned to the 'Passive Control' (CON) arm will complete self-reporting weekly measures of mood and social media usage during 3 months, as well as a pre- and a post-intervention evaluation in which cognitive, mental-health, mood, social media usage and neuroimaging measures will be obtained.
Once their participation in the study is complete, controls will be offered to complete the intervention of their choosing, according to the availability of teaching artists and locations to perform this.
结局指标
主要结局
Post - Pre changes in social media profiles followed in social media
时间窗: From enrollment to the end of the post-intervention evaluation (roughly at week 14).
qualitative differences in the kind of profiles followed by participants before and after the intervention. Researchers will use a questionnaire specifically developed for this purpose ('Usage, Attitudes \& Opinions about Social Media Questionnaire').
Post - Pre changes in Depression (CDI)
时间窗: Difference from enrollment to the end of the post-intervention evaluation (roughly at week 14).
measured via the Children Depression Inventory (CDI), a 27-item scale ranging from 0 to 54. The higher the CDI score, the higher the depressive state.
Post - Pre changes in Attention
时间窗: Difference from enrollment to the end of the post-intervention evaluation (roughly at week 14).
measured via an Attentional Flanker task, a specifically developed task for this purpose measuring accuracy and reaction times for congruent, incongruent, and neutral trials.
Post - Pre changes in verbal learning and memory
时间窗: Difference from enrollment to the end of the post-intervention evaluation (roughly at week 14).
researchers will apply the Rey's Auditory Verbal Learning test (AVLT), a standard test counting number of remembered words in each immediate trial and after a delay of 20 minutes. The higher the number in each trial, the better the participant's verbal and learning functions
Post - Pre changes in neurophysiological correlates of pre-attentive auditory detection
时间窗: Difference from enrollment to the end of the post-intervention evaluation (roughly at week 14).
the Mismatch Negativity (MMN) component would be characterized for each melodic and rhythmic violation of the presented stimuli. The amplitude of the MMN would be calculated and compared between timepoints.
Post - Pre changes in brain structural connectivity
时间窗: Difference from enrollment to the end of the post-intervention evaluation (roughly at week 14).
Using structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging, researchers will obtain diffusion-weighted images that will allow for the study of participants' white matter structural connectivity between areas of interest. Applying analyses such Tract-Based Spatial Statistics or Tractographical reconstruction of white-matter pathways, macro- and microstructural measures of tracts of interest will be calculated, compared between groups and correlated with other types of measures (i.e., cognitive, mental health, behavioral).
Post - Pre changes in attitudes and importance given to social media
时间窗: From enrollment to the end of the post-intervention evaluation (roughly at week 14).
qualitative differences in attitudes and importance of SM self-reported by participants before and after the intervention. Researchers will use a questionnaire specifically developed for this purpose ('Usage, Attitudes \& Opinions about Social Media Questionnaire').
Post - Pre changes in mood and emotional reaction while being online
时间窗: From enrollment to the end of the post-intervention evaluation (roughly at week 14).
qualitative differences in participants' mood and emotional reaction while using social media before and after the intervention. Researchers will use a questionnaire specifically developed for this purpose ('Usage, Attitudes \& Opinions about Social Media Questionnaire').
Weekly evolution of screentime
时间窗: From week 1 to week 12 of the intervention (or 3-month no intervention period for the control group).
measures of actual smartphone usage will be collected every week during the intervention period (or the 3-month period, in the case of the passive Control group) via self-report questionnaires in which participants will fill the objective smartphone screentime usage data measured by the screentime function on their device. The higher the value input here by participants, the greater the amount of hours spent on their phone.
Weekly evolution of mood
时间窗: From week 1 to week 12 of the intervention (or 3-month no intervention period for the control group).
measures of weekly mood will be gathered by making participants fill the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) once a week. This scale ranges from 10 to 50 for Positive Affect, with greater values meaning greater presence of positive mood; and from 10 to 50 for Negative Affect, with greater values meaning greater presence of negative mood.
