NCT05606601

An Online Intervention Addressing Mental Health and Substance Use in University Students

An Integrated Online Intervention Addressing Mental Health and Substance Use in University Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 1,489 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of British Columbia · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 17 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The purpose of this study is to assess the effectiveness of mobile app containing a range of evidence based tools to improve the mental health and substance use outcomes of university students.

Detailed description

There is a need for scalable interventions to support the mental health and substance use challenges experienced by university students. One means of addressing this need is through the use of e-mental health tools that facilitate self-management and connect students to in-person supports as needed. This is a randomized controlled trial of a mobile app designed to help university students manage their mental health and substance use via a set of evidence-based tools that have been integrated into a single mobile app. The recruitment of approximately 1500 students will occur through social media, promotion by faculty members and administrators, and other in-person recruitment methods. Assessments will be conducted using self-report web surveys at baseline, 14 days (interim assessment) and 30 days (follow-up assessment). The goal of the trial is to assess the effectiveness of the app in improving a range of mental health and substance use outcomes of university students from baseline to follow-up.

Conditions

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Alcohol Use
• Substance Use

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Minder	There are four main components of the Minder app: The Chatbot, Services, Community, and Peer Coaching components. The Services component asks participants to complete a series of questions on various mental health, substance use, and general life issues. It then recommends community and on-campus resources based on their current needs. The Community component of the app matches individuals with groups (e.g., student clubs) and events at the university or in the broader community that they may be interested in. The Chatbot component of the app contains pre-formatted conversational scripts that users engage with via a "chatbot" and videos designed to teach evidence-based skills (e.g., cognitive strategies to manage anxiety) that can be applied to everyday life. To support use of the app, all users in the intervention group will be offered access to trained peer coaches to help users navigate the different app components and provide non-clinical peer support.

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-09-28
• Primary completion: 2023-07-21
• Completion: 2023-07-21
• First posted: 2022-11-04
• Last updated: 2023-09-18

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Canada