The Resilience Challenge: Fostering Emotional Resilience During a Time of National Stress (FERN)

May 2, 2025 updated by: Judith Moskowitz, Northwestern University

The Resilience Challenge: FERN (Fostering Emotional Resilience During a Time of National Stress)

The goal of this clinical trial is to examine the effects of an online positive psychological intervention on positive emotion, anxiety, depression, feelings of social isolation, sleep disturbance and a sense of meaning and purpose in the general public. The main question it aims to answer is:

Will the practice of positive emotion skills via a self-guided online platform reduce feelings of anxiety, depression, social isolation, and sleep disturbance, as well as increase well-being, positive emotion, a sense of meaning and purpose, life satisfaction, and general self-efficacy?

Participants will take part in an online positive psychological skill learning intervention for 6-8 weeks. Prior to beginning, immediately after, and 4 weeks after, participants will fill out measures of their wellbeing.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

11659

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

  • United States
    • Illinois
      • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 06011
        • Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

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

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Over 18 years old, Access to device connected to the internet

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Under 18 years old

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: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Resilience Challenge
The Resilience Challenge Study is an online program containing a series of positive emotion skills for individuals experiencing stress and distress during their everyday life. The online program specifically targets positive emotion and offers an array of skills in a self-guided online delivery platform. Participants will, over the course of 6-8 weeks, access weekly skill lessons, daily homework, and daily emotion reporting. The skill lessons will include: positive events, savoring, gratitude, everyday mindfulness, mindfulness meditation, positive reappraisal, self-compassion, personal strengths, and attainable goals.
Behavioral: Resilience Challenge
We previously have tested this online program in people facing health- and work-related stressors (e.g., dementia caregivers, healthcare workers), and in 2020 we enrolled adults in a test of the online program to support coping with the stress of the COVID pandemic. This intervention has been tailored for a widespread, public audience (e.g., we have added a few other safety measures including limits on public forum posting and have clarified wording on some of the intervention content to make it clearer and easier to understand).

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
PROMIS Positive Affect CAT
Time Frame: At baseline, after completion of 6-8 week intervention, and 4 weeks later
At baseline, after completion of 6-8 week intervention, and 4 weeks later

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
PROMIS Depression CAT
Time Frame: At baseline, after completion of 6-8 week intervention, and 4 weeks later
At baseline, after completion of 6-8 week intervention, and 4 weeks later
PROMIS Anxiety CAT
Time Frame: At baseline, after completion of 6-8 week intervention, and 4 weeks later
At baseline, after completion of 6-8 week intervention, and 4 weeks later
PROMIS Meaning and Purpose CAT
Time Frame: At baseline, after completion of 6-8 week intervention, and 4 weeks later
At baseline, after completion of 6-8 week intervention, and 4 weeks later
PROMIS Social Isolation CAT
Time Frame: At baseline, after completion of 6-8 week intervention, and 4 weeks later
At baseline, after completion of 6-8 week intervention, and 4 weeks later
PROMIS Sleep Disturbance CAT
Time Frame: At baseline, after completion of 6-8 week intervention, and 4 weeks later
At baseline, after completion of 6-8 week intervention, and 4 weeks later
PROMIS General Self-Efficacy CAT
Time Frame: At baseline, after completion of 6-8 week intervention, and 4 weeks later
At baseline, after completion of 6-8 week intervention, and 4 weeks later
PROMIS General Life Satisfaction CAT
Time Frame: At baseline, after completion of 6-8 week intervention, and 4 weeks later
At baseline, after completion of 6-8 week intervention, and 4 weeks later

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Northwestern University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Judith T Moskowitz, Northwestern 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)

September 27, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

January 31, 2025

Study Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 11, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 11, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

September 19, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 7, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 2, 2025

Last Verified

May 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • STU00222090

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.

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