Post - Pre changes in self-esteem
时间窗: Difference from enrollment to the end of the post-intervention evaluation (roughly at week 14).
the investigators will use the standard test Rosenberg Self-Esteem Questionnaire, ranging from 0 to 30, with scores between 15 and 25 pertaining to a normal range and scores below 15 suggesting low self-esteem.
Post - Pre changes in Anxiety (SCARED)
时间窗: Difference from enrollment to the end of the post-intervention evaluation (roughly at week 14).
measured via the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders (SCARED), a scale ranging from 0 to 82 with values greater than 25 in the total score indicating the presence of anxiety disorder. It is divided in subscales for Panic Disorder (cut-off=7), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (cut-off=9), Separation Anxiety Disorder (cut-off=5), Social Anxiety Disorder (cut-off=8), and School Avoidance (cut-off=3).
Post - Pre changes in Mood
时间窗: Difference from enrollment to the end of the post-intervention evaluation (roughly at week 14).
measures of mood will be acquired by using the Positive and Negative Affective Scale (PANAS). This scale ranges from 10 to 50 for Positive Affect, with greater values meaning greater presence of positive mood; and from 10 to 50 for Negative Affect, with greater values meaning greater presence of negative mood.
Post - Pre changes in auditory working memory
时间窗: Difference from enrollment to the end of the post-intervention evaluation (roughly at week 14).
measured via the WAIS-V Letter Number Sequencing. Score ranges from 0 to 21, with higher scores indicating better auditory working memory.
Post - Pre changes in functional connectivity at rest
时间窗: Difference from enrollment to the end of the post-intervention evaluation (roughly at week 14).
measured using functional MRI (fMRI). Summary beta values representing the level of brain activity will be calculated in functional networks of interest.
Post - Pre changes in brain morphology / anatomy
时间窗: Difference from enrollment to the end of the post-intervention evaluation (roughly at week 14).
Using structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging, researchers will obtain T1-weighted images that will allow for the study of participants' cortical and subcortical gray matter. Applying analyses such as Voxel-Based Morphometry or Cortical Thickness values of gray matter will be obtained, compared between groups and correlated with other types of measures (i.e., cognitive, mental health, behavioral).
次要结局
- Treatment Fidelity(From beginning of the intervention to end of intervention (at week 12))
- Post - Pre changes in social media platforms used(From enrollment to the end of the post-intervention evaluation (roughly at week 14).)
- Post - Pre changes in types of posts shared online(From enrollment to the end of the post-intervention evaluation (roughly at week 14).)
- Post - Pre changes in Anxiety (DASS21)(Difference from enrollment to the end of the post-intervention evaluation (roughly at week 14).)
- Students' Engagement during Interventions(From beginning of the intervention to end of intervention (at week 12))
- Post - Pre changes in self-reported screentime(From enrollment to the end of the post-intervention evaluation (roughly at week 14).)
- Weekly evolution of apps most used during weekday(From week 1 to week 12 of the intervention (or 3-month no intervention period for the control group).)
- Weekly evolution of apps most used during weekend day(From week 1 to week 12 of the intervention (or 3-month no intervention period for the control group).)
- Post - Pre changes in Depression (DASS21)(Difference from enrollment to the end of the post-intervention evaluation (roughly at week 14).)
- Post - Pre changes in Stress (DASS21)(Difference from enrollment to the end of the post-intervention evaluation (roughly at week 14).)
- Post - Pre changes in Focused Attention and Executive Functions(Difference from enrollment to the end of the post-intervention evaluation (roughly at week 14).)
- Post - Pre changes in functional connectivity at rest within different frequency bands(Difference from enrollment to the end of the post-intervention evaluation (roughly at week 14).)
- Post - Pre changes in the Total Mood Disturbance (POMS)(Difference from enrollment to the end of the post-intervention evaluation (roughly at week 14).)
- Post - Pre changes in Social Anxiety(Difference from enrollment to the end of the post-intervention evaluation (roughly at week 14).)