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Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Research Protocols

Date Submitted: Oct 4, 2018
Open Peer Review Period: Oct 8, 2018 - Oct 22, 2018
Date Accepted: May 18, 2019
(closed for review but you can still tweet)

The final, peer-reviewed published version of this preprint can be found here:

Mental Health Promotion Among University Students Using Text Messaging: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial of a Mobile Phone–Based Intervention

Thomas K, Bendtsen M

Mental Health Promotion Among University Students Using Text Messaging: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial of a Mobile Phone–Based Intervention

JMIR Res Protoc 2019;8(8):e12396

DOI: 10.2196/12396

PMID: 31418426

PMCID: 6714499

Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.

Mental Health Promotion Among University Students Using Text Messaging: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial of a Mobile Phone–Based Intervention

  • Kristin Thomas; 
  • Marcus Bendtsen

Background:

There is a growing understanding that well-being and mental illness are 2 separate dimensions of mental health. High well-being is associated with decreased risk of disease and mental illness and increased longevity.

Objective:

This study aims to test the efficacy of a mobile phone–based intervention on positive mental health.

Methods:

We are conducting a 2-armed randomized controlled trial of university students in Sweden. Recruitment will last for 6 months by digital advertising (eg, university websites). Participants will be randomly allocated to either an intervention (fully automated mobile phone–based mental health intervention) or control group (treatment as usual). The primary outcome will be self-assessed positive mental health (Mental Health Continuum Short Form). Secondary outcomes will be self-assessed depression anxiety symptomatology (Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale). Outcomes will be investigated at baseline, at 3, 6, and 12 months after randomization. Mediators (positive emotions and thoughts) will be investigated at baseline, midintervention, and at follow-ups using 2 single face-valid items.

Results:

Data will be collected between autumn 2018 and spring 2019. Results are expected to be published in 2020.

Conclusions:

Strengths of the study include the use of a validated comprehensive instrument to measure positive mental health. Mechanisms of change are also investigated. A potential challenge could be recruitment; however, by setting a prolonged recruitment period, we believe that the study will recruit a sufficient sample.

ClinicalTrial:

International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number: 54748632; http://www.isrctn.com/ ISRCTN54748632

International Registered Report:

PRR1-10.2196/12396


 Citation

Please cite as:

Thomas K, Bendtsen M

Mental Health Promotion Among University Students Using Text Messaging: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial of a Mobile Phone–Based Intervention

JMIR Res Protoc 2019;8(8):e12396

DOI: 10.2196/12396

PMID: 31418426

PMCID: 6714499

Per the author's request the PDF is not available.

© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.