scholarly journals Virtual Reality and Web-Based Growth Mindset Interventions for Adolescent Depression: Protocol for a Three-Arm Randomized Trial (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Lee Schleider ◽  
Michael C Mullarkey ◽  
John R Weisz
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Perceived Control ◽  
Adolescent Depression ◽  
Growth Mindset ◽  
Depression Symptoms ◽  
Single Session ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Web Based ◽  
The Web

BACKGROUND Depression is the leading cause of disability in youth, with a global economic burden of US >$210 billion annually. However, up to 70% of youth with depression do not receive services. Even among those who do access treatment, 30% to 65% fail to respond and many dropout prematurely, demonstrating a need for more potent, accessible interventions. In a previous trial, a single-session Web-based growth mindset (GM) intervention significantly reduced depressive symptoms in high-symptom adolescents; however, this intervention did not benefit adolescents uniformly. For instance, the intervention reduced depression in adolescents who reported post intervention increases in perceived control, but it did not lead to significant depression reductions in adolescents who reported no significant post intervention increases in perceived control. OBJECTIVE The goal of this project is to test the acceptability and efficacy of a novel, single-session, virtual reality (VR) depression intervention—the VR Personality Project—teaching GM, the belief that personal attributes are malleable rather than fixed. The VR Personality Project was designed to systematically target and increase adolescents’ perceived control by offering a more immersive, engaging, user-directed intervention experience than the Web-based intervention can provide. By targeting an identified predictor of intervention response, the VR Personality Project may lead to larger reductions in depressive symptoms than existing Web-based mindset interventions. METHODS Adolescents with elevated depressive symptoms or a recent history of depression (N=159; ages 12 to 16 years) will be randomized to one of 3 intervention conditions: the VR Personality Project; the Web-based GM intervention tested previously; or an active, Web-based control. Adolescents and their parents will report on the adolescents’ depression symptoms, perceived control, and related domains of functioning at preintervention, postintervention, and at 3- and 9-month follow-up assessments. RESULTS We predict that the VR and Web-based mindset interventions will both lead to larger reductions in adolescent symptoms than the control intervention. Additionally, we predict that the VR-based single session intervention will lead to larger reductions in depression than the online mindset intervention and that these symptom reductions will be mediated by increases in adolescents’ perceived control from pre- to postintervention. CONCLUSIONS The results may suggest an efficient strategy for reducing adolescent depressive symptoms: One that is mechanism-targeted, relatively affordable (less than US $200 for a commercially available VR headset, a fraction of the cost of long-term psychotherapy) and potentially engaging to adolescents experiencing mood-related distress. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov NCT0385881; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03858881 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/78C3roDgA). INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPOR DERR1-10.2196/13368

scholarly journals Single-Session Digital Intervention for Adolescent Depression, Anxiety and Well-being: Outcomes of a Randomized Controlled Trial with Kenyan Adolescents

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom L Osborn ◽  
Micaela Rodriguez ◽  
Akash Wasil ◽  
Katherine E. Venturo-Conerly ◽  
Jenny Gan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Study Skills ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
Adolescent Depression ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Depression Symptoms ◽  
Single Session ◽  
Registration Number ◽  
Sub Saharan

Background: Adolescent depression and anxiety symptoms are prevalent in Sub-Saharan African countries, yet treatment options are scarce, and stigma limits help-seeking. Brief, computerized single-session interventions (SSIs) that contain empirically supported stigma-reducing elements may help expand access to treatment. We developed and evaluated such an intervention for Kenyan adolescents. Method: High school students (N=103, age 13-18) were randomized to a digital SSI Shamiri-Digital (Shamiri means “thrive” in Kiswahili) or a study-skills control intervention. Shamiri-Digital consisted of reading and writing activities about three concepts: growth mindset, gratitude, and value affirmation. Both Shamiri-Digital and the study-skills control condition were delivered electronically in schools. Results: Compared to the control, Shamiri-Digital produced greater reduction in adolescent depression symptoms in both the full sample (p = 0.028, d = 0.50) and a sub-sample of youths with moderate-to-severe depression symptoms (p = 0.010, d = 0.83) from baseline to two-week follow-up. The effects exceed the mean effects reported in meta-analyses of full-length, face-to-face psychotherapy for youth depression. There were no significant effects on anxiety symptoms, well-being, or happiness. Conclusion: This is the first report that a brief, computerized SSI may reduce depressive symptoms in adolescents in Sub-Saharan Africa. Replication trials with extended follow-ups will help gauge the strength and durability of these effects. Trial Registration Number: (registration number masked). Pan African Clinical Trials Registry (PACTR). Public Health Significance: This study provides evidence that a brief single-session positive-psychology intervention may help reduce depressive symptoms of adolescents living in Sub Saharan Africa, where there are few mental health professionals, and stigma limits help-seeking

