Syrenity App for Depression (SYRA)

June 30, 2026 updated by: Lorenzo Lorenzo-Luaces, Indiana University

Mental Health-App for Improving Depressive Symptoms

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if the Syrenity mental health app reduces depressive symptoms when compared to a control condition. Secondarily, the trial will provide data on the usability and acceptability of the Syrenity app. The main questions it aims to answer are:

Does Syrenity reduce self-reported depressive symptoms compared to a waiting list control? How usable is the Syrenity app?

Study Overview

Status

Suspended

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

300

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Indiana
      • Bloomington, Indiana, United States, 47408
        • Indiana University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • PHQ-9 >= 10
  • Use an iPhone or Android
  • Residing in the United States

Exclusion Criteria:

  • PHQ-9 item 9 >= 2

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Syrenity App
The Syrenity App is a mental health app that has been designed to help improve mental health and well-being. The content on the app was created using cognitive-behavioral therapy principles. It uses both active and passive interventions. Active interventions are interventions where the user engages with the app in a back and forth dialogue (e.g., a conversation about restructuring unhelpful thoughts). Passive interventions meanwhile consist of text or videos that the user can read or watch and do not require dialogue with the app.
Currently, the Syrenity App has two active interventions. One is an exposure-based intervention called "Face your fears." Another is an intervention based on behavioral activation called "Get better." The app also provides self-report questionnaires for tracking mood along with psychoeducation on a variety of topics relevant to mental health.
No Intervention: Waiting list control
Those assigned to the waiting list control condition will complete weekly surveys as those assigned to the intervention group but will not have access to the Syrenity platform until after the the 6-week trial period.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9)
Time Frame: 6 weeks
Depression symptoms will be assessed with the PHQ-9. The PHQ-9 is a 9-item self-report measure that assesses the frequency of symptoms of major depressive disorder as outlined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). Response options range from 0 ("not at all") to 3 (nearly every day). Total scores on the PHQ-9 range from 0-27 with greater scores indicating greater frequency of depressive symptoms. A score greater than or equal to 10 on the PHQ-9 has been identified as a positive screen for major depression (Kroenke & Spitzer, 2002). PHQ-9 will be assessed at baseline, and each week of the intervention.
6 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-7 (GAD-7)
Time Frame: 6 weeks
Anxiety symptoms will be assessed with the GAD-7, a 7-item self-report measure that assesses the frequency of anxiety symptoms. Responses range from 0 ("not at all") to 3 ("nearly every day"), yielding total scores that range from 0-21 with greater scores indicating greater frequency of anxiety symptoms. A score greater than or equal to 10 on the GAD-7 has been identified as a positive screen for anxiety in primary care settings (Spitzer et al., 2006). GAD-7 will be assessed at baseline, and each week of the intervention.
6 weeks
Systems Usability Scale (SUS)
Time Frame: 6 weeks
The SUS is a brief measure for assessing the usability of given systems (e.g., websites, mobile devices). The SUS has ten items and is rated on a five-point scale with responses ranging from zero ("strongly agree") to four ("strongly disagree"). Scale scores are multiplied by 2.5 to produce scores ranging from zero to 100 with higher scores indicating greater usability. We administered the SUS at the end of the intervention (week 6). However, investigators also administered a slightly modified version of the SUS at baseline to control for between-individual differences (e.g., the tendency to give high ratings). Participants were asked to rate their prediction of the usability of the book at baseline "based on the small amount of information [they] have on the study."
6 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Collaborators

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

May 15, 2024

Primary Completion (Estimated)

May 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

May 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 6, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 6, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

May 9, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

July 2, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 30, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 22283
  • 2023-0410 (Other Identifier: Pearl IRB)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.