MedPath

A 12-week Feasibility Trial of a Mental Health Breakfast Show Wakey

Not Applicable
Completed
Conditions
Mental Wellbeing
Interventions
Behavioral: Wakey!
Registration Number
NCT04287296
Lead Sponsor
Method X Studios Ltd
Brief Summary

The aim of Wakey! is to increase access to wellbeing support to lower socio-economic groups who have traditionally been excluded from the design and evaluation of digital mental health interventions. This feasibility study is designed to explore engagement, initial efficacy and experience of using Wakey! in the underserved populations in the United Kingdom. This will be used to further adapt and refine the intervention, so it is appealing and effective in the target populations.

Detailed Description

Mental health conditions are a considerable burden for patients and health services and have been shown to have social patterning in severity and incidence. Children and adults living in the lowest 20% income bracket are two to three times more likely to develop a mental health condition than those people living in the top 20% bracket. Unemployment, working in jobs with low pay and insecure work have been found to be detrimental to mental health. Mental health services are struggling to cope with demands on services, and unequal access to support is further exacerbating health inequalities.

Digital interventions have been proposed as a solution to address the high demand for mental health support in the context of the crisis in healthcare services. These interventions provide the potential to reduce health disparities, by providing personalised low-cost infinitely reusable resource that can increase access to health interventions. However, these interventions may increase inequity, where access and usability for disadvantaged groups remain barriers. To ensure health inequalities are not further exacerbated, there is a need to develop digital interventions that are appealing and accessible those from lower socioeconomic groups. These are social groups that currently look to entertainment to regulate difficult emotions and for education.

An initial pilot of the 9-minute show was trialled in the United Kingdom with a lower socio-economic group and was well received. The app was advertised through the companies that partner with Lost In TV Audience Services, who has a database of 450,000 people. In the initial pilot 43,000 people opened the email about the app. The live morning breakfast show that ran for two weeks was used by 450 participants. The findings were that 50% watched all 10 shows, 65% said that would download the app "today", 70% said it was easier to get out of bed, 53% saw an increase in life satisfaction, and 67% reported an increase in self-efficacy.

The primary objectives of the feasibility study are:

* To assess how many people download the app in the target population

* To assess participant's engagement with the app over the 12-week trial period

The secondary objectives are:

* To explore efficacy data on Office for National Statistics well-being outcomes, sleep and self-efficacy outcomes and to see if there are any changes throughout the trial

* To explore, quantitatively and qualitatively, participants' experiences of using Wakey!

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
3993
Inclusion Criteria
  • App users who are at least 18 years old.
Exclusion Criteria

Not provided

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
SINGLE_GROUP
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
App usersWakey!The app users who are at least 18 years old.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Overall engagement12 weeks; collected daily (not on weekends) throughout the trial

Number of episodes (livestream/archived) watched over the 12-week period.

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Change in self-efficacy12 weeks; baseline, then weekly follow-ups until the end of the trial

The participants are asked to assess to what extent they agree with the statement "I can successfully overcome life's daily challenges". The answers include: strongly agree (1), agree (2), neither agree or disagree (3), disagree (4), strongly disagree (5). Higher scores indicate lower self-efficacy.

Entertainment value of the episode12 weeks; daily question from Mon-Fri during the trial

The participants are asked to rate how entertaining did they find the current episode on a scale of 0 ("not at all") to 10 ("completely").

Change in the ease of getting up in the morning12 weeks; baseline, then weekly follow-ups until the end of the trial; as a daily question from Mon-Fri during the trial

The participants are asked to rate how easy it was to get up this morning on a scale of 0 ("not at all") to 10 ("completely").

Change in personal well-being12 weeks; baseline, then weekly follow-ups until the end of the trial

UK's national personal well-being measures (used in the Annual Population Survey) about life satisfaction, feeling the things done in life are worthwhile, happiness and anxiety. The participants are asked to rate the four domains on a scale of 0 ("not at all") to 10 ("completely"). Higher scores indicate higher perception of wellbeing (except for anxiety, where higher scores indicate higher level of anxiety).

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Method X Studios

🇬🇧

Sheffield, United Kingdom

© Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved by MedPath