scholarly journals A Suite of Mobile Conversational Agents for Daily Stress Management (Popbots): Mixed Methods Exploratory Study (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Louis Mauriello ◽  
Nantanick Tantivasadakarn ◽  
Marco Antonio Mora-Mendoza ◽  
Emmanuel Thierry Lincoln ◽  
Grace Hon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stress Management ◽  
Design Guidelines ◽  
Coping Resources ◽  
Rank Test ◽  
Depression Symptoms ◽  
Conversational Agents ◽  
Daily Stress ◽  
Web Based ◽  
The Web

BACKGROUND Approximately 60%-80% of the primary care visits have a psychological stress component, but only 3% of patients receive stress management advice during these visits. Given recent advances in natural language processing, there is renewed interest in mental health chatbots. Conversational agents that can understand a user’s problems and deliver advice that mitigates the effects of daily stress could be an effective public health tool. However, such systems are complex to build and costly to develop. OBJECTIVE To address these challenges, our aim is to develop and evaluate a fully automated mobile suite of shallow chatbots—we call them Popbots—that may serve as a new species of chatbots and further complement human assistance in an ecosystem of stress management support. METHODS After conducting an exploratory Wizard of Oz study (N=14) to evaluate the feasibility of a suite of multiple chatbots, we conducted a web-based study (N=47) to evaluate the implementation of our prototype. Each participant was randomly assigned to a different chatbot designed on the basis of a proven cognitive or behavioral intervention method. To measure the effectiveness of the chatbots, the participants’ stress levels were determined using self-reported psychometric evaluations (eg, web-based daily surveys and Patient Health Questionnaire-4). The participants in these studies were recruited through email and enrolled on the web, and some of them participated in follow-up interviews that were conducted in person or on the web (as necessary). RESULTS Of the 47 participants, 31 (66%) completed the main study. The findings suggest that the users viewed the conversations with our chatbots as helpful or at least neutral and came away with increasingly positive sentiment toward the use of chatbots for proactive stress management. Moreover, those users who used the system more often (ie, they had more than or equal to the median number of conversations) noted a decrease in depression symptoms compared with those who used the system less often based on a Wilcoxon signed-rank test (W=91.50; Z=−2.54; <i>P</i>=.01; <i>r</i>=0.47). The follow-up interviews with a subset of the participants indicated that half of the common daily stressors could be discussed with chatbots, potentially reducing the burden on human coping resources. CONCLUSIONS Our work suggests that suites of shallow chatbots may offer benefits for both users and designers. As a result, this study’s contributions include the design and evaluation of a novel suite of shallow chatbots for daily stress management, a summary of benefits and challenges associated with random delivery of multiple conversational interventions, and design guidelines and directions for future research into similar systems, including authoring chatbot systems and artificial intelligence–enabled recommendation algorithms.

