NCT05040061

SkillJoy Clinical Trial

SkillJoy Randomized Controlled Trial: Testing a Smartphone Intervention for Anxiety and Reinforcement

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 85 (actual)
• Sponsor: Skidmore College · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This study is a randomized controlled trial comparing a smartphone-delivered savoring intervention (SkillJoy) for Generalized Anxiety Disorder to an active treatment control.

Detailed description

The current study seeks to determine if the positivity intervention SkillJoy, a smartphone-based, ecological momentary intervention (EMI), can reduce worry and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms, increase positive emotion and wellbeing, improve reinforcement and probabilistic learning, increase savoring and reduce kill-joy thinking, and decrease avoidance of negative emotional shifts relative to an active treatment control in a GAD sample. Skills for generating positive emotion may reduce symptoms and increase well-being for those with GAD. To test this approach, participants with GAD were randomly assigned to either a savoring treatment or a self-monitoring control.The savoring treatment consisted of an ecological momentary intervention (EMI) for learning and practicing savoring skills-SkillJoy. SkillJoy prompted participants to attend to positive aspects of the present moment, plan and engage in enjoyable activities, record and reflect on positive experiences, note events that turned out well, and look forward to positive events. The active self-monitoring control EMI consisted of similar activities, but they all omitted savoring practices. These activities included attending to any current thoughts and feelings, planning everyday activities, remembering and recording daily events, and anticipating important events. Both EMIs were delivered by apps on participants' smartphones for seven days with 30th day follow-up. Secondarily, the current study will assess differences between those with GAD and non-anxious controls on a computerized probabilistic reinforcement learning task and baseline savoring questionnaires.

Conditions

• Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	SkillJoy Intervention	The savoring treatment consisted of an ecological momentary intervention (EMI) for learning and practicing savoring skills-SkillJoy. SkillJoy prompted participants to attend to positive aspects of the present moment, plan and engage in enjoyable activities, record and reflect on positive experiences, note events that turned out well, and look forward to positive events.
BEHAVIORAL	Active Self-Monitoring Control Intervention	The active self-monitoring control EMI prompted participants to notice and write current thoughts and feelings, plan the day's major activities, remember and write about their daily events, and anticipate upcoming important events.

Timeline

• Start date: 2018-05-17
• Primary completion: 2019-12-07
• Completion: 2019-12-07
• First posted: 2021-09-10
• Last updated: 2021-09-10

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States