The number of college students who need mental health treatment outpaces the resources available to counseling centers to provide these needed services, presenting a need for low-cost, scalable interventions for college populations. We conducted a pilot effectiveness trial of a scalable treatment package that consisted of a single (telehealth) workshop plus a companion app that provided ecological momentary intervention. Participants (n=177) received a workshop provided by counseling center staff and trainees. We were interested in (1) engagement with the app, (2) acceptability of the treatment, and (3) initial effectiveness of the treatment. Regarding engagement, we found that participants preferred two reminder prompts per day and identified two key inflection points where engagement fluctuated: at day 15, where just over half of the sample practiced a skill on the app at least once during the day and at day 41, where just over one third of people practiced a skill on the app each day. Regarding acceptability, students generally reported positive attitudes about the single-session workshop and app, but also noted that the content and assessments in the app needed to be more dynamic to improve how engaging it is. Regarding effectiveness, we found that about 75% of the sample experienced a significant reduction in negative affect from pre- to post-ecological momentary intervention. The results of this study are promising in terms of providing initial support for this novel treatment package and provide useful information for researchers planning to develop and test similar interventions.
An Ecological Momentary Intervention for Smoking Cessation: Evaluation of Feasibility and Effectiveness
