A Gratitude Intervention App to Reduce Symptoms of Depression, Anxiety and Stress

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

157 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2021-11-03

Study Completion Date

2023-04-14

Brief Summary

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

The goal of this clinical trial is to examine whether a newly developed gratitude intervention app can effectively improve psychological functioning, as measured by depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms, positive and negative affect

The main questions it aims to answer are:

1\. Will people who are in the intervention group feel more positive emotions and experience fewer negative emotions such as stress, anxiety, and depression after three weeks?

Researchers will compare the intervention to a control group (a group not given the gratitude intervention) to see if the intervention works to improve psychological functioning.

Participants will:

* Complete an online survey on emotional well-being and personality traits at the beginning and end of the three-week study, with daily mood ratings and stress assessments every three days.
* Participants in the intervention group will use a mobile app to practice gratitude exercises.

Related Clinical Trials

Explore similar clinical trials based on study characteristics and research focus.

An App Responding to Behaviour of People to Promote Mental Wellbeing in Anxious Youth

NCT06748833

Anxiety Sleep Problems

COMPLETED NA

Brief App-based Mood Monitoring and Mindfulness Intervention for First-year College Students

NCT06348277

Depression, Anxiety Self-Injurious Behavior

COMPLETED NA

Reducing Symptoms of Depression, Stress and Anxiety and Enhancing Positive Mental Health: a Randomized-controlled Study of the Positive Emotions Training

NCT06851637

Positive Emotions Mental Health Intervention (Training) Condition +2 more

COMPLETED NA

Mindfulness and Acceptance-Based Treatments for Social Anxiety: Defusion App

NCT02265211

Anxiety Shyness

COMPLETED NA

Study of Mindfulness-based Group Treatment in Patients With Depression and Anxiety

NCT01476371

Mental Disorders

COMPLETED NA

Detailed Description

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

Background: Gratitude interventions have been shown to decrease depression, stress and anxiety symptoms, support enhanced coping with health-related problems and might improve both psychological and physical functioning in areas. However, results have been mixed with effects varying by outcome, duration, follow-up length, format, and age. A recent meta-analysis including 27 studies focusing more specifically on symptoms of depression and anxiety suggest there is a limited effect of gratitude interventions on reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety at post-intervention and follow-up.

Objective: Thus, the present study aims to implement a three-week gratitude intervention including five different types of gratitude tasks embedded in a mobile sensing application and examine the intervention's psychological effects.

Method: Participants will be recruited and randomly allocated into the intervention and the control group. The study will measure depression, anxiety and stress symptoms, positive and negative affect, negative affectivity and social inhibition before and after the three-week intervention period as psychological variables. It will analyze the effect of the gratitude intervention on the measured variables as well as examine the impact of negative affectivity and social inhibition on depression, anxiety and stress symptoms.

Implications: If the intervention is shown to effectively reduce psychological problems, it will be tested and implemented to support the well-being of university students as a stand-alone tool.

The study will examine whether the gratitude intervention can effectively reduce depression, anxiety and stress symptoms. We intend to recruit 120 participants. Extending previous research, it will also examine whether negative affectivity and social inhibition have an impact on the measured outcomes and whether the intervention can influence these traits.

It is hypothesized that:

1. Positive affect will increase, while negative affect, stress, anxiety and depression symptoms will decrease from before to after the three weeks in the group that practices the gratitude intervention tasks (intervention group) compared to the group which doesn't (control group).
2. Negative affectivity and social inhibition will decrease from before to after the three weeks in the intervention group in comparison to the control group.

Conditions

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

Depression Anxiety Stress

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

This study used a randomized experimental design to test the effectiveness of a gratitude intervention smartphone app. Participants were asked to answer 90 questions in an online survey on emotional well-being and personality traits at the beginning and end of the three-week research period. The intervention group used the Gratitude Intervention App (GIA), and the Predicting Risk and Outcomes of Social InTerActions (PROSIT) app, which is a mobile sensing app. All participants used the PROSIT app in the background of their mobile devices throughout the three-week study period. In addition, those allocated to the intervention group practiced gratitude intervention tasks during the same three-week period using the GIA app. This study was approved by the Dalhousie University Research Ethics Board (REB 2021-5460).

Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

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

Gratitude Intervention Group

The intervention group used the Gratitude Intervention App (GIA), and the Predicting Risk and Outcomes of Social InTerActions (PROSIT) app, which is a mobile sensing app.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Gratitude Intervention App

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The GIA app, an iOS application designed for this study, is based on effective gratitude interventions and tailored for youth. Access required a unique login. It features five exercises: a journal, photo book, imagine exercise, speech exercise, and meditation. The journal encourages daily entries. The photo book involves uploading photos of things users are grateful for, promoting mindfulness. The imagine exercise reflects on gratitude, while the speech exercise records users' gratitude. The meditation exercise enhances well-being. During the three-week study, daily notifications prompted exercise completion. The app, green and white with a flower-heart icon, offers email support for technical issues.

Control Non-gratitude Intervention Group

Participants in the control group downloaded and used only the PROSIT app, they did not use the Gratitude Intervention App (GIA).

Group Type NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

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

Gratitude Intervention App

The GIA app, an iOS application designed for this study, is based on effective gratitude interventions and tailored for youth. Access required a unique login. It features five exercises: a journal, photo book, imagine exercise, speech exercise, and meditation. The journal encourages daily entries. The photo book involves uploading photos of things users are grateful for, promoting mindfulness. The imagine exercise reflects on gratitude, while the speech exercise records users' gratitude. The meditation exercise enhances well-being. During the three-week study, daily notifications prompted exercise completion. The app, green and white with a flower-heart icon, offers email support for technical issues.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Other Intervention Names

Discover alternative or legacy names that may be used to describe the listed interventions across different sources.

GIA

Eligibility Criteria

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

Inclusion Criteria

* individuals aged 18-30, with access to an iPhone, and English speaking.

Exclusion Criteria

* any self-reported cardiovascular disease; endocrine disease, kidney disease, tumor, hypertension, coarctation of the aorta, fibromuscular dysplasia, sleep apnea, which can impact the function of the cardiovascular system, as well as any current mental health treatment.

Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

30 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes