Effects of a Mindfulness App for Outpatients Waitlisted for Psychological Interventions

Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Mental Disorder

Treatments: Behavioral: Mindfulness-based meditation

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05211960

088/2021

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to evaluate a mindfulness-based meditation app provided to outpatients (or community participants) who are waitlisted for standard psychological care for mental health or substance use concerns.

Full description

This project aims to provide a previously validated mindfulness meditation app to up to 200 adults waitlisted for psychological services in a psychiatric hospital setting or in the broader community. Outpatients (or community participants) who have been referred to and waitlisted for treatment for their mood, anxiety, alcohol, and/or substance use concerns, will be offered access to the digital intervention for 1 year. We will follow participants for 3 months to evaluate usability and psychological symptoms.

Enrollment: 193 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 65 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

1. 18-65 years of age
2. Fluency in English
3. Understanding and willingness to comply with study requirements
4. Waitlisted for outpatient psychosocial programming at CAMH (or psychosocial programming in the community)
5. Smartphone or tablet capable of downloading and running the mindfulness app.

Exclusion criteria

1. Any known practical factor that would preclude participation (e.g., extended absences)
2. Acute psychiatric (e.g., acute suicidality, psychosis) or serious medical condition that precludes participation in this study.
3. Participation in another treatment/intervention study

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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193 participants in 1 patient group

Treatment

Experimental group

Description:

AmDTx is a mindfulness-based meditation app that includes lessons, interactive exercises, and additional in-app features to practice mindfulness. Participants will receive a premium account for 1 year; the current study will evaluate outcomes over 3 months. The intervention will be delivered concurrently with treatment as usual which includes standard psychosocial care as participants are referred to their respective programs.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Mindfulness-based meditation