Positive Emotions Training (PoET) as an Online Intervention to Improve Mental Health: a Feasibility Study

Ruhr University of Bochum

Status: Completed

Conditions: Positive Emotions; Mental Health

Treatments: Behavioral: PoET

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05737251

PoET101

Details and patient eligibility

About

Positive psychology interventions are known to have an impact on mental health as well as on a number of beneficial characteristics like optimism, gratitude and self-efficacy. The new developed Positive Emotions Training (PoET) is one of the first holistic training programs covering eleven positive psychology constructs. The goal of this study was to test PoET's feasibility in the general population and to assess possible effects on positive and negative mental health factors. Additionally, possible effects on optimism, gratitude, happiness, resilience, and self-efficacy were examined.

Hypotheses:

1. It was hypothesized that participants receiving PoET would show a significant increase in positive mental health factors one month after the second training day.
2. It was expected to find a significant decrease in depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms one month after the second training day.
3. It was hypothesized that participants in a control group would not show any significant changes in this regard.

Methods:

The sample (n = 101) was allocated to PoET (n = 55) or control (n = 46) which did not receive any treatment. The allocation was neither randomized nor matched. Participants in the PoET group completed a whole of two training sessions (3.5 hours each) that were conducted in an online format (via Zoom) with groups of about 30 people. These sessions included the following positive psychology constructs: happiness, hope, humour, optimism, gratitude, self-efficacy, flow, meaningfulness, forgiveness, spirituality, resilience.

All participants completed positive and negative mental health measures at the beginning of the first training session and at the beginning of the second one as well as 30 days after the second session. Additionally, they had to complete two short items regarding stress and mood after each training session. They were given an exercise booklet with descriptions and explanations for all exercises during the training and at home. The week between the two sessions was called "7-day-challenge" to motivate the participants to try out several exercises at home.

Data was collected pseudonymised via Socisurvey. Data analysis was conducted with RStudio. Two-factorial repeated measures ANOVAs were conducted to test for possible effects of PoET on mental health.

Enrollment: 174 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• legal age (18)
• ability to use Zoom and all associated technology

Exclusion criteria

• none

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Non-Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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174 participants in 2 patient groups

PoET Group

Experimental group

Description:

Participants received two sessions of PoET and filled out the questionnaires.

Treatment:

Behavioral: PoET

Control Group

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants only filled out the questionnaires.