Efficacy of a Positive Psychology Intervention Through a Mobile App

Efficacy of a Positive Psychology Intervention Through a Mobile App: a Randomized Controlled Trial

The aim of this study is to analyze the efficacy of several variations of an already validated Positive Psychology Intervention (PPI) called Best Possible Self in not flourishing population. This will be done through a mobile app specially designed for this aim.

Concretely, the design will permit to compare the classic intervention (BPS Future), a new variation (BPS Past), and a combination of both components (BPS Past+Future).

Participants will be randomly assigned to one of 3 conditions, in which they will practice the intervention for two weeks:

• BPS-PAST + BPS FUT condition: Participants will practice BPS Past for one week, and then they will switch to BPS future for another week.
• BPS-FUT condition: Participants will practice BPS Future for two weeks.
• CONTROL condition: Participants will practice DAILY ACTIVITIES for two weeks.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Not Flourishing Population
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: BPS PAST; Behavioral: BPS FUT; Behavioral: DAILY ACTIVITIES

Detailed Description

The design will permit two comparisons:

After the first week of the intervention, participants will answer the assessment. It will permit to compare BPS PAST, BPS FUTURE and CONTROL conditions (pre-post).

After the second week, participants will answer the assessment and then it will be possible to compare BPS PAST + BPS FUTURE combination, BPS FUTURE, and CONTROL conditions.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 361
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Netherlands
  • Overijssel
    • Enschede, Overijssel, Netherlands, 7522
      • University of Twente
• Spain
  • Valencia, Spain, 46010
    • University of Valencia

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Participants must be 18 years old or older.
• Participants must be willing to participate in the study.
• Participants must have a smartphone (Android or Ios).

Exclusion Criteria:

• To suffer from moderate depression or anxiety (scores of 11 or higher) measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS; Zigmond & Snaith, 1983).
• To have "Flourishing mental health" measured by the Mental Health Continuum Short Form (MHC-SF; Keyes, 2009)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: BPS PAST + BPS FUT; Participants practice BPS PAST the first week, then they switch fot BPS FUT.	Behavioral: BPS PAST; Participants think about themselves in a past when they displayed their best self. Then, they visualize this with the help of audio instructions. They will practice within a mobile app.; Behavioral: BPS FUT; Participants think about themselves in the future after everything has gone as well as it possibly could. Then, they visualize this with the help of audio instructions. They will practice within a mobile app.
Experimental: BPS FUT; Participants practice BPS FUT during the two weeks.	Behavioral: BPS FUT; Participants think about themselves in the future after everything has gone as well as it possibly could. Then, they visualize this with the help of audio instructions. They will practice within a mobile app.
Active Comparator: CONTROL; Participants practice DAILY ACTIVITIES for the two weeks.	Behavioral: DAILY ACTIVITIES; Participants think about the activities they did during the last 24 hours. Then, they visualize this with the help of audio instructions. They will practice within a mobile app.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change of Positive and Negative Affect from baseline to post-intervention	Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS; Watson, Clark & Tellegen, 1988)	Change from pre-intervention to post-intervention (2 weeks)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Wellbeing	The Mental Health Continuum Short Form (MHC-SF; Keyes, 2009)	Change from pre-intervention to post-intervention (2 weeks)
Optimism	Life Orientation Test (LOT-R; Scheier, Carver & Bridges, 1994).	Change from pre-intervention to post-intervention (2 weeks)
Satisfaction with life	Temporal Satisfaction with Life Scale (TSWLS; Pavot, Diener & Suh, 1998).	Change from pre-intervention to post-intervention (2 weeks)
Self-efficacy	New General Self-efficacy Scale (NGSES; Chen, Gully & Eden, 2001).	Change from pre-intervention to post-intervention (2 weeks)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Valencia
• Collaborators: University of Twente
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Rosa Baños, PhD, University of Valencia

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Meevissen YM, Peters ML, Alberts HJ. Become more optimistic by imagining a best possible self: effects of a two week intervention. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry. 2011 Sep;42(3):371-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2011.02.012. Epub 2011 Mar 2.
• King L. The Health Benefits of Writing About Life Goals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 27(7): 798-807, 2001.
• Sheldon KM, Lyubomirsky S. How to increase and sustain positive emotion: The effects of expressing gratitude and visualizing best possible selves. The Journal of Positive Psychology 1(2): 73-82, 2006.
• Peters ML, Flink IK, Boersma K, Linton SJ. Manipulating optimism: Can imagining a best possible self be used to increase positive future expectancies? The Journal of Positive Psychology 5(3): 204-211, 2010.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 23, 2019
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 27, 2019
• Study Completion (Actual): July 27, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 2, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 2, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): March 7, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): September 23, 2019
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 19, 2019
• Last Verified: September 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 16337 (Other Identifier: City of Hope Medical Center)

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