| Title: |
Emotional competence self-help app versus cognitive behavioural self-help app versus self-monitoring app to prevent depression in young adults with elevated risk (ECoWeB PREVENT): an international, multicentre, parallel, open-label, randomised controlled trial |
| Authors: |
Watkins, ER; Warren, FC; Newbold, A; Hulme, C; Cranston, T; Aas, B; Bear, H; Botella, C; Burkhardt, F; Ehring, T; Fazel, M; Fontaine, JRJ; Frost, M; Garcia-Palacios, A; Greimel, E; Hößle, C; Hovasapian, A; Huyghe, VEI; Karpouzis, K; Löchner, J; Molinari, G; Pekrun, R; Platt, B; Rosenkranz, T; Scherer, KR; Schlegel, K; Schuller, BW; Schulte-Korne, G; Suso-Ribera, C; Voigt, V; Voß, M; Taylor, RS |
| Publisher Information: |
Elsevier |
| Publication Year: |
2025 |
| Collection: |
Oxford University Research Archive (ORA) |
| Description: |
Background: Effective, scalable interventions are needed to prevent poor mental health in young people. Although mental health apps can provide scalable prevention, few have been rigorously tested in high-powered trials built on models of healthy emotional functioning or tailored to individual profiles. We aimed to test a personalised emotional competence app versus a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) self-help app versus a self-monitoring app to prevent an increase in depression symptoms in young people. Methods: This multicentre, parallel, open-label, randomised controlled trial, within a cohort multiple randomised trial (including a parallel trial of wellbeing promotion) was done at four university trial sites in the UK, Germany, Spain, and Belgium. Participants were recruited from schools, universities, and social media from the four respective countries. Eligible participants were aged 16–22 years with increased vulnerability indexed by baseline emotional competence profile, without current or past diagnosis of major depression. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to usual practice plus either the personalised emotional competence self-help app, the generic CBT self-help app, or the self-monitoring app by an independent computerised system, minimised by country, age, and self-reported gender, and followed up for 12 months post-randomisation. Outcome assessors were masked to group allocation. The primary outcome was depression symptoms (according to Patient Health Questionnaire-9 [PHQ-9]) at 3-month follow-up, analysed in participants who completed the 3-month follow-up assessment. The study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04148508, and is closed. Findings: Between Oct 15, 2020, and Aug 3, 2021, 1262 participants were enrolled, including 417 to the emotional competence app, 423 to the CBT app, and 422 to the self-monitoring app. Mean age was 18·8 years (SD 2·0). Of 1262 participants self-reporting gender, 984 (78·0%) were female, 253 (20·0%) were male, 15 (1·2%) were neither, and ten ... |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| Language: |
English |
| DOI: |
10.1016/s2589-7500(24)00148-1 |
| Availability: |
https://doi.org/10.1016/s2589-7500(24)00148-1; https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:03052bed-b137-4c3d-bab4-cdd5c603ffe1 |
| Rights: |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess ; CC Attribution (CC BY) |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.954644AD |
| Database: |
BASE |