TY - JOUR

T1 - Supportive Mental Health Self-Monitoring among Smartphone Users with Psychological Distress

T2 - Protocol for a Fully Mobile Randomized Controlled Trial

AU - Beiwinkel, Till

AU - Hey, Stefan

AU - Bock, Olaf

AU - Roessler, Wulf

N1 - Funding Information: No funding was obtained for the preparation of the manuscript. A DFG grant proposal is in preparation to obtain funding for the study. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2017 Beiwinkel, Hey, Bock and Rössler.

PY - 2017/9/21

Y1 - 2017/9/21

N2 - Mobile health (mHealth) could be widely used in the population to improve access to psychological treatment. In this paper, we describe the development of a mHealth intervention on the basis of supportive self-monitoring and describe the protocol for a randomized controlled trial to evaluate its effectiveness among smartphone users with psychological distress. Based on power analysis, a representative quota sample of N = 186 smartphone users will be recruited, with an over-sampling of persons with moderate to high distress. Over a 4-week period, the intervention will be compared to a self-monitoring without intervention group and a passive control group. Telephone interviews will be conducted at baseline, post-intervention (4 weeks), and 12-week follow-up to assess study outcomes. The primary outcome will be improvement of mental health. Secondary outcomes will include well-being, intentions toward help-seeking and help-seeking behavior, user activation, attitudes toward mental-health services, perceived stigmatization, smartphone app quality, user satisfaction, engagement, and adherence with the intervention. Additionally, data from the user's daily life as collected during self-monitoring will be used to investigate risk and protective factors of mental health in real-world settings. Therefore, this study will allow us to demonstrate the effectiveness of a smartphone application as a widely accessible and low-cost intervention to improve mental health on a population level. It also allows to identify new assessment approaches in the field of psychiatric epidemiology.

AB - Mobile health (mHealth) could be widely used in the population to improve access to psychological treatment. In this paper, we describe the development of a mHealth intervention on the basis of supportive self-monitoring and describe the protocol for a randomized controlled trial to evaluate its effectiveness among smartphone users with psychological distress. Based on power analysis, a representative quota sample of N = 186 smartphone users will be recruited, with an over-sampling of persons with moderate to high distress. Over a 4-week period, the intervention will be compared to a self-monitoring without intervention group and a passive control group. Telephone interviews will be conducted at baseline, post-intervention (4 weeks), and 12-week follow-up to assess study outcomes. The primary outcome will be improvement of mental health. Secondary outcomes will include well-being, intentions toward help-seeking and help-seeking behavior, user activation, attitudes toward mental-health services, perceived stigmatization, smartphone app quality, user satisfaction, engagement, and adherence with the intervention. Additionally, data from the user's daily life as collected during self-monitoring will be used to investigate risk and protective factors of mental health in real-world settings. Therefore, this study will allow us to demonstrate the effectiveness of a smartphone application as a widely accessible and low-cost intervention to improve mental health on a population level. It also allows to identify new assessment approaches in the field of psychiatric epidemiology.

KW - mental health

KW - smartphone

KW - mobile intervention

KW - psychological distress

KW - self-monitoring

KW - ambulatory assessment

KW - randomized controlled trial

KW - Psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85060461337&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3389/fpubh.2017.00249

DO - 10.3389/fpubh.2017.00249

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 28983477

VL - 5

JO - Frontiers in Public Health

JF - Frontiers in Public Health

SN - 2296-2565

M1 - 249

ER -