Examining the Efficacy of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) Microinterventions for Distressed First-Generation College Students (CompACT)

This research study aims to evaluate the feasibility, safety, and effectiveness of a micro-randomized acceptance and commitment therapy-based (ACT-based) intervention that is delivered to distressed first-generation college students.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Psychological Distress; Mood Change; Self-Assessment
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: compACT Intervention

Detailed Description

The transition to college is associated with a number of changes in health behaviors and mental health functioning, with 50% of college students meeting criteria for a psychiatric disorder. In particular, first-generation college students may be at particular risk for increased stress and mental health difficulties. The development of effective psychotherapeutic interventions is essential in providing adequate care to young adults during the transitional years of college. Delivery of these interventions via acceptable and feasible modalities for this population is also of utmost importance so that utilization and engagement are prioritized. Brief interventions have been a point of emphasis in recent years from the perspective of patient and provider efficiency, as well as many studies indicating effectiveness of brief interventions in creating and sustaining clinical levels of change.

The current study seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of brief interventions delivered via a smartphone app, or "microinterventions", based in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). ACT is a cognitive-behavioral therapy that seeks to promote psychological flexibility. ACT is transdiagnostic, meaning that it is designed to target human suffering, rather than a particular psychological or physical disorder. ACT targets experiential avoidance, which is the inability or unwillingness to make contact with painful experiences (e.g., thoughts, emotions, memories. Avoidance provides short-term relief, but exacerbates the long-term experience of the avoided stimulus in terms of intensity and duration. The microintervention in this study will consist of one of 84 prompts that aim to target one of 6 processes targeted in ACT. For example, one prompt is "Do your current actions align with what matters most to you?" Delivery of these prompts (e.g., whether and when to deliver which prompt) is randomized to allow for secondary analyses of optimal delivery of the microintervention in addition to primary analyses of its effectiveness.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 36
• Phase: Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Wisconsin
    • Madison, Wisconsin, United States, 53792
      • University of Wisconsin

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 19 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Willing to provide informed consent.
2. Willing to comply with all study procedures and be available for the duration of the study.
3. Individuals 18-19 years of age.
4. Individuals who are full-time freshman or sophomore students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
5. Fluent in written English.
6. Has access to a smartphone.
7. First-generation college student.
8. Significant subjective distress (endorses distress on at least 4 out of the past 7 days that interfered with functioning in screening survey).

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Expected life expectancy <6 months.
2. Use of investigational drugs, biologics, or devices within 30 days prior to randomization.
3. Not suitable for study participation due to other reasons at the discretion of the investigators.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: compACT Intervention; At every time-point of the study, participants will complete self-reports of stress, (as measured by the PSS-4) distress (as measured by the PHQ-2), and activity through the mobile app Lorevimo. After completing these assessments, participants will be randomly assigned to either receive one additional ACT-based microintervention question or receive no additional question. The microintervention will consist of one of 84 prompts that aim to target one of 6 processes targeted in ACT (contacting the present moment, defusion, acceptance, self-as-context, values, and committed action). The ACT-based questions were developed by the research team as a unique intervention for the current study. They are based upon core themes of acceptance and commitment therapy: engagement, awareness, and openness.

Behavioral: compACT Intervention; The mobile intervention in this study consists of two components: 1) self-monitoring and 2) an ACT-based microintervention. Self-monitoring: twice daily, participants will complete self-reports of distress, depressive symptoms, and activity through the mobile app Lorevimo. Microintervention: The microintervention will consist of one of 84 prompts that aim to target one of 6 processes targeted in ACT (contacting the present moment, defusion, acceptance, self-as-context, values, and committed action). At each time-point, participants have a 50% chance of receiving a microintervention question along with the daily self-monitoring assessments.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Feasibility of the ACT micro-intervention: percentage adherence to PHQ-2, PSS-4, and activity prompts	The feasibility of the microintervention will be assessed by Adherence to prompts (defined as a response to at least 50% completion of prompt items per day). If subjects adhere to prompts over 60% of the days of the intervention period on average, the intervention will be considered feasible. The prompts considered will be the 2 questions from the PHQ-2, the 4 questions from the PSS-4, and the 4 questions from the activity assessment.	Day 1 - day 43
Safety of ACT micro-intervention: Change in Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9)	The analysis will look at the change in proportion of individuals who meet criteria for minor or major depression on the PHQ-9 between study start (measure taken at baseline assessment) to study end (measure taken at 6-month follow-up assessment). The Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) is a multipurpose scale for screening, diagnosing, monitoring and measuring the severity of depression. PHQ-9 will reflect the effect of intervention on the severity of depression. The PHQ-9 scores correlates with the depression severity as follows: 5 to 9- Minimal symptoms 10 to 14- Minor depression 15 to 19 Major depression, moderately severe >20 Major depression, severe	Baseline, 3 months and 6 months post intervention
Effectiveness of the ACT micro-intervention: proximal changes in mood outcomes as a result of intervention as indicated by self-reported activity of participant	The effectiveness of the ACT micro-intervention will be assessed by looking at the responses to the activity assessment in relation to whether or not a participant received a micro-intervention at the prior time-point. The activity questions of interest are as follows: Since you [woke this morning or last logged your symptoms], how much energy was consumed by trying to get rid of unwanted feelings, thoughts, or other internal experiences (example: suppressing, distracting, avoiding)?; Since you [woke this morning or last logged your symptoms], how much energy was consumed by pursuing your values (example: making choices that align with who you want to be or who/what matters)? Both questions are answered using a scale of 0-6, where 0 = "none" and 6 = "all of my energy."	Days 1-43

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Proximal changes in mood outcomes as a result of intervention: The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4) score	The effectiveness of the ACT micro-intervention will be assessed by looking at the PSS-4 score in relation to whether or not a participant received a micro-intervention at the prior time-point. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4) consists of four questions, each answered using a scale of 0-4. The total PSS-4 score ranges from 0-16. A higher score indicates a higher degree and/or longer duration of perceived stress.	Days 1-43
Proximal changes in mood outcomes as a result of intervention: Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2) score	The effectiveness of the ACT micro-intervention will be assessed by looking at PHQ-2 score in relation to whether or not a participant received a micro-intervention at the prior time-point. The PHQ-2 consists of the first two questions of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and asks about the frequency of depressed mood and anhedonia over the past two weeks. Each question is answered on a scale of 0-3 as follows: 0 = Not at all; = Several days; = More than half the days; = Nearly every day The PHQ-2 score ranges from 0-6, with a score of 0-2 being negative for potential major depressive disorder and a score of 3 or more being positive for potential major depressive disorder.	Days 1-43

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Wisconsin, Madison

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Kroska EB, Hoel S, Victory A, Murphy SA, McInnis MG, Stowe ZN, Cochran A. Optimizing an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Microintervention Via a Mobile App With Two Cohorts: Protocol for Micro-Randomized Trials. JMIR Res Protoc. 2020 Sep 23;9(9):e17086. doi: 10.2196/17086.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 18, 2019
• Primary Completion (Actual): November 20, 2020
• Study Completion (Actual): May 11, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 4, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 4, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): September 9, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 6, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 5, 2021
• Last Verified: August 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Acceptance and commitment therapy; Mobile intervention; Micro-intervention
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2019-0819; A538900 (Other Identifier: UW- Madison); SMPH/PSYCHIATRY/PSYCHIATRY (Other Identifier: UW- Madison); Biostat & Med (Other Identifier: UW, Madison)

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