- ICH GCP
- US Clinical Trials Registry
- Clinical Trial NCT03258905
Phone App for Grounding
December 12, 2021 updated by: Treatment Innovations
Phone App for Grounding (De-escalation) of Substance-abusing Transition-age Youth
The goal of this project is to continue to develop a smartphone application ("app") to help youth from ages 18-25 who have a substance abuse problem.
The app will engage them in grounding, which is a sensory-based experience to help them feel calm by reducing intense negative feelings and impulses (such as the urge to use a substance or hurt themselves or others).
Study Overview
Status
Completed
Conditions
Intervention / Treatment
Detailed Description
Substance use disorder (SUD) is the second most common psychiatric diagnosis in the U.S. population.
Transition-age youth (TAY) from ages 18-25 are especially vulnerable to substance use and SUD.
This time period represents a distinct stage separate from adolescence and later adulthood.
It includes tasks such as leaving home to enter college, the workforce, or the military; clarifying vocational goals; and attaining legal drinking age.
This period is also prime for experimentation with substance use and associated risks such as driving under the influence, accidents, fighting and violence, HIV, and vulnerability to sexual assault.
This project focused on a major strategy, grounding, to help TAY de-escalate (reduce) intense negative emotions and impulses.
Grounding has long been used in psychiatric hospitals to provide a safe, quick, and powerful way to reduce any intense negative feeling such as impulses to hurt self or others, substance craving, anger, anxiety, etc. Described in detail in the book Seeking Safety (SS), grounding using three pathways to focus the mind (mental), body (physical), and heart (soothing).
Grounding provides a way to regulate emotion, which is a major challenge for TAY, especially given their hormone changes and emotional intensity.
Indeed substance use is often described as a short-term way to regulate emotion.
Grounding is a key module of SS, a widely-implemented, evidence-based SUD treatment model.
In phase 1 the investigator developed a beta version of a grounding app.
The app promotes the use of grounding in any environment in which emotions and impulses need to be regulated.
It capitalizes on TAYs' widespread use of mobile devices; and because grounding is a stand-alone skill and sensory-oriented, it lends itself wonderfully to an app approach.
An iterative product development methodology was used based on end-user feedback and the impact of the app was studied in a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 24 TAY.
Half received the app and the other half received grounding handouts.
Results showed that the app was consistently more positively rated than the handouts and was associated with significantly more use of grounding and a higher score on a grounding knowledge test.
All phase 1 benchmarks were met.
In phase 2 the investigator proposes to scale up both the app and the evaluation of it.
There are two specific aims: (1) To enhance the mobile grounding app by using exciting, innovative technology approaches as well as expanding the grounding content in amount and type.
(2) To conduct an RCT with 68 TAY to evaluate the grounding app versus a control app.
The control app would control for both the use of a mobile device and the grounding content.
The primary outcome is based on power analysis from the phase 1 pilot; other outcomes and measures are also included.
The RCT uses rigorous scientific methods in its design, measures, and statistics.
Study Type
Interventional
Enrollment (Actual)
62
Phase
- Phase 2
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
-
-
Massachusetts
-
Newton, Massachusetts, United States, 02459
- Treatment Innovations
-
-
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
18 years to 25 years (Adult)
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
No
Genders Eligible for Study
All
Description
Inclusion Criteria:
- outpatient
- meets criteria for substance use disorder per the treatment site
- has a smartphone (either Android or iOS)
- has not attended and is not currently attending Seeking Safety treatment
Exclusion Criteria:
- current uncontrolled psychotic or bipolar disorder
- currently criminal-justice involved such that we would need to report substance use or other possible criminal behavior (e.g., to a parole or probation officer)
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: Single
Arms and Interventions
Participant Group / Arm |
Intervention / Treatment |
---|---|
Experimental: Grounding enhanced app
A mobile app that uses the Seeking Safety grounding chapter content, enhanced with features designed to create strong engagement and interactivity
|
A mobile app that uses the Seeking Safety grounding chapter content, enhanced with features designed to create strong engagement and interactivity
|
Active Comparator: Grounding text-only app
A mobile app that uses the Seeking Safety grounding chapter content in text format only
|
A mobile app that uses the Seeking Safety grounding chapter content in text format only
|
What is the study measuring?
Primary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Time Frame |
---|---|
Grounding Knowledge Test
Time Frame: 6 weeks
|
6 weeks
|
Secondary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Time Frame |
---|---|
Total time spent on the app
Time Frame: 6 weeks
|
6 weeks
|
BASIS-32 Impulsive and Addictive Behavior subscale
Time Frame: 6 weeks
|
6 weeks
|
Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale
Time Frame: 6 weeks
|
6 weeks
|
Other Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Time Frame |
---|---|
Brief Addiction Monitor
Time Frame: 6 weeks
|
6 weeks
|
Coping Self-Efficacy Scale
Time Frame: 6 weeks
|
6 weeks
|
BASIS-32 total score
Time Frame: 6 weeks
|
6 weeks
|
Perceived Stress Scale
Time Frame: 6 weeks
|
6 weeks
|
Collaborators and Investigators
This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.
Sponsor
Collaborators
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: Lisa Najavits, PhD, Treatment Innovations
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)
November 1, 2019
Primary Completion (Actual)
September 3, 2020
Study Completion (Actual)
September 3, 2020
Study Registration Dates
First Submitted
August 16, 2017
First Submitted That Met QC Criteria
August 22, 2017
First Posted (Actual)
August 23, 2017
Study Record Updates
Last Update Posted (Actual)
December 14, 2021
Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria
December 12, 2021
Last Verified
December 1, 2021
More Information
Terms related to this study
Additional Relevant MeSH Terms
Other Study ID Numbers
- R44AA026746-02A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)
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
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.
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