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Feasibility, Perceived Impact, and Acceptability of a Socially Assistive Robot to Support Emotion Regulation With Highly Anxious University Students: Mixed Methods Open Trial

BACKGROUND: Mental health difficulties among university students have been rising rapidly over the last decade, and the demand for university mental health services commonly far exceeds available resources. Digital interventions are seen as one potential solution to these challenges. However, as in...

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Autores principales: Williams, A Jess, Freed, Maureen, Theofanopoulou, Nikki, Daudén Roquet, Claudia, Klasnja, Predrag, Gross, James, Schleider, Jessica, Slovak, Petr
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: JMIR Publications 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10646679/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37906230
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/46826
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author Williams, A Jess
Freed, Maureen
Theofanopoulou, Nikki
Daudén Roquet, Claudia
Klasnja, Predrag
Gross, James
Schleider, Jessica
Slovak, Petr
author_facet Williams, A Jess
Freed, Maureen
Theofanopoulou, Nikki
Daudén Roquet, Claudia
Klasnja, Predrag
Gross, James
Schleider, Jessica
Slovak, Petr
author_sort Williams, A Jess
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Mental health difficulties among university students have been rising rapidly over the last decade, and the demand for university mental health services commonly far exceeds available resources. Digital interventions are seen as one potential solution to these challenges. However, as in other mental health contexts, digital programs often face low engagement and uptake, and the field lacks usable, engaging, evidence-supported mental health interventions that may be used flexibly when students need them most. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility and acceptability of a new, in situ intervention tool (Purrble) among university students experiencing anxiety. As an intervention, Purrble was designed to provide in situ support for emotion regulation (ER)—a well-known transdiagnostic construct—directly in the moments when individuals are facing emotionally challenging situations. A secondary aim is to consider the perceived impact of Purrble on youth mental health, as reported by students over a 7-week deployment. METHODS: A mixed methods open trial was conducted with 78 under- and postgraduate students at Oxford University. Participants were recruited based on moderate to high levels of anxiety measured by Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 at baseline (mean 16.09, SD 3.03). All participants had access to Purrble for 7 weeks during the spring term with data on their perceived anxiety, emotion dysregulation, ER self-efficacy, and engagement with the intervention collected at baseline (pre), week 4 (mid), and week 8 (postintervention). Qualitative responses were also collected at the mid- and postintervention points. RESULTS: The findings demonstrated a sustained engagement with Purrble over the 7-week period, with the acceptability further supported by the qualitative data indicating that students accepted Purrble and that Purrble was well-integrated into their daily routines. Exploratory quantitative data analysis indicated that Purrble was associated with reductions in student anxiety (dz=0.96, 95% CI 0.62-1.29) and emotion dysregulation (dz=0.69, 95% CI 0.38-0.99), and with an increase in ER self-efficacy (dz=–0.56, 95% CI –0.86 to –0.26). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first trial of a simple physical intervention that aims to provide ongoing ER support to university students. Both quantitative and qualitative data suggest that Purrble is an acceptable and feasible intervention among students, the engagement with which can be sustained at a stable level across a 7-week period while retaining a perceived benefit for those who use it (n=32, 61% of our sample). The consistency of use is particularly promising given that there was no clinician engagement or further support provided beyond Purrble being delivered to the students. These results show promise for an innovative intervention model, which could be complementary to the existing interventions.
