Web-based Single-session Intervention of Mindset for Improving Pre-practicum Anxiety and Coping

NCT ID: NCT06509802

Last Updated: 2024-07-19

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 117 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2024-05-26
• Study Completion Date: 2025-07-01

Brief Summary

Practicum is an essential educational component of professional training, however, the process can be challenging and sometimes frustrating, with obstacles such as the rigorous training process and mental distress. Being adequately prepared to confront the challenges and difficulties in practicum is crucial for the learning outcomes and psychological well-being of social work and/or counselling trainees. At the same time, mindset is found to be a modifiable factor in intervention, which is essential in clinical psychology, therapy, prevention, and early intervention. Instilling growth mindsets regarding intelligence, emotion, and failure-is-enhancing mindsets, respectively, is worthwhile in easing anxiety and stress coping. However, the existing intervention approaches lack of mindset integration, low intensity, distinctions of employees and interns, more objective and reliable outcome indictors and well-designed randomised controlled trials.

Using a two-arm randomised controlled trial, the proposed study will examine the efficacy of a Web-based Single-session Intervention of Mindset on Intelligence, Failure, and Emotion (We-SMILE) on reducing anxiety related to practicum and improving mental health and practicum-related outcomes.

A total of 117 students will be recruited from the social work and/or counselling programmes, and randomly assigned to existing pre-practicum training (Training As Usual, TAU) or that plus the We-SMILE. The intervention is 45 minutes in length. Participants will be assessed at three timepoints: baseline (T1), two weeks post-intervention (T2), and eight weeks post-intervention (T3). Patient and public involvement is adopted in the intervention design and implementation strategies. It is expected that the We-SMILE group will present lower anxiety related to practicum and more positive secondary outcomes (depression, anxiety, stress, psychological well-being, learning and performance orientation, academic self-efficacy, and confidence) compared to the TAU group. The intention-to-treat principle and linear-regression-based maximum likelihood multi-level models will be used for data analysis.

The study will not only provide evidence on integrated mindset intervention for trainees' mental health and learning outcomes, but also benefit social work and/or counselling supervisors and programmes as an accessible module.

Conditions

Anxiety

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

Web-based Single-session Intervention of Mindset on Intelligence, Failure, and Emotion (We-SMILE)

We-SMILE introduces growth mindsets about intelligence, failure, and negative emotions to pre-practicum trainees, consisting of five components: (a) an introduction to a proactive mindset, including neuroplasticity, the malleability of intelligence and emotion, and the importance of failure and feedback in the learning process; (b) stories and testimonials during practicum which emphasise the belief in change; (c) short videos about allegories of developing intelligence, emotion, and failure mindsets; (d) common questions and misconceptions about growth mindsets; and (e) self-persuasive writing exercises in which participants write down their thoughts and suggestions for others about growth mindsets.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Web-based Single-session Intervention of Mindset on Intelligence, Failure, and Emotion (We-SMILE)

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

This study will be a two-arm randomised controlled trial to examine the efficacy of the We-SMILE for pre-practicum social work and/or counselling students by comparing to the We-SMILE intervention group and the no-intervention training-as-usual group.

Training as usual group

The training-as-usual group will continue the normal training and will be provided with repeated assessments at the same timeframe as the intervention group. Participants in training-as-usual group will receive the intervention course after finishing the eight-week follow-up questionnaire.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Web-based Single-session Intervention of Mindset on Intelligence, Failure, and Emotion (We-SMILE)

This study will be a two-arm randomised controlled trial to examine the efficacy of the We-SMILE for pre-practicum social work and/or counselling students by comparing to the We-SMILE intervention group and the no-intervention training-as-usual group.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

1. are about to start the practicum soon;

2. can read and write Chinese;

3. consent to participate.

Exclusion Criteria

1. do not consent to participate;

2. cannot concentrate for at least 45 minutes to complete the intervention and questionnaires;

3. have a disability or serious physical or mental illness resulting in poor condition;

4. do not participate in the practicum.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 24 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Shimin Zhu, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Locations

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Hong Kong, , Hong Kong

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

Hong Kong

Central Contacts

Shimin Zhu, PhD

Role: CONTACT

jasmine.zhu@polyu.edu.hk

+852 2766 5787

Facility Contacts

Shimin Zhu, phD

Role: primary

jasmine.zhu@polyu.edu.hk

+852 2766 5787

References

Wang Y, Xi A, Wong SSK, Yam K, Leung JTY, Zhu S. Efficacy of a Web-Based Integrated Growth Mindset Intervention on Reducing Anxiety Among Social Work and Counseling Practicum Trainees: Protocol for a 2-Arm Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Res Protoc. 2025 Mar 27;14:e67234. doi: 10.2196/67234.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 40146991 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

HSEARS20240512001

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id