Online Cognitive Behavioral Intervention Program for Hong Kong University Students (REST Online)

September 20, 2023 updated by: Jiayan Pan, Hong Kong Baptist University

An Evidence-based Program Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Internet-based Cognitive Behavioral Preventive Intervention in Reducing Psychological Distress for Chinese University Students in Hong Kong

Brief summary:

The objective of this study is to develop an internet-based cognitive behavioral intervention program (including an online platform and a smartphone application) for Chinese university students in Hong Kong, and examine its effectiveness in reducing psychological distress, anxiety/depression symptoms, and improving emotions and automatic thoughts. The 3-month maintenance effect will also be tested.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Previous research has provided evidence for the effectiveness of internet-based cognitive behavioral intervention in improving mental health, but most studies were done in Western countries. This study is intended to design a culturally appropriate online program especially for Chinese university students in Hong Kong. The program will include 8 weekly sessions and one face-to-face session and one telephone follow-up with a with certified CBT therapist. The effects on psychological distress, anxiety/depression, emotions, and automatic thoughts will be tested.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

205

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

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 40 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Chinese nationality
  • Has mild to moderate level of psychological distress
  • Receive no face-to-face counselling since program commencement

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Has low/high level of psychological distress
  • Has one or more psychosis
  • Has suicidal risk in the past 3 months

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: web-based cognitive behavioral intervention

The web-based program is consisted of 8 online modules, forum, internal messaging, reminder, online assessment and online booking. Each online module contains mood check, animation briefing and debriefing, case demonstration videos, session review and exercise.

Blended mode is adopted to deliver service, which includes the online program, one face-to-face session and one telephone follow-up with a certified CBT therapist.
Other: REST Online（Reduce Stress Tour Online）
Different cognitive behavioral skills are introduced and practiced in a 8 weekly online program, which includes animation briefing and debriefing, case demonstration video, exercise, forum, internal messaging, online assessment and reminder. One face-to-face session and one telephone follow-up provided by an experienced CBT therapist are also provided to clients.
Experimental: app-based cognitive behavioral intervention

Application-based cognitive behavioral intervention program The App-based program is consisted of 8 online modules, forum, internal messaging, reminder, online assessment and online booking. Each online module contains mood check, animation briefing and debriefing, case demonstration videos, session review and exercise.

Blended mode is adopted to deliver service, which includes the online program, one face-to-face session and one telephone follow-up with a certified CBT therapist.
Other: REST Online（Reduce Stress Tour Online）
Different cognitive behavioral skills are introduced and practiced in a 8 weekly online program, which includes animation briefing and debriefing, case demonstration video, exercise, forum, internal messaging, online assessment and reminder. One face-to-face session and one telephone follow-up provided by an experienced CBT therapist are also provided to clients.
Other: Wait-list control group
No intervention will be provided when the experimental groups are receiving services, but the access to the App-based program will be delivered to the wait-list control group after the two experimental groups complete the service.
Other: REST Online（Reduce Stress Tour Online）
Different cognitive behavioral skills are introduced and practiced in a 8 weekly online program, which includes animation briefing and debriefing, case demonstration video, exercise, forum, internal messaging, online assessment and reminder. One face-to-face session and one telephone follow-up provided by an experienced CBT therapist are also provided to clients.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12)
Time Frame: 3 months
12 item rating scale for psychological distress.
3 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II)
Time Frame: 3 months
21-item rating scale for depressive symptoms.
3 months
Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI)
Time Frame: 3 months
21-item rating scale for cognitive and somatic symptoms of anxiety.
3 months
Chinese Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (CATQ)
Time Frame: 3 months
20-item rating scale for automatic thoughts.
3 months
Chinese Affect Scale (CAS)
Time Frame: 3 months
20-item rating scale for affect state of Chinese-speaking people.
3 months
Electronic Learning Satisfaction Scale (ELSS) (administered at post-test only))
Time Frame: 2 months
17-item rating scale for satisfaction toward electronic learning
2 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Hong Kong Baptist University

Collaborators

Stockholm University
Research Grants Council, Hong Kong

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Jiayan Pan, PhD, Hong Kong Baptist University

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)

January 1, 2019

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 30, 2022

Study Completion (Actual)

June 30, 2022

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 12, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 12, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

May 15, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 22, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 20, 2023

Last Verified

September 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 12606118

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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