Designing Web-Based Educational Virtual Reality Environments

2010 ◽  
pp. 157-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kosmas Dimitropoulos ◽  
Athanasios Manitsaris
Keyword(s):  
Distance Education ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
World Wide ◽  
Virtual Learning Environments ◽  
Virtual Reality Technology ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Learning Content ◽  
The Web

This chapter aims to study the benefits that arise from the use of virtual reality technology and World Wide Web in the field of distance education, as well as to further explore the role of instructors and learners in such a network-centric mode of education. Within this framework, special emphasis is given on the design and development of web-based virtual learning environments so as to successfully fulfil their educational objectives. In particular, the chapter includes research on distance education on the Web and the role of virtual reality, as well as study on basic pedagogical methods focusing mainly on the efficient preparation, approach and presentation of the learning content. Moreover, specific designing rules are presented considering the hypermedia, virtual and educational nature of this kind of applications. Finally, an innovative virtual reality environment for distance education in medicine, which reproduces conditions of the real learning process and enhances learning through a real-time interactive simulator, is demonstrated.

scholarly journals Chocolate craving when depressed: a personality marker

2007 ◽  
Vol 191 (4) ◽  
pp. 351-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon Parker ◽  
Joanna Crawford
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Depression Symptoms ◽  
Personality Style ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Atypical Depression ◽  
Order Construct ◽  
Simple Question ◽  
Personality Facets ◽  
Dsm Iv

SummaryWe examined links between chocolate craving in people who are depressed and both personality style and atypical depressive symptoms, with a web-based questionnaire completed by nearly 3000 individuals reporting clinical depression. Chocolate was craved by half of the respondents (more so by women), judged as beneficial for depression, anxiety and irritability, and associated specifically with personality facets encompassed by the higher-order construct of neuroticism. The simple question of depression-associated chocolate craving appeared an efficient discriminator of DSM – IV atypical depression symptoms.

scholarly journals Do Adolescents Consider Mind-Body Skills Groups an Acceptable Treatment for Depression: Results from a Pilot Study.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsey Jones ◽  
Eduardo F. Salgado ◽  
Matthew C. Aalsma ◽  
Jennifer M. Garabrant ◽  
Julie K. Staples ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Adolescent Depression ◽  
Treatment Preference ◽  
After School ◽  
Depression Symptoms ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Primary Care Settings ◽  
The Social ◽  
New Treatment

Abstract Background: Mind-Body Skills Groups (MBSGs) have shown promise in reducing adolescent depression symptoms; however, little is known about adolescents’ perspectives on this treatment. The objective of this study was to understand the acceptability of a new treatment for depressed adolescents in primary care settings. Methods: Adolescents participating in a 10-week MBSG treatment were interviewed to understand their perspectives on the acceptability and effectiveness of the treatment. Interviews were collected at post-intervention and at a 3-month follow-up visit. Results: A total of 39 adolescents completed both the post-intervention and 3-month follow-up interview. At post-intervention and follow-up, 84% of adolescents stated the MBSGs helped them. When asked how the MBSGs helped them, 3 areas were identified: learning new MBSG activities and skills, social connection with others within the group, and outcomes related to the group. Many adolescents reported no concerns with the MBSGs (49% at post- intervention; 62% at follow-up). Those with concerns identified certain activities as not being useful, wanting the group to be longer, and the time of group (after school) being inconvenient. Most adolescents reported that their life had changed because of the group (72% at post-intervention; 61% at follow-up), and when asked how, common responses included feeling less isolated and more hopeful. Conclusions: Adolescents found the MBSGs to be helpful and acceptable as a treatment option for depression in primary care. Given the strong emphasis on treatment preference autonomy and the social activities within the group, MBSGs appear well-suited for this age group. Trial Registration: NCT03363750

scholarly journals Single-Session Interventions for Adolescent Depression in the Context of COVID-19: A Nationwide Randomized-Controlled Trial

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica L. Schleider ◽  
Michael C Mullarkey ◽  
Kathryn Fox ◽  
Mallory Dobias ◽  
Akash Shroff ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Randomized Controlled Trial ◽  
Adolescent Depression ◽  
Behavioral Activation ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
High Stress ◽  
Single Session ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Personal Traits ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Increasing Risk