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spelling pubmed-106466792023-10-31 Feasibility, Perceived Impact, and Acceptability of a Socially Assistive Robot to Support Emotion Regulation With Highly Anxious University Students: Mixed Methods Open Trial Williams, A Jess Freed, Maureen Theofanopoulou, Nikki Daudén Roquet, Claudia Klasnja, Predrag Gross, James Schleider, Jessica Slovak, Petr JMIR Ment Health Original Paper BACKGROUND: Mental health difficulties among university students have been rising rapidly over the last decade, and the demand for university mental health services commonly far exceeds available resources. Digital interventions are seen as one potential solution to these challenges. However, as in other mental health contexts, digital programs often face low engagement and uptake, and the field lacks usable, engaging, evidence-supported mental health interventions that may be used flexibly when students need them most. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility and acceptability of a new, in situ intervention tool (Purrble) among university students experiencing anxiety. As an intervention, Purrble was designed to provide in situ support for emotion regulation (ER)—a well-known transdiagnostic construct—directly in the moments when individuals are facing emotionally challenging situations. A secondary aim is to consider the perceived impact of Purrble on youth mental health, as reported by students over a 7-week deployment. METHODS: A mixed methods open trial was conducted with 78 under- and postgraduate students at Oxford University. Participants were recruited based on moderate to high levels of anxiety measured by Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 at baseline (mean 16.09, SD 3.03). All participants had access to Purrble for 7 weeks during the spring term with data on their perceived anxiety, emotion dysregulation, ER self-efficacy, and engagement with the intervention collected at baseline (pre), week 4 (mid), and week 8 (postintervention). Qualitative responses were also collected at the mid- and postintervention points. RESULTS: The findings demonstrated a sustained engagement with Purrble over the 7-week period, with the acceptability further supported by the qualitative data indicating that students accepted Purrble and that Purrble was well-integrated into their daily routines. Exploratory quantitative data analysis indicated that Purrble was associated with reductions in student anxiety (dz=0.96, 95% CI 0.62-1.29) and emotion dysregulation (dz=0.69, 95% CI 0.38-0.99), and with an increase in ER self-efficacy (dz=–0.56, 95% CI –0.86 to –0.26). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first trial of a simple physical intervention that aims to provide ongoing ER support to university students. Both quantitative and qualitative data suggest that Purrble is an acceptable and feasible intervention among students, the engagement with which can be sustained at a stable level across a 7-week period while retaining a perceived benefit for those who use it (n=32, 61% of our sample). The consistency of use is particularly promising given that there was no clinician engagement or further support provided beyond Purrble being delivered to the students. These results show promise for an innovative intervention model, which could be complementary to the existing interventions. JMIR Publications 2023-10-31 /pmc/articles/PMC10646679/ /pubmed/37906230 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/46826 Text en ©A Jess Williams, Maureen Freed, Nikki Theofanopoulou, Claudia Daudén Roquet, Predrag Klasnja, James Gross, Jessica Schleider, Petr Slovak. Originally published in JMIR Mental Health (https://mental.jmir.org), 31.10.2023. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR Mental Health, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://mental.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.
spellingShingle Original Paper
Williams, A Jess
Freed, Maureen
Theofanopoulou, Nikki
Daudén Roquet, Claudia
Klasnja, Predrag
Gross, James
Schleider, Jessica
Slovak, Petr
Feasibility, Perceived Impact, and Acceptability of a Socially Assistive Robot to Support Emotion Regulation With Highly Anxious University Students: Mixed Methods Open Trial
title Feasibility, Perceived Impact, and Acceptability of a Socially Assistive Robot to Support Emotion Regulation With Highly Anxious University Students: Mixed Methods Open Trial
title_full Feasibility, Perceived Impact, and Acceptability of a Socially Assistive Robot to Support Emotion Regulation With Highly Anxious University Students: Mixed Methods Open Trial
title_fullStr Feasibility, Perceived Impact, and Acceptability of a Socially Assistive Robot to Support Emotion Regulation With Highly Anxious University Students: Mixed Methods Open Trial
title_full_unstemmed Feasibility, Perceived Impact, and Acceptability of a Socially Assistive Robot to Support Emotion Regulation With Highly Anxious University Students: Mixed Methods Open Trial
title_short Feasibility, Perceived Impact, and Acceptability of a Socially Assistive Robot to Support Emotion Regulation With Highly Anxious University Students: Mixed Methods Open Trial
title_sort feasibility, perceived impact, and acceptability of a socially assistive robot to support emotion regulation with highly anxious university students: mixed methods open trial
topic Original Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10646679/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37906230
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/46826
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