| Title: |
Protocol for an app-based affective control training for adolescents: Proof-of-principle double-blind randomized controlled trial |
| Authors: |
Schweizer, S; Leung, JT; Kievit, R; Speekenbrink, M; Trender, W; Hampshire, A; Blakemore, SJ |
| Source: |
urn:ISSN:2398-502X ; Wellcome Open Research, 4, 91 |
| Publisher Information: |
F1000Research |
| Publication Year: |
2019 |
| Collection: |
UNSW Sydney (The University of New South Wales): UNSWorks |
| Subject Terms: |
32 Biomedical and Clinical Sciences; 42 Health Sciences; Prevention; Clinical Research; Clinical Trials and Supportive Activities; Mental Health; Behavioral and Social Science; Pediatric; 3 Good Health and Well Being; Mind and Body; Adolescence; Affective control; App-based training; Emotion regulation; anzsrc-for: 32 Biomedical and Clinical Sciences; anzsrc-for: 42 Health Sciences |
| Description: |
Background: 75% of all mental health problems have their onset before the end of adolescence. Therefore, adolescence may be a particularly sensitive time period for preventing mental health problems. Affective control, the capacity to engage with goal relevant and inhibit distracting information in affective contexts, has been proposed as a potential target for prevention. In this study, we will explore the impact of improving adolescents’ affective control capacity on their mental health. Methods: The proof-of-principle double-blind randomized controlled trial will compare the effectiveness of an app-based affective control training (AC-Training) to a placebo training (P-Training) app. In total, 200 (~50% females) adolescents (11-19 years) will train for 14 days on their training app. The AC-Training will include three different n-back tasks: visuospatial, auditory and dual (i.e., including both modalities). These tasks require participants to flexibly engage and disengage with affective and neutral stimuli (i.e., faces and words). The P-Training will present participants with a perceptual matching task. The three versions of the P-Training tasks vary in the stimuli included (i.e., shapes, words and faces). The two training groups will be compared on gains in affective control, mental health, emotion regulation and self-regulation, immediately after training, one month and one year after training. Discussion: If, as predicted, the proposed study finds that AC-Training successfully improves affective control in adolescents, there would be significant potential benefits to adolescent mental health. As a free app, the training would also be scalable and easy to disseminate across a wide range of settings. Trial registration: The trial was registered on December 10th 2018 with the International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number (Registration number: ISRCTN17213032). |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| File Description: |
application/pdf |
| Language: |
unknown |
| Relation: |
https://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_62442; https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.15229.1 |
| DOI: |
10.12688/wellcomeopenres.15229.1 |
| Availability: |
https://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_62442; https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/6390a057-7b65-48f6-bc78-714e4b8e5783/download; https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.15229.1 |
| Rights: |
open access ; https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 ; CC BY ; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ; free_to_read |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.6EAA5EC3 |
| Database: |
BASE |