Stay Well at Home: a Text-messaging Study Social Distancing

NCT ID: NCT04473599

Last Updated: 2023-05-23

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

Get a concise snapshot of the trial, including recruitment status, study phase, enrollment targets, and key timeline milestones.

Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

1000 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2020-04-17

Study Completion Date

2023-01-10

Brief Summary

Review the sponsor-provided synopsis that highlights what the study is about and why it is being conducted.

The investigators have developed supportive text-messages in English and Spanish to help people cope with the stress and anxiety of COVID-19 social distancing. The purpose of this study is to examine if automated text-messages will improve depression and anxiety symptoms and enhance positive mood.

Additionally, the investigators will compare the effectiveness of sending messages on a random schedule (using a micro-randomized trial design) or sent by a reinforcement learning policy on overall change in depression and anxiety symptoms and daily mood during the 8-week study.

Detailed Description

Dive into the extended narrative that explains the scientific background, objectives, and procedures in greater depth.

The investigators will send participants supportive text-messages for a period of 2 months. These text-messages will include tips about behavioral activation and coping skills to deal with worries and stress. The investigators generated a message bank balanced such that 50% of all messages are related to behavioral activation (BA) and 50% messages involve different coping skills. Participants will receive one of these messages per day between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm. Participants will also receive a message asking them to rate their mood on a scale of 1-9 once a day 3 hours after the BA or coping message.

Participants will be randomized to:

1. a uniform random messaging group (micro-randomized trial design).
2. a reinforcement learning group with a learned decision mechanism for the timing and type of text-message. The algorithm learns from previous data (which messages were sent, what was the participants' mood) to maximize an increase in participants mood. No other data are collected from participants' phones.

The investigators will compare the effect of sending text-messages by a random schedule, and text-messaging chosen by the RL algorithm. This allows to both evaluate the effect of the individual intervention components over time within a micro-randomized trial design, and assess the added value of using RL to adapt the messaging scheme.

The investigators hypothesize that:

* Participant will show improvements in depression, anxiety symptoms and mood during the 60 day study.
* The participants in the group receiving reinforcement learning will have a greater improvement in depressive symptoms, anxiety and positive mood during the study than participants in the micro-randomized group.
* The investigators will find differential effects on mood ratings for the two categories of messages

Conditions

See the medical conditions and disease areas that this research is targeting or investigating.

Depressive Symptoms Anxiety COVID-19

Study Design

Understand how the trial is structured, including allocation methods, masking strategies, primary purpose, and other design elements.

Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

PREVENTION

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Participants
Participants are randomized to receive messages according to a random schedule (within a mico-randomized trial), delivered via a reinforcement learning policy or a control with mood ratings only.

Study Groups

Review each arm or cohort in the study, along with the interventions and objectives associated with them.

Uniform Random

Participants will receive supportive text-messages for a period of 2 months. These text-messages have two categories: behavioral activation (BA) and coping skills. In this arm, participants will receive one of these types of messages daily on a random schedule in random time periods throughout the day.

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Uniform random message delivery

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

In this arm, the categories and timings of text-messages will be delivered to participants using a random schedule

Reinforcement Learning

In this arm we will test a reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm with a learned decision mechanism for the timing and type of text-messages. The algorithm learns from previous data (which messages were sent, what was the participants' mood) to maximize an increase in participants' mood.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Reinforcement learning message delivery

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

In this arm, the categories and timings of text-messages will be chosen by a reinforcement learning algorithm

Mood ratings only

In this arm, participants will monitor their mood and receive random feedback based on mood responses.

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Mood ratings only

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

In this arm, participants will monitor their mood daily and receive feedback on that mood randomly

Interventions

Learn about the drugs, procedures, or behavioral strategies being tested and how they are applied within this trial.

Uniform random message delivery

In this arm, the categories and timings of text-messages will be delivered to participants using a random schedule

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Reinforcement learning message delivery

In this arm, the categories and timings of text-messages will be chosen by a reinforcement learning algorithm

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Mood ratings only

In this arm, participants will monitor their mood daily and receive feedback on that mood randomly

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Check the participation requirements, including inclusion and exclusion rules, age limits, and whether healthy volunteers are accepted.

Inclusion Criteria

* Over 18 years old
* Own a mobile phone
* Speak English or Spanish

Exclusion Criteria

* Not owning a mobile phone
* Under 18 years old
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

Meet the organizations funding or collaborating on the study and learn about their roles.

University of California, Berkeley

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

Identify the individual or organization who holds primary responsibility for the study information submitted to regulators.

Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Learn about the lead researchers overseeing the trial and their institutional affiliations.

Adrian Aguilera, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

UC Berkeley

Locations

Explore where the study is taking place and check the recruitment status at each participating site.

University of California Berkeley

Berkeley, California, United States

Site Status

Countries

Review the countries where the study has at least one active or historical site.

United States

References

Explore related publications, articles, or registry entries linked to this study.

Haro-Ramos AY, Rodriguez HP, Aguilera A. Effectiveness and implementation of a text messaging intervention to reduce depression and anxiety symptoms among Latinx and Non-Latinx white users during the COVID-19 pandemic. Behav Res Ther. 2023 Jun;165:104318. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2023.104318. Epub 2023 Apr 16.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 37146444 (View on PubMed)

Aguilera A, Hernandez-Ramos R, Haro-Ramos AY, Boone CE, Luo TC, Xu J, Chakraborty B, Karr C, Darrow S, Figueroa CA. A Text Messaging Intervention (StayWell at Home) to Counteract Depression and Anxiety During COVID-19 Social Distancing: Pre-Post Study. JMIR Ment Health. 2021 Nov 1;8(11):e25298. doi: 10.2196/25298.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 34543230 (View on PubMed)

Figueroa CA, Hernandez-Ramos R, Boone CE, Gomez-Pathak L, Yip V, Luo T, Sierra V, Xu J, Chakraborty B, Darrow S, Aguilera A. A Text Messaging Intervention for Coping With Social Distancing During COVID-19 (StayWell at Home): Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Res Protoc. 2021 Jan 14;10(1):e23592. doi: 10.2196/23592.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 33370721 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

Review additional registry numbers or institutional identifiers associated with this trial.

2020-04-13162

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

More Related Trials

Additional clinical trials that may be relevant based on similarity analysis.

Spacing Lidcombe Program Clinic Visits
NCT00680303 UNKNOWN PHASE2
TMP-Visitas al Hogar
NCT03076268 COMPLETED NA