Evaluating Knowledge Mobilization Sustainability Approaches

Summary

The overarching objective of the current study is to evaluate the effectiveness, acceptability, strategy use, and maintenance of behaviour change of different stress management sustainability groups. Furthermore, the study aims to examine how these sustainability groups and maintenance of behaviour change may impact student wellness in the long term. Specifically, objective 1 sought to compare three commonly employed approaches for sustainability of stress management strategy use (workshop booster sessions, online community drop-ins, digital infographic reminders) and an inactive control group (no support) in terms of their (1.1) effectiveness on wellness outcomes (i.e., stress, healthy and unhealthy coping capacity, mindfulness, coping self-efficacy, and well-being), (1.2) acceptability, (1.3) strategy use, and (1.4) maintenance of behaviour change over time. It was hypothesized that the community drop-in sustainability group would have greater effectiveness, strategy use, and maintenance of behaviour change compared to the other sustainability groups and inactive control. This hypothesis aligns with the literature across both sustainability supports and maintenance of behaviour change-related indices, suggesting that social support is a key element to sustained strategy use (Borghouts et al., 2021; Kelders et al., 2012; Kwasnicka et al., 2016). No specific hypothesis was made for which sustainability approach would be rated as most (H1.2) acceptable given this is a novel area of research.

Objective 2 sought to examine (2.1) whether maintenance of behaviour change at post (T2) predicted wellness outcomes (i.e., stress, healthy and unhealthy coping capacity, mindfulness, coping self-efficacy, and well-being) at 6-month follow-up (T4), and whether this relationship was differentially moderated by sustainability group. It was hypothesized (H2.1) that maintenance of behaviour change at post would positively predict healthy coping, mindfulness, coping self-efficacy, and well-being and negatively predict stress and unhealthy coping at the 6-month follow-up and that this would be moderated by sustainability group (i.e., workshop booster sessions, online community drop-ins, digital infographic reminders).

Conditions

• Stress
• Coping
• Well-being
• Mindfulness
• Behaviour Change
• Adherence
• Digital Intervention

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Sustainability of stress management strategy use

Then, different sustainability approaches (workshop boosters, community drop-ins, infographic reminders) were developed to ensure equivalent content across: (a) psychoeducation on habit formation and maintenance of behaviour change; and (b) embedded skills-based practice of habit formation. Themes addressed in the sustainability approaches included: (a) understanding values; (b) goal setting; (c) planning for challenges; (d) awareness of resources; (e) facing setbacks; (f) building a community of practice; and (g) general tips for getting started.

BEHAVIORAL

Stress management

All groups received a digital infographic with interactive links with stress management strategies. Stress management strategies touched on 4 main areas which included (a) pause/break; (b) positive awareness; (c) kindness to self; and (d) social support.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• McGill University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Nancy Heath, PhD · McGill University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

29 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-09-20

Primary Completion

2024-04-02

Completion

2024-04-02

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations