PRAY.COM for Mental Health and Well-Being Among University Students

Fit Minded

Status: Completed

Conditions: Well-Being; Mental Health

Treatments: Behavioral: PRAY.COM Mobile Application

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Industry

Identifiers

NCT07489222

25-206-1708 (Other Identifier)

25-206-1708-01

Details and patient eligibility

About

This single-arm feasibility and preliminary effectiveness trial examines PRAY.COM, a faith and prayer mobile application (app), among university students. Enrolled students at Regent University are asked to use the app for at least 10 minutes per day for 8 weeks. Feasibility is assessed by app demand (≥70% weekly use benchmark) and acceptability (≥75% satisfaction benchmark). Preliminary effectiveness is assessed at baseline, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks for mental health (depressive symptoms, anxiety, stress), well-being (loneliness, sense of purpose and meaning), and academic outcomes (time management confidence, school-life balance satisfaction, confidence managing academic challenges, feeling overwhelmed by academic responsibilities, classes missed due to mental health, difficulty concentrating, frequency of mental health negatively impacting academic performance, and difficulty completing coursework). Three analysis groups are examined: completers with confirmed objective app engagement (primary), all 8-week completers (secondary), and all enrolled participants using last observation carried forward imputation (tertiary).

Full description

This study is a single-arm feasibility and preliminary effectiveness trial conducted with currently enrolled students at Regent University. Participants are recruited via a university-wide email listserv and are asked to use the PRAY.COM app, a faith-based mobile application delivering Daily Prayer, Meditative Prayers, Scripture Readings, Bedtime Bible Stories, Podcasts, Sermons, a Bible in a Year program, and Pray AI (an AI-powered faith companion), for at least 10 minutes per day over 8 weeks. No instructions are given regarding which specific features or content to engage with. Upon completing the baseline survey, participants receive a complimentary premium PRAY.COM subscription for the duration of the study.

Feasibility is assessed across demand and acceptability domains. Demand is operationalized as the percentage of participants reporting at least weekly app use with a benchmark of ≥70%. Acceptability is operationalized as the percentage of participants reporting satisfaction (satisfied or very satisfied) with a benchmark of ≥75%. Additional feasibility indicators include perceived appropriateness for students and intent to continue use. Objective app usage data are obtained directly from PRAY.COM to complement self-reported engagement.

Preliminary effectiveness outcomes are assessed using validated measures at baseline, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks. Mental health outcomes include depressive symptoms, anxiety, and stress (DASS-9; 3 items each, 0-3 scale), and loneliness (UCLA-3; 3 items, 1-3 scale). Well-being outcomes include sense of purpose and meaning (2 items adapted from the Claremont Purpose Scale, 1-5 scale). Academic outcomes include time management confidence, school-life balance satisfaction, confidence managing academic challenges, feeling overwhelmed by academic responsibilities, classes missed due to mental health, difficulty concentrating, frequency of mental health negatively impacting academic performance, and difficulty completing coursework (8 investigator-developed items).

Statistical approach: Pre-post changes are analyzed using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests with normality of change scores assessed via Shapiro-Wilk tests. Effect sizes are calculated as Cohen's d (mean change / SD of change scores). Three analysis groups are examined: 1) the primary per-protocol sample of 8-week completers with confirmed objective app engagement (i.e., having at least one recorded app session exceeding one second); 2) a secondary analysis of all 8-week completers regardless of objective engagement status; and 3) a tertiary full-enrollment analysis using last observation carried forward (LOCF) imputation as a conservative lower-bound estimate, with multiple imputation as a sensitivity check. Additional analyses examine dose-response relationships, subgroup differences (age, sex, race/ethnicity, student type), and baseline severity effects.

Enrollment: 450 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Currently enrolled university student with a corresponding institutional email address (@edu)
• 18 years of age or older
• US resident
• Able to read and understand English
• Willing to complete brief surveys including questions related to faith and faith-based practices
• Willing to download a faith and prayer mobile application onto a smartphone or tablet

Exclusion criteria

• Not a currently enrolled university student or does not have a corresponding institutional email address
• Less than 18 years of age
• Not a US resident
• Unable to read or understand English
• Not willing to complete surveys related to faith and faith-based practices
• Not willing to download a faith and prayer mobile application

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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450 participants in 1 patient group

PRAY.COM App

Experimental group

Description:

Participants were asked to used the PRAY.COM mobile app for at least 10 minutes per day for 8 weeks, with assessments at baseline, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks.

Treatment:

Behavioral: PRAY.COM Mobile Application