Mood Management Effects of Brief Unsupported Internet Interventions

i4Health

Status: Completed

Conditions: Mood

Treatments: Behavioral: Assertiveness.; Behavioral: Thoughts; Behavioral: Activities.; Behavioral: Sleep hygiene; Behavioral: Own Methods

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02748954

14-009- H

Details and patient eligibility

About

The main goal of this study was to compare the effect of a one-session unsupported Internet intervention on participants' clinical symptoms (depressive and anxiety symptoms) and related variables (mood, confidence and motivation).

Full description

The main goal of this study was to compare the effect of a one-session unsupported Internet intervention on participants' clinical symptoms (depressive and anxiety symptoms) and related variables (mood, confidence and motivation).

Method: A total of 765 adults residing in the United States took part in a randomized controlled trial. Participants were randomly assigned to one of five brief plain text interventions lasting five to ten minutes. The interventions designed to address depressive symptoms were: Thoughts (increasing helpful thoughts), Activities (increasing activity level), Sleep Hygiene, Assertiveness (increasing assertiveness awareness), Own Methods (utilizing methods that were previously successful). They were followed-up one week after consenting.

Enrollment: 765 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• most be U.S. citizens

Exclusion criteria

• non-U.S. residents

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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765 participants in 5 patient groups

Thoughts.

Experimental group

Description:

Increasing helpful thoughts consisted of two psychoeducational segments (i.e., thoughts affect emotions, and how to manage harmful thoughts), and a list of "helpful thoughts" that participants could choose to use to increase their mood for the next week

Treatment:

Behavioral: Thoughts

Activities.

Experimental group

Description:

Increasing activity level included a brief description of how activities affect mood. Participants were then asked to choose the activities they could use to improve their mood from an available list of "helpful activities"; users were also able to generate their own helpful activities. Participants were also presented with examples of unhelpful activities such as staying in bed and being isolated.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Activities.

Assertiveness

Experimental group

Description:

Increasing assertiveness, consisting of tips for communicating assertively, and an example of an assertive statement. Participants were asked to describe a recent conflict and apply the intervention's assertiveness techniques to address the conflict

Treatment:

Behavioral: Assertiveness.

Sleep hygiene

Experimental group

Description:

Increasing sleep hygiene included a description on how sleep can affect mood. Participants were also asked to select from a list of helpful sleep hygiene suggestions to be practiced within the next week such as, "Don't take naps during the day" and "Use the bed/bedroom for sleep or sex only".

Treatment:

Behavioral: Sleep hygiene

Own Methods

Active Comparator group

Description:

wherein participants were asked to identify four of their own personal strategies that have helped them improve their mood in the past.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Own Methods