Brief App-based Mood Monitoring and Mindfulness Intervention for First-year College Students

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Depression, Anxiety; Self-Injurious Behavior
• Interventions: Behavioral: Mindfulness plus mood monitoring; Behavioral: Mood monitoring

• Registration Number: NCT06348277
• Lead Sponsor: Lawrence University

Brief Summary

The investigators examined whether brief, app-based interventions were helpful in alleviating mental health symptoms during the transition to college. In particular, the investigators were interested in whether a brief mobile-app mindfulness intervention combined with mood monitoring was more effective in alleviating first-year students' psychological distress than mood monitoring alone.

Detailed Description

The transition to college is associated with worsening mental health symptoms. This study tested whether a brief mobile-app mindfulness intervention combined with mood monitoring was more effective in alleviating first-year students' psychological distress than mood monitoring alone. Participants were 130 first-year students. The investigators randomly assigned 88 students to a mindfulness-plus-mood-monitoring or a mood-monitoring-only group and asked them to use an app 3 times a day for 3 weeks. They, along with an assessment-only control group (n=42), completed self-report questionnaires at baseline, post-intervention, and 6 and 12 weeks later.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2018-01-02
• Primary Completion: 2020-04-07
• Study Completion: 2020-06-17
• Status Verified: 2024-03
• Study First Submitted: 2024-03-20
• Study First Submitted QC: 2024-03-28
• Last Update Submitted: 2024-03-28
• Study First Posted: 2024-04-04
• Last Update Posted: 2024-04-04

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 130

Inclusion Criteria

• enrolled first-year student at university

Exclusion Criteria

• serious suicidal concerns

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
MIndfulness Plus Mood Monitoring	Mindfulness plus mood monitoring	Mobile app that involved mood monitoring and brief mindfulness exercises.
Mood Monitoring Only	Mood monitoring	Mobile app that involved only mood monitoring

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Depressive Symptoms	immediately after the intervention	Beck Depression Inventory; higher scores indicate greater depression
Anxiety Symptoms	immediately after the intervention	Beck Anxiety Inventory; higher scores indicate greater anxiety
Urges to Self-injure	immediately after the intervention	Alexian Brothers Urges to Self-Injure scale; higher scores indicate greater urges
Rumination	immediately after the intervention	Ruminative Response Scale; higher scores indicate higher rumination
Worry	immediately after the intervention	Penn State Worry Questionnaire; higher scores indicate greater worry

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Depressive Symptoms	12 weeks following the intervention	Beck Depression Inventory; higher scores indicate greater depression
Anxiety Symptoms	12 weeks following the intervention	Beck Anxiety Inventory; higher scores indicate greater anxiety
Rumination	12 weeks following the intervention	Ruminative Response Scale; higher scores indicate higher rumination
Worry	12 weeks following the intervention	Penn State Worry Questionnaire; higher scores indicate greater worry
Urges to self-injure	12 weeks following the intervention	Alexian Brothers Urges to Self-Injure scale; higher scores indicate greater urges

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Lawrence University; 🇺🇸 Appleton, Wisconsin, United States