Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: Nov 5, 2020
Date Accepted: Feb 25, 2021
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited.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.
Effects of a Digital Mental Health Program on Perceived Stress in Adolescents Aged 13 to 17: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial
ABSTRACT
Background:
Stress is an important transdiagnostic risk factor in adolescence, predicting a host of physical and psychological problems in adolescence and adulthood. Adolescence is also a developmental stage in which people may be more sensitive or reactive to stress. Indeed, research has shown that adolescents report high levels of stress, particularly when enrolled in school. However, adolescents report engaging in few, if any, stress management techniques. Consequently, developing effective programs to help address adolescent stress are particularly important. To date, most stress-management programs for adolescents are delivered within schools and the evidence for such programs is mixed. Further, most of these programs rely on traditional stress-management techniques rather than incorporating methods of addressing underlying negative cognitive processes, such as rumination, that may contribute to or exacerbate the effects of perceived stress.
Objective:
The aim of the current study is to test the short-term effects of a digital mental health program designed for adolescents aged 13 to 17 on perceived stress and rumination.
Methods:
This is a randomized controlled trial in which adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17, with elevated levels of perceived stress and brooding, will be randomly assigned to complete 8 weeks of a digital mental health program (Happify for Teens) or to a corresponding waitlist control group. The study will take place over 3 months, including the 8-week intervention period and a 1-month post-intervention follow-up. The primary outcome, perceived stress, along with secondary and exploratory outcomes (i.e., brooding, optimism, sleep disturbance, and loneliness) will be assessed via self-report at baseline, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks in order to compare changes in these outcomes across conditions.
Results:
Recruitment is expected to begin in November 2020 with a target sample size of 800 participants (400 per condition). Participants will begin the study as they are recruited and thus will finish in waves, with the first wave of data expected in Q1 of 2021 and the final wave of data expected during Q2 of 2021.
Conclusions:
Although school-based stress management programs for adolescents are common, research suggests they may be limited in their reach and more effective for school-based stress than other types of stress. This trial will be one of the first attempts to examine the potential benefits of a digital mental health program on adolescents for addressing stress along with negative cognitive processes like rumination. If successful, this would help introduce a more scalable alternative to school-based programs that offers adolescents greater privacy, while also providing insight into novel ways we can target adolescent mental health more generally. Clinical Trial: Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT04567888
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