FeelSync: Tailoring Ecological Momentary Assessments and Interventions for Emotion Awareness, Regulation, and Mental Health Outcomes (FeelSync)

This study investigates how different ways of reflecting on emotions in daily life influence emotional awareness, emotion regulation, and mental health. Using the FeelSync mobile app over the course of seven days, participants are prompted multiple times a day to report on their current emotional state in various formats (e.g., rating scales, multiple choice, or free text). In some groups, participants also receive brief daily exercises designed to help them practice cognitive reappraisal-a strategy that involves reframing stressful situations to reduce their emotional impact. The study aims to assess not only the overall effectiveness of these reappraisal exercises but also whether the type of emotional self-report used before the intervention affects its impact. All participants complete questionnaires before and after the app phase to track changes in mood, stress, emotional awareness, and regulation.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Stress
• Intervention / Treatment: Device: Ecological Momentary Assessment mobile application; Device: FeelSync mobile application

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 490
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Marta A Marciniak, Dr; Phone Number: +31 10 754 5276; Email: marciniak@essb.eur.nl

Study Locations

• Netherlands
  • Rotterdam, Netherlands
    • Recruiting
    • Erasmus University Rotterdam
    • Contact: Marta A Marciniak, Dr; Phone Number: +31 10 754 5276; Email: marciniak@essb.eur.nl

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

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

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Owning a smartphone
• Proficiency in English language
• Being a student
• Age between 18 to 30 years old

Exclusion Criteria:

- Severe mental health disorder

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Factorial Assignment
• Masking: Triple

Number of Arms

7

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Ecological Momentary Assessment with self-generated emotion description; Ecological Momentary Assessment with participant's self-generated emotion description in an open-ended question form, in English, provided five times daily for seven consecutive days	Device: Ecological Momentary Assessment mobile application; Ecological Momentary Assessment used for self-monitoring of emotional states.
Active Comparator: Ecological Momentary Assessment with pre-defined set of emotion items to select; Ecological Momentary Assessment with pre-defined set of emotion items to select in a multiple-choice question form, in English, provided five times daily for seven consecutive days	Device: Ecological Momentary Assessment mobile application; Ecological Momentary Assessment used for self-monitoring of emotional states.
Active Comparator: Ecological Momentary Assessment with pre-defined set of emotion items to rate on a Likert scale; Ecological Momentary Assessment with pre-defined set of emotion items to rate on a seven-point Likert scale, in a slider form, in English, provided five times daily for seven consecutive days	Device: Ecological Momentary Assessment mobile application; Ecological Momentary Assessment used for self-monitoring of emotional states.
Experimental: Ecological Momentary Intervention with self-generated emotion description; Ecological Momentary Intervention focused on cognitive reappraisal, with a possibility to choose between distancing and positive reappraisal, provided three times daily and preceded by Ecological Momentary Assessment with participant's self-generated emotion description in an open-ended question form, in English, provided five times daily for seven consecutive days	Device: FeelSync mobile application; Ecological Momentary Intervention focused on cognitive reappraisal for distressing autobiographical memories, with a possibility to choose between distancing and positive reappraisal.
Experimental: Ecological Momentary Intervention with self-generated emotion description in mother tongue; Ecological Momentary Intervention focused on cognitive reappraisal, with a possibility to choose between distancing and positive reappraisal, provided three times daily and preceded by Ecological Momentary Assessment with participant's self-generated emotion description in an open-ended question form, in participant's mother tongue, provided five times daily for seven consecutive days	Device: FeelSync mobile application; Ecological Momentary Intervention focused on cognitive reappraisal for distressing autobiographical memories, with a possibility to choose between distancing and positive reappraisal.
Experimental: Ecological Momentary Intervention with pre-defined set of emotion items to select; Ecological Momentary Intervention focused on cognitive reappraisal, with a possibility to choose between distancing and positive reappraisal, provided three times daily and preceded by Ecological Momentary Assessment with pre-defined set of emotion items to rate on a seven-point Likert scale, in a slider form, in English, provided five times daily for seven consecutive days	Device: FeelSync mobile application; Ecological Momentary Intervention focused on cognitive reappraisal for distressing autobiographical memories, with a possibility to choose between distancing and positive reappraisal.
Experimental: Ecological Momentary Intervention with pre-defined set of emotion items to rate on a Likert scale; Ecological Momentary Intervention focused on cognitive reappraisal, with a possibility to choose between distancing and positive reappraisal, provided three times daily and preceded by Ecological Momentary Assessment with pre-defined set of emotion items to rate on a seven-point Likert scale, in a slider form, in English, provided five times daily for seven consecutive days	Device: FeelSync mobile application; Ecological Momentary Intervention focused on cognitive reappraisal for distressing autobiographical memories, with a possibility to choose between distancing and positive reappraisal.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Perceived Stress Scale	Self-report questionnaire, Range: 0 - 40 Higher scores: Worse outcome (higher perceived stress)	Baseline (pre-intervention, study day 1) and Follow-up (post intervention, study day 9)
Beck Depression Inventory II	Self-report questionnaire, Range: 0 - 63 Higher scores: Worse outcome (more severe depressive symptoms)	Baseline (pre-intervention, study day 1) and Follow-up (post intervention, study day 9)
State-Trait Anxiety Inventory	Self-report questionnaire, [state scale only], Range: 20 - 80 Higher scores: Worse outcome (greater state anxiety)	Baseline (pre-intervention, study day 1) and Follow-up (post intervention, study day 9)
Emotion Regulation Questionnaire	Self-report questionnaire, Reappraisal subscale: Range 1 - 7 (mean of 6 items) Higher scores: Better outcome (more frequent use of cognitive reappraisal) Suppression subscale: Range 1 - 7 (mean of 4 items) Higher scores: Worse outcome (more frequent use of suppression)	Baseline (pre-intervention, study day 1) and Follow-up (post intervention, study day 9)
Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire	Self-report questionnaire, Subscale range: 2 - 10 per strategy Higher scores: On adaptive strategies (e.g., positive reappraisal, putting into perspective): Better outcome On maladaptive strategies (e.g., rumination, catastrophizing): Worse outcome	Baseline (pre-intervention, study day 1) and Follow-up (post intervention, study day 9)
Toronto Alexithymia Scale	Self-report questionnaire, Range: 20 - 100 Higher scores: Worse outcome (greater difficulties in identifying and describing feelings; lower emotional awareness)	Baseline (pre-intervention, study day 1) and Follow-up (post intervention, study day 9)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Mobile Agnew Relationship Measure	Self-report questionnaire, Range: 16-112 Higher scores: Better outcome (stronger perceived therapeutic alliance with the app/intervention)	Follow-up (post intervention, study day 9)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Marta Marciniak

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 12, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): August 31, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): August 31, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 15, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 22, 2025
• First Posted (Actual): May 23, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 23, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 22, 2025
• Last Verified: May 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: mental health; language; emotion regulation; ecological momentary assessment; ecological momentary intervention; cognitive reappraisal; emotion awareness
• Other Study ID Numbers: ETH2425-0653

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: Only anonymized data from the self-report questionnaires will be shared via Open Science Framework.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: 09/2025-09/2035
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Anyone will be able to access anonymized participant data from self-report questionnaires.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: ANALYTIC_CODE

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No