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Effects of a Digital Mental Health Program on Perceived Stress in Adolescents Aged 13-17 Years: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND: Stress is an important transdiagnostic risk factor in adolescence and predicts 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 tha...

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Autores principales: Boucher, Eliane M, Ward, Haley E, Stafford, Julia L, Parks, Acacia C
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: JMIR Publications 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8094018/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33871377
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/25545
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author Boucher, Eliane M
Ward, Haley E
Stafford, Julia L
Parks, Acacia C
author_facet Boucher, Eliane M
Ward, Haley E
Stafford, Julia L
Parks, Acacia C
author_sort Boucher, Eliane M
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Stress is an important transdiagnostic risk factor in adolescence and predicts 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, the development of effective programs to help address adolescent stress is particularly important. To date, most stress management programs for adolescents are delivered within schools, and the evidence for such programs is mixed. Furthermore, most of these programs rely on traditional stress management techniques rather than incorporating methods to address the underlying negative cognitive processes, such as rumination, that may contribute to or exacerbate the effects of perceived stress. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to test the short-term effects of a digital mental health program designed for adolescents aged 13-17 years on perceived stress and rumination. METHODS: This is a randomized controlled trial in which adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17 years, 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 wait-list control group. The study will take place over 3 months, including the 8-week intervention period and 1-month postintervention follow-up. The primary outcome, perceived stress, along with secondary and exploratory outcomes (ie, brooding, optimism, sleep disturbance, and loneliness) will be assessed via self-report at baseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks to compare changes in these outcomes across conditions. RESULTS: Recruitment is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2021, with a target sample size of 800 participants (400 per condition). Participants will begin the study as they are recruited and will finish in waves, with the first wave of data expected 8 weeks after recruitment begins and the final wave of data expected by the end of the third quarter of 2021. CONCLUSIONS: Although school-based stress management programs for adolescents are common, research suggests that 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 to address stress along with negative cognitive processes such as 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 to target adolescent mental health more generally. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04567888; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04567888 INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/25545
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spelling pubmed-80940182021-05-07 Effects of a Digital Mental Health Program on Perceived Stress in Adolescents Aged 13-17 Years: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial Boucher, Eliane M Ward, Haley E Stafford, Julia L Parks, Acacia C JMIR Res Protoc Protocol BACKGROUND: Stress is an important transdiagnostic risk factor in adolescence and predicts 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, the development of effective programs to help address adolescent stress is particularly important. To date, most stress management programs for adolescents are delivered within schools, and the evidence for such programs is mixed. Furthermore, most of these programs rely on traditional stress management techniques rather than incorporating methods to address the underlying negative cognitive processes, such as rumination, that may contribute to or exacerbate the effects of perceived stress. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to test the short-term effects of a digital mental health program designed for adolescents aged 13-17 years on perceived stress and rumination. METHODS: This is a randomized controlled trial in which adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17 years, 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 wait-list control group. The study will take place over 3 months, including the 8-week intervention period and 1-month postintervention follow-up. The primary outcome, perceived stress, along with secondary and exploratory outcomes (ie, brooding, optimism, sleep disturbance, and loneliness) will be assessed via self-report at baseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks to compare changes in these outcomes across conditions. RESULTS: Recruitment is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2021, with a target sample size of 800 participants (400 per condition). Participants will begin the study as they are recruited and will finish in waves, with the first wave of data expected 8 weeks after recruitment begins and the final wave of data expected by the end of the third quarter of 2021. CONCLUSIONS: Although school-based stress management programs for adolescents are common, research suggests that 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 to address stress along with negative cognitive processes such as 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 to target adolescent mental health more generally. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04567888; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04567888 INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/25545 JMIR Publications 2021-04-19 /pmc/articles/PMC8094018/ /pubmed/33871377 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/25545 Text en ©Eliane M Boucher, Haley E Ward, Julia L Stafford, Acacia C Parks. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (https://www.researchprotocols.org), 19.04.2021. 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 Research Protocols, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://www.researchprotocols.org, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.
spellingShingle Protocol
Boucher, Eliane M
Ward, Haley E
Stafford, Julia L
Parks, Acacia C
Effects of a Digital Mental Health Program on Perceived Stress in Adolescents Aged 13-17 Years: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial
title Effects of a Digital Mental Health Program on Perceived Stress in Adolescents Aged 13-17 Years: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial
title_full Effects of a Digital Mental Health Program on Perceived Stress in Adolescents Aged 13-17 Years: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial
title_fullStr Effects of a Digital Mental Health Program on Perceived Stress in Adolescents Aged 13-17 Years: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial
title_full_unstemmed Effects of a Digital Mental Health Program on Perceived Stress in Adolescents Aged 13-17 Years: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial
title_short Effects of a Digital Mental Health Program on Perceived Stress in Adolescents Aged 13-17 Years: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial
title_sort effects of a digital mental health program on perceived stress in adolescents aged 13-17 years: protocol for a randomized controlled trial
topic Protocol
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8094018/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33871377
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/25545
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