A Smartphone Intervention for Relational and Mental Well Being

University of Washington

Status: Completed

Conditions: Loneliness; Relation, Interpersonal; Covid19; Depression

Treatments: Behavioral: Intervention

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04629755

STUDY00009897

Details and patient eligibility

About

The primary aim of this study is to provide and evaluate a phone-based intervention to improve relational and mental well-being during the COVID-19 crisis. This information also will help us understand how individuals are responding to COVID-19 and have the potential to inform psychological and policy level interventions.

Full description

We conducted a randomized intervention trial of a mobile-based intervention that offered participants daily suggestions for 14 days on how to improve relational and mental well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample of 1765 adults residing in the United States participated in the study and were assigned to control or intervention conditions. To measure outcomes, all participants received a daily text message to their smartphones every evening for 28 days linking to a survey on relational and mental well-being. Participants also received a survey link on Days 56 and 72. Intervention participants received additional text messages in the mornings of Days 7 - 22 presenting the intervention suggestions.

Enrollment: 1,765 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Age 18+
• Resides in United States
• Possesses smartphone
• Willing to share phone number and email to researchers

Exclusion criteria

• None

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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1,765 participants in 2 patient groups

Intervention

Experimental group

Description:

The intervention was delivered via a series of daily text messages to mobile phones. Participants first were delivered an introductory text message at 6:00 pm on Day 7 of the study. This message alerted the participants to expect their first suggestion via text message at 8:00 am the following morning. For the next 14 days (Days 8 - 22), participants received one of 14 suggestions in random order. The specific daily suggestions varied in length and complexity: The simplest ones included text messages and a brief audiofile delivered via text; the more complex suggestions included text messages and a link to a web-page, which included text or embedded audiofiles describing why a suggestion was being made, how to engage in the suggested practice, and audiotaped exchanges between members of the production team describing what it was like to try the practices themselves. Some suggestions were supplemented with additional reminder and check-in text messages at noon and 4:00 pm.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Intervention

Control

No Intervention group

Description:

Assessment only.