The Caring Universities Project: EsteemUp RCT

Summary

Within the Caring Universities project (study protocol VCWE- 2020-135 accepted by the VCWE), the investigators have developed a guided e-health programme (EsteemUp) designed to increase university students' self-esteem. With the current study, the investigators aim to examine the feasibility and acceptability of EsteemUp - with and without gamification elements - to improve students' self-esteem.

Secondary goals are to gain insight into pre-test to post-test differences regarding self-esteem, symptoms of depression, anxiety and quality of life.

Conditions

• Self Esteem

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

EsteemUp

EsteemUp is a guided e-health application based on cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT). It consists of four modules that take approximately 30 to 45 minutes to complete. Each module includes evidence-based psycho-education, reflection questions, interactive exercises, and homework assignments. The content is delivered both textually and visually, including the use of pictures, infographics and videos. Every week trained e-coaches (trained clinical psychology master students) will provide asynchronous written personalized feedback to each participant on the progress of the program and the exercises via the program platform.

BEHAVIORAL

EsteemUp-G

The gamification elements added to this arm include (1) Badges - digital rewards upon completing important milestones within the programme EsteemUp. (2) Unlockable content - downloadable worksheets of the exercises that they have done in the module, (3) A certification of completion at the end of the program, (4) Goal setting (5) Gamification terminology - All homework assignments will be framed as a 'challenge' that needs to be completed, (6) a progress bar that will indicate how far along the participant is in the program

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Erasmus University Rotterdam

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Amsterdam

  collaborator OTHER

• Leiden University

  collaborator OTHER

• Maastricht University

  collaborator OTHER

• Utrecht University

  collaborator OTHER

• InHolland University of Applied Sciences

  collaborator OTHER

• VU University of Amsterdam

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Pim Cuijpers, dr. Prof · VU University of Amsterdam

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

16 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-11-03

Primary Completion

2023-08-01

Completion

2023-11-01

Countries

• Netherlands

Study Locations