Does Using a Self-help App to Improve Wellbeing Work? - An Experimental Follow-up Study
Trial Snapshot
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Status
- Completed
- Sponsor
- Enrollment
- 492
- Locations
- 1
- Primary Endpoint
- Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 (PHQ-9)
Study Overview
Brief Summary
Anxiety and worry are amongst the most common mental health difficulties. The Second Mental Health Study found a significant increase in the lifetime prevalence for GAD, from 0.9% to 1.6%. In addition, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development found that among Singaporean students, 86% experienced anxiety levels that were significantly higher than the OECD average.
Past research revealed that individuals who worried more experienced decreases in life satisfaction. It was also found that worry and anxiety are significant predictors of one's psychological wellbeing .
In line with this trend, the market for wellbeing apps have been one of the fastest growing categories of apps ever since; with more than 10,000 on the market. Studies have shown that the use of wellbeing apps has been correlated with an improvement in mental wellbeing. However, due to the lack of research that focuses on disorder-specific evidence, there still exists debates around the effectiveness of wellbeing apps on anxiety and worry. In addition, the lack of research on the mediating factor of psychological mindedness in the relationship between the use of wellbeing apps and mental well-being, could be pivotal to the effectiveness of wellbeing apps.
To show the effectiveness of evidence-based wellbeing apps in targeting anxiety and worry, this study will employ the engagement of participants with a wellbeing app for a controlled period of 2 weeks before recording their mental wellbeing outcomes.This paradigm has been replicated extensively through multiple studies.
This study will use a between-groups experimental study design whereby participants will be block randomised into 2 conditions: Active control condition, and Anxiety condition. Each condition will be given a restricted version of the wellbeing app according to their treatment groups. Follow-up data will be collected at 2-weeks post intervention to establish efficacy of the intervention.
Objective 1: To evaluate the effectiveness of a wellbeing app self-help programme for reducing anxiety and worry.
Objective 2: To examine if psychological mindedness moderates hypothesised effects of wellbeing app usage and anxiety and worry.
Hypothesis 1: Participants in the intervention group will report significantly lower anxiety and worry than participants in the control group.
Hypothesis 2: Psychological mindedness will moderate the effect of the wellbeing app's self-help programme on anxiety and worry: Participants high in psychological mindedness will benefit more from the wellbeing apps than those with lower scores on psychological mindedness.
Study Design
- Study Type
- Interventional
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Intervention Model
- Parallel
- Primary Purpose
- Supportive Care
- Masking
- Triple (Participant, Care Provider, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility Criteria
- Ages
- 18 Years to — (Adult, Older Adult)
- Sex
- All
- Accepts Healthy Volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria
- •At least 18 years old for NUS students, or 21 for non NUS students
Exclusion Criteria
- •Participants who do not meet the age requirement
Arms & Interventions
Anxiety Group
Participants will download the anxiety application to their own handphones, and will complete the programme subsequently in their own time over the course of 2 weeks. The expected duration participants will spend on the anxiety application daily is estimated to be around 5 to 10 minutes, amounting to a total of around 140 minutes (2 hours and 10 minutes) during the 2 weeks intervention. Participants in the anxiety group are asked to complete daily brief exercises. For example, they will practice noticing worry thoughts and journal them down.
Intervention: Anxiety Application (Behavioral)
Procrastination Group
Participants will download the procrastination application to their own handphones, and will complete the programme subsequently in their own time over the course of 2 weeks. The expected duration participants will spend on the procrastination application daily is estimated to be around 5 to 10 minutes, amounting to a total of around 140 minutes (2 hours and 10 minutes) during the 2 weeks intervention. Participants in the procrastination group are asked to complete daily brief exercises. For example, they will practice to reduce procrastination-related thoughts.
Intervention: Procrastination Application (Behavioral)
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 (PHQ-9)
Time Frame: 2 weeks after the completion of the intervention
Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) i s a 9 item self report instrument that measures depression. Items are scored on a 4-point scale, ranging from "not at all (0)", "several days (1)", "more than half the days (2)" and "nearly everyday (3)". In a sample of 3000 patients in the PHQ Primary Care Study, PHQ-9 achieved an excellent internal consistency of α=0.89 (Kroenke, Spitzer, \& Williams, 2001).
General Anxiety Disorder - 7 (GAD-7)
Time Frame: 2 weeks after the completion of the intervention
General Anxiety Disorder- 7 (GAD-7) is a 7 item self report instrument that measures anxiety and is widely used in research in clinical and nonclinical practices anxiety as a continuum (Siddaway, Taylor \& Wood, 2018) and is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing anxiety in a general population (Löwe et al., 2008). Items are scored on a 4-point scale, ranging from "not at all (0)", "several days (1)", "more than half the days (2)" and "nearly everyday (3)". GAD-7 produced an excellent internal consistency of α=0.92 in a sample of 2982 participants (Spitzer, Kroenke, Williams, \& Löwe, 2006).
General Anxiety Disorder - 7 (GAD-7)
Time Frame: Measured before the intervention
General Anxiety Disorder- 7 (GAD-7) is a 7 item self report instrument that measures anxiety and is widely used in research in clinical and nonclinical practices anxiety as a continuum (Siddaway, Taylor \& Wood, 2018) and is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing anxiety in a general population (Löwe et al., 2008). Items are scored on a 4-point scale, ranging from "not at all (0)", "several days (1)", "more than half the days (2)" and "nearly everyday (3)". GAD-7 produced an excellent internal consistency of α=0.92 in a sample of 2982 participants (Spitzer, Kroenke, Williams, \& Löwe, 2006).
General Anxiety Disorder - 7 (GAD-7)
Time Frame: 1-2 days after completing the intervention (2 weeks)
General Anxiety Disorder- 7 (GAD-7) is a 7 item self report instrument that measures anxiety and is widely used in research in clinical and nonclinical practices anxiety as a continuum (Siddaway, Taylor \& Wood, 2018) and is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing anxiety in a general population (Löwe et al., 2008). Items are scored on a 4-point scale, ranging from "not at all (0)", "several days (1)", "more than half the days (2)" and "nearly everyday (3)". GAD-7 produced an excellent internal consistency of α=0.92 in a sample of 2982 participants (Spitzer, Kroenke, Williams, \& Löwe, 2006).
Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 (PHQ-9)
Time Frame: Measured before the intervention
Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) i s a 9 item self report instrument that measures depression. Items are scored on a 4-point scale, ranging from "not at all (0)", "several days (1)", "more than half the days (2)" and "nearly everyday (3)". In a sample of 3000 patients in the PHQ Primary Care Study, PHQ-9 achieved an excellent internal consistency of α=0.89 (Kroenke, Spitzer, \& Williams, 2001).
Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 (PHQ-9)
Time Frame: 1-2 days after completing the intervention (2 weeks)
Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) i s a 9 item self report instrument that measures depression. Items are scored on a 4-point scale, ranging from "not at all (0)", "several days (1)", "more than half the days (2)" and "nearly everyday (3)". In a sample of 3000 patients in the PHQ Primary Care Study, PHQ-9 achieved an excellent internal consistency of α=0.89 (Kroenke, Spitzer, \& Williams, 2001).
Secondary Outcomes
- Psychological Mindedness Scale(Measured before the intervention)
- App Engagement Scale(Measured 1-2 days after completing the intervention (2 weeks))
Investigators
VTan
Co-Investigator
National University of Singapore