Evaluating The Impact of A Mental Health App on Depression and Resilience Among Medical Students

Evaluating The Impact of A Mental Health App on Depression and Resilience Among Medical Students: A Randomized Controlled Study

This randomized controlled trial aims to determine whether access to a mental health app improves resilience and reduces depressive symptoms among medical students over a three-month period.

Compared to the control group, researchers hypothesized that medical students in the intervention group are expected to show:

• Significant reductions in depressive symptoms and greater improvements in resilience after three months of usage.
• Significant reduction in thoughts of self-harm and anxiety, and improvement in self-esteem after three months of usage.

Researchers will compare two groups to evaluate the app's impact on wellbeing:

• Intervention group: Receives immediate full access to the mental health app.
• Control group: Receives basic, without full access to the mental health app.

Participants will explore and experience the various features offered in the mental health app over a three-month period.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Resilience; Depression - Major Depressive Disorder
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Full digital mental health intervention; Behavioral: Basic digital mental health intervention

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 220
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Malaysia
  • Kuala Lumpur
    • Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
      • Fakulti Perubatan, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

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

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Aged 18 to 30;
• Enrolled in medical school (preclinical or clinical years);
• Owns a smartphone;
• Able to read and understand English.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Does not consent to study.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Triple

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention Group; Participants in the intervention group will receive immediate full access to the mental health app services during the study period.	Behavioral: Full digital mental health intervention; Name of the mental health app - Intellect: Create A Better You
Other: Control Group; Participants in the control group will receive basic, without full access to the mental health app services during the study period (active control).	Behavioral: Basic digital mental health intervention; Name of mental health app - Intellect: Create a Better You

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Depressive symptoms	Depressive symptoms will be assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, developed by Kroenke et al. (2001). This 9-item instrument assesses the frequency of depressive symptoms over the past two weeks. Each item is rated on a 4-point scale, yielding a total severity score ranging from 0 to 27, with higher scores indicating greater severity of depressive symptoms.	Baseline and 3 months
Resilience	Resilience will be measured using the Brief Resilience Scale developed by Smith et al. (2008). This 6-item instrument assesses the ability to recover from stress. Each item is rated on a 5-point Likert scale, yielding a total score ranging from 6 to 30, with higher scores indicating greater resilience.	Baseline and 3 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Anxiety	Anxiety will be assessed using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 developed by Spitzer et al. (2006). This 7-item instrument assesses generalized anxiety symptoms over the past two weeks. Each item is rated on a 4-point scale, resulting in a total severity score ranging from 0 to 21, with higher total score indicating a greater level of anxiety.	Baseline and 3 months
Self-esteem	Self-esteem will be measured using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale developed by Rosenberg (1989). This 10-item instrument assesses global self-worth by measuring both positive and negative feelings about the self. Each item is rated on a 4-point Likert scale, yielding a total score ranging from 0 to 30, with higher scores indicating more positive self-esteem.	Baseline and 3 months
Subjective wellbeing	Subjective wellbeing will be measured using the World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index. This 5-item instrument assesses the respondent's mental wellbeing over the past two weeks. Each item is rated on a 6-point scale. The raw score is typically multiplied by four to get a percentage score ranging from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating better mental wellbeing.	Baseline and 3 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: National University of Malaysia

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): February 11, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): June 30, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 2, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 2, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): February 9, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): February 13, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 10, 2026
• Last Verified: February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: depression; medical students; resilience; digital mental health intervention; impact of mental health app; effectiveness of mental health app
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior; Depression
• Other Study ID Numbers: JEP-2025-884

Drug and device information, study documents

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