Evaluating a Digital Single-session Intervention for Adolescent Mental Health in New Zealand

Project SOLVE and Rangatahi in Aotearoa: Evaluating a Digital Single-Session Intervention for Adolescent Mental Health in New Zealand Through a School-based Randomised Controlled Trial

Currently, one in five rangatahi (young people) in Aotearoa report difficulty accessing support for their mental health concerns. This treatment gap has prompted academics and clinicians to consider whether online and/or school-based interventions can increase access to evidence-based mental health care.

This research is a randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of Project SOLVE, an online problem-solving intervention, compared to Project Success, an activity that teaches young people study skills. Underdeveloped problem-solving skills have been associated with varying presentations of mental distress, including depression, hopelessness, and suicidal ideation. This association has meant problem solving is often featured as a core component of therapeutic interventions, and strengthening problem solving skills has been shown to improve clinical outcomes in youth who experience mental health concerns.

For these reasons, the investigators hope that Project SOLVE will support the development of problem solving in rangatahi in Aotearoa and have a positive effect on their proximal and longitudinal mental health outcomes.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Healthy
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Project SOLVE; Behavioral: Project Success

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 300
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Morgan T Blind, BA(Hon); Phone Number: +64 21 801 612; Email: mb1080@students.waikato.ac.nz

Study Locations

• New Zealand
  • Cambridge, New Zealand
    • Recruiting
    • St Peter's School Cambridge
    • Contact: Sandra Buchanan; Phone Number: +64 07 827 9899; Email: sandra.buchanan@stpeters.school.nz
    • Contact: Email: morgantblind@gmail.com
    • Contact: Morgan T Blind, BA(Hon)

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Any Year 9 student (ages 12-14 years old) at a participating school who provides assent.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Any Year 9 student (ages 12-14 years old) at a participating school who does not provide assent and/or whose parent/caregiver does not provided consent.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Project SOLVE; In this arm, participants will complete Project SOLVE.	Behavioral: Project SOLVE; Project SOLVE is a 30-minute self-guided online activity that includes an introduction to problem solving and which types of problems might be most appropriate for this skill; a description of how the brain facilitates problem solving; vignettes demonstrating how older adolescents have solved their problems; scientific evidence that problem solving can work; practice exercises; and activities to encourage the use of problem solving in daily life. The intervention teaches students how to solve problems via the "SOLVE" framework (i.e., Saying what the problem is; One goal to aim for; Listing some solutions; Voting for the best solution; Exploring what works).
Active Comparator: Project Success; In this arm, participants will complete Project Success.	Behavioral: Project Success; Project Success is comparable to Project SOLVE in format and length (i.e., a 30 minute online, self-guided intervention) and teaches young people three strategies to reach their academic goals: how to take effective notes, how to break big assignments down into smaller tasks, and how to ask trusted others for help.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Internalising and externalising symptoms	Internalising and externalising symptoms will be measured using the Behaviour and Feelings Survey.	Immediately pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention and 12 weeks post-intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Social Problem Solving Skills	Social problem solving will be measured by the Social Problem-Solving Inventory - Revised Short-Form.	Immediately pre-intervention and 12 weeks post-intervention
General Self-Efficacy	Self-efficacy will be measured using the General Self-Efficacy Scale.	Immediately pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention and 12 weeks post-intervention
Hope	Hope will be measured using the Child Hope Scale.	Immediately pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention and 12 weeks post-intervention
Hopelessness	Hopelessness will be measured using the Beck Hopelessness Scale - Shortened.	Immediately pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention and 12 weeks post-intervention
Well-Being	Well-being will be measured using the World Health Organisation Well-Being Index.	Immediately pre-intervention and 12 weeks post-intervention
Educational Self-Efficacy	Educational self-efficacy will be measured using the Educational Self-Efficacy Scale.	Immediately pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention and 12 weeks post-intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The University of Waikato
• Collaborators: Whau Mental Health Foundation (New Zealand)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Morgan T Blind, BA(Hon), University of Waikato

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Schleider JL, Weisz JR. Little Treatments, Promising Effects? Meta-Analysis of Single-Session Interventions for Youth Psychiatric Problems. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2017 Feb;56(2):107-115. doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2016.11.007. Epub 2016 Nov 25.
• Fenwick-Smith A, Dahlberg EE, Thompson SC. Systematic review of resilience-enhancing, universal, primary school-based mental health promotion programs. BMC Psychol. 2018 Jul 5;6(1):30. doi: 10.1186/s40359-018-0242-3.
• Schleider JL, Mullarkey MC, Fox KR, Dobias ML, Shroff A, Hart EA, Roulston CA. A randomized trial of online single-session interventions for adolescent depression during COVID-19. Nat Hum Behav. 2022 Feb;6(2):258-268. doi: 10.1038/s41562-021-01235-0. Epub 2021 Dec 9.
• Thabrew H, Stasiak K, Hetrick SE, Wong S, Huss JH, Merry SN. E-Health interventions for anxiety and depression in children and adolescents with long-term physical conditions. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018 Aug 15;8(8):CD012489. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD012489.pub2.
• Ludin N, Holt-Quick C, Hopkins S, Stasiak K, Hetrick S, Warren J, Cargo T. A Chatbot to Support Young People During the COVID-19 Pandemic in New Zealand: Evaluation of the Real-World Rollout of an Open Trial. J Med Internet Res. 2022 Nov 4;24(11):e38743. doi: 10.2196/38743.
• Sutcliffe K, Ball J, Clark TC, Archer D, Peiris-John R, Crengle S, Fleming TT. Rapid and unequal decline in adolescent mental health and well-being 2012-2019: Findings from New Zealand cross-sectional surveys. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2023 Feb;57(2):264-282. doi: 10.1177/00048674221138503. Epub 2022 Dec 1.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): March 30, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): June 30, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 30, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 13, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 19, 2025
• First Posted (Actual): March 26, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 26, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 19, 2025
• Last Verified: March 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: HREC(Health)2024#60

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

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