Digital Rewards and Retention in a M-health App (DIGITALRCT)

University of Bucharest

Status: Not yet enrolling

Conditions: Engagement; Transdiagnostic Psychopathology; Depression, Anxiety; Attrition; Stress

Treatments: Other: No intervention; Behavioral: Multipurpose Online Tool

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06883773

DIGITALGAMINGRCT

Details and patient eligibility

About

Attrition and user engagement are two challenges that eHealth interventions struggle with. Attempts to address this have been previously made through gamification, instructional design and using different types of incentives. Overall, any type of reward, be it non-financial or monetary is better than the controls, but the latter usually produce a greater effect. It is also worth mentioning that having an affective value attached to the reward itself is also important to user retention and engagement. Given the ever-increasing interest in cryptocurrency and its current relevance, the present study - a randomized clinical trial with three arms - aims to compare cryptocurrency to non-monetary rewards regarding their effectiveness in reducing attrition and increasing engagement. In order to do this, a mental-health computerized intervention will be developed, in which the users will have to complete several modules, during which time they will be rewarded either with cryptocurrency, sweepstake rewards (e.g., vouchers), or nothing.

Full description

Albeit effective, eHealth interventions suffer from very high dropout rates. Finding novel ways in which to maximise user retention and engagement in such settings can be beneficial, and exploring cryptocurrency as a potential reward may be worthwhile, since motivation seems to increase as the reward is perceived as more meaningful by the recipient.

The design is experimental, between-subjects, with one independent variable (the type of reward offered) and mental health (e.g., depression, anxiety, stress, and transdiagnostic constructs) as well as engagement and retention outcomes. Thus, three groups will be formed: two in which participants will be enrolled in the modular MOTO intervention and will receive different rewards, and one in which they will not receive any intervention or reward but will be evaluated as part of a waitlist control group. The modular MOTO intervention involves, in addition to the mentioned assessments, the completion of six weekly modules, each focused on specific aspects of mental health and containing exercises that may improve psychological well-being. These modules are automated, requiring no interaction with others (except for communication between participants and research team). Each of these modules contains the following: psychoeducational section(s) that participants must complete; a short test of 5-10 questions after each section to assess understanding of the material; (only for the first two groups); a link where they can obtain their rewards; the exercise corresponding to that module; the evaluation corresponding to that module.

Enrollment: 177 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 60 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• English speaking

Exclusion criteria

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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177 participants in 3 patient groups

Crypto reward group

Experimental group

Description:

The participants will be enrolled in a weekly, 6 module intervention, which will require them to read psychoeducational materials, complete quizzes regarding those materials, complete the module-specific exercise, and then get rewarded in cryptocurrency. The participants will be assessed before, during and after the intervention.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Multipurpose Online Tool

Sweepstakes reward group

Active Comparator group

Description:

The participants will be enrolled in a weekly, 6 module intervention, which will require them to read psychoeducational materials, complete quizzes regarding those materials, complete the module-specific exercise, and then earn the chance to win vouchers for an online store. The participants will be assessed before, during and after the intervention.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Multipurpose Online Tool

Waitlist

Other group

Description:

The participants will be enrolled on the platform, but only for completing the assessments.

Treatment:

Other: No intervention