The COVID-19 pandemic caused financial hardship, social isolation, and distress, increasing risk for adolescent depression. Even before the pandemic, &lt;50% of youth with depression accessed care, and not all benefited from existing treatments. Accordingly, this randomized-controlled trial tested online single-session interventions (SSIs) during COVID-19 in adolescents with elevated depression (N=2,452, ages 13-16). Adolescents recruited via social media were randomized to 1 of 3 SSIs: a behavioral activation SSI, an SSI teaching that personal traits are malleable, or a supportive control. We tested each SSI’s effects on post-intervention (hopelessness, agency) and 3-month outcomes (depression, hopelessness, agency, generalized anxiety, COVID-related trauma). Compared to the control, both active SSIs reduced 3-month depressive symptoms; decreased post-intervention and 3-month hopelessness; and increased post-intervention agency. Several differences between active SSIs emerged. Results confirm the effectiveness of two free-of-charge, online SSIs for adolescents with elevated depression, even in the high-stress context of COVID-19.

scholarly journals DNA methylation partially mediates the relationship between childhood adversity and depressive symptoms in adolescence

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brooke J. Smith ◽  
Alexandre A Lussier ◽  
Janine Cerutti ◽  
Daniel J. Schaid ◽  
Andrew J. Simpkin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dna Methylation ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Adolescent Depression ◽  
Childhood Adversity ◽  
Depression Symptoms ◽  
Cpg Sites ◽  
Cpg Site ◽  
Sensitive Periods ◽  
The Relationship

Background: Exposure to adversity during childhood is estimated to at least double the risk of depression later in life. Some evidence suggests childhood adversity may have a greater impact on depression risk, if experienced during specific windows of development called sensitive periods. During these sensitive periods, there is evidence that adversity may leave behind biological memories, including changes in DNA methylation (DNAm). Here we ask if those changes play a role in the link between adversity and later adolescent depressive symptoms. Methods: We applied a method for high-dimensional mediation analysis using data from a subsample (n=627-675) of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. We first assessed the possibility of time-dependent relationships between seven types of childhood adversity (caregiver abuse, physical/sexual abuse, maternal psychopathology, one-adult household, family instability, financial stress, neighborhood disadvantage), measured on at least four occasions between ages 0-7 years, and adolescent depression at mean age 10.6. Specifically, we considered three types of life course hypotheses (sensitive periods, accumulation, and recency), and then evaluated which of these hypotheses had the strongest association in each adversity-adolescent depression relationship using the structured life course modeling approach (SLCMA; pronounced slick-mah). To conduct the mediation analyses, we used a combination of pruning and sure independence screening (a dimension reduction method) to reduce the number of methylated CpG sites under consideration to a viable subset for our sample size. We then applied a sparse group lasso penalized model to identify the top mediating loci from that subset using the combined strength of the coefficient measuring the relationship between the childhood adversity and a CpG site (α) and of the coefficient measuring the relationship between the CpG site and depressive symptoms (β) as a metric. Using a Monte Carlo method for assessing mediation (MCMAM), we assigned a significance level and confidence interval to each identified mediator. Results: Across all seven adversities, we identified a total of 70 CpG sites that showed evidence of mediating the relationship between adversity and adolescent depression symptoms. Of these 70 mediators, 37 were significant at the p < 0.05 level when applying the MCMAM, a method tailored to estimating the significance of SEM-derived mediation effects. These sites exhibited four different mediating patterns, differentiated by the direction of α and β. These patterns had signals that were: (1) both positive (19 loci), (2) both negative (18 loci), (3) positive α and negative β (23 loci) or (4) negative α and positive β (10 loci). Conclusion: Our results suggest that DNAm partially mediates the relationship between different types of childhood adversity and depressive symptoms in adolescence. These findings provide insight into the biological mechanisms that link childhood adversity to depression, which will ultimately help develop treatments to prevent depression in more vulnerable populations.

scholarly journals Go Play Outside! A web-based and in-person risk reframing intervention to influence mothers’ tolerance for, and parenting practices associated with, children’s outdoor risky play: Results of a randomized controlled trial (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariana Brussoni ◽  
Christina S Han ◽  
Yingyi Lin ◽  
John Jacob ◽  
Ian Pike ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Randomized Controlled Trial ◽  
Social Cognitive Theory ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Cognitive Theory ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Risky Play ◽  
The Web

BACKGROUND Outdoor risky play, such as climbing, racing and independent exploration, is an important part of childhood and is associated with various positive physical, mental and developmental outcomes for children. Parental attitudes and fears, particularly mothers’, are a major deterrent to children’s opportunities for outdoor risky play. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy of two versions of an intervention to reframe mothers’ perceptions of risk and change parenting behaviours: web-based intervention or an in-person workshop, compared to the control condition. METHODS The Go Play Outside! randomized controlled trial was conducted in Canada in 2017 to 2018. Participants were recruited through social media, snowball sampling, and community notices. Mothers of children aged 6-12 years were self-assessed through eligibility questions, and those eligible and consented to participate in the study were randomized into a fully automated web-based intervention, the in-person workshop or the control condition. The intervention was underpinned by social cognitive theory, incorporating behaviour change techniques. Participants progressed through a series of self-reflection exercises and developed a goal for change. Control participants received the Position Statement on Active Outdoor Play. The primary outcome was increase in tolerance of risky play and the secondary outcome was goal attainment. Data were collected online via REDCap at baseline, 1-week and 3-months post-intervention. Randomization was conducted using sealedenvelope.com. Allocations were concealed to researchers at assignment and data analysis. We conducted mediation analyses to examine whether the intervention influenced elements of social cognitive theory, as hypothesized. RESULTS A total of 451 mothers were randomized and completed baseline socio-demographic assessments: 150 in the web-based intervention, 153 in the in-person workshop, and 148 in the control condition; of which a total of 351 mothers completed the intervention. At 1-week post-intervention, 121, 85, and 135 mothers completed assessments for each condition, respectively, and at 3-months post-intervention, 105, 84 and 123 completed the assessments, respectively. Compared to mothers in the control condition, mothers in the web-based intervention had significantly higher tolerance of risky play at 1-week, and 3-months post-intervention; and mothers in the in-person workshop had significantly higher tolerance of risky play at 1-week post-intervention. No other significant outcomes were found. None of the potential mediators were found to significantly mediate the outcomes. CONCLUSIONS The trial demonstrates that the web-based intervention was effective in increasing mothers’ tolerance for risk in play. CLINICALTRIAL ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03374683. Retrospectively registered on December 15, 2017. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT RR2-10.1186/s13063-018-2552-4

scholarly journals The Potential Influence of Group Membership on Outcomes in Indicated Cognitive-Behavioral Adolescent Depression Prevention

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (18) ◽  
pp. 6553
Author(s):  
Paul Rohde ◽  
Frédéric N. Brière ◽  
Eric Stice
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Depressive Symptom ◽  
Adolescent Depression ◽  
Group Membership ◽  
Cognitive Behavioral ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Symptom Change ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Depression Prevention

Background: Adolescent depression prevention programs are typically delivered in groups in which adolescents share a common setting and interventionist, but the influence of the group is usually ignored or statistically controlled. We tested whether the primary outcomes of reductions in depressive symptoms and future onset of major depressive disorder (MDD) varied as a function of group membership. Methods: Data were available from two randomized trials in which 220 adolescents received the Blues Program indicated prevention intervention in 36 separate groups; participants were assessed at baseline, post intervention, and at 6-, 12-, and 24-month follow-ups. Results: Ten percent of participants had developed MDD 2 years post intervention. Group-level effects for MDD onset over follow-up were nonsignificant (accounted for <1% of variance; ICC = 0.004, ns). Group-level effects for depressive symptom change across the follow-up period were also nonsignificant (ICC = 0.001, ns) but group effects accounted for 16% of depressive symptom change immediately post intervention (ICC = 0.159, p < 0.05). Group-level clustering of posttest depressive symptoms was not associated with size of group or gender composition. Conclusions: Membership in specific adolescent cognitive-behavioral depression prevention groups may have an impact in terms of immediate symptom reduction but does not appear to have significant prevention effects in terms of long-term symptom change or MDD onset.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document