Activating Social Resources in Psychotherapy-Seeking Individuals: Effectiveness and Timing of a Social Support Just-in-Time Adaptive Intervention

April 29, 2026 updated by: University of Zurich
This study evaluates a Just-In-Time Adaptive Intervention (JITAI) aiming to foster social support processes for adults with elevated depressive symptoms awaiting outpatient psychotherapy. Utilizing a daily-level micro-randomized trial (MRT) design conducted over 21 days, participants are assessed six times daily. Participants are randomized across four conditions: (1) vulnerability-triggered, (2) vulnerability and receptivity-triggered, (3) support-need-triggered, and (4) a no-intervention control. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the JITAI in reducing daily depressive symptoms and increasing received social support (primary outcomes), as well as reducing daily loneliness and enhancing perceived social support (secondary outcomes). Furthermore, the study aims to compare the relative efficacy of three distinct triggering strategies to identify the most effective timing for intervention delivery.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

120

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

  • Switzerland
    • Canton of Zurich
      • Zurich, Canton of Zurich, Switzerland, 8050
        • Recruiting
        • University of Zurich
        • Contact:

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

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • indicating to seek outpatient psychotherapy
  • elevated levels of self-reported depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI) score > 13 (out of 63); Kühner et al., 2007)
  • owning a smartphone
  • signing the informed consent form

Exclusion Criteria:

  • first session for outpatient psychotherapy is scheduled within four weeks
  • suicidal ideation (values > 2 in BDI item 9)
  • presence of manic symptoms (Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ) score > 7), - shift work
  • age below 18 or above 70

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: Other
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Social Support JITAI triggered based on Vulnerability

The intervention will be delivered when at least one vulnerability indicator reaches a score of ≥ 5 on a 7-point scale. Original german wording can be found in on the repository of the Open Science Framework (OSF) at https://osf.io/r8mks.

Vulnerability indicators

Negative affect (single item):

"To what extent are you currently experiencing negative emotions?" 7-point Likert-Scale (1 = "I do not experience any negative emotions" to 7 = "I experience very strong negative emotions")

Stress (single item; self-developed):

"I'm feeling stressed at the moment." 7-point Likert-Scale (1 = "strongly disagree" to 7 = "strongly agree")

Loneliness (single item):

"I feel lonely at the moment." 7-point Likert-Scale, as above

Rumination (single item):

"I notice that I keep having the same negative thoughts over and over again." 7-point Likert-Scale, as above

Listlessness (single item; self-developed):

"I don't feel like doing anything right now." 7-point Likert-Scale, as above
Behavioral: Social Support Just-in-Time Adaptive Intervention
The intervention is a smartphone-based system designed to encourage the activation of social support networks during critical moments. Triggers are based on real-time Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) data. When a condition is met, the app prompts participants to identify a specific type of support needed and a person from their social network to contact. It then provides one of three evidence-based recommendations to facilitate effective support-seeking behavior (direct communication, solution-focused discussion, and reframing the situation). If no social contact is available, the app suggests alternative self-help activities. Detailed information can be found on the OSF project page: https://osf.io/4e8gz
Experimental: Social Support JITAI triggered based on Vulnerability and Receptivity

The intervention will be delivered when the vulnerability criterion (≥ 5) is met and the respondent answers "yes" to the receptivity item. The content of this intervention condition is slightly different to the other ones (conditions 1 + 3) as it allows for postponement of the intervention when one is not receptive. Original german wording can be found in on the repository of the Open Science Framework (OSF) at https://osf.io/r8mks.

Receptivity (single item; self-developed) "I am currently open to receiving support from this app which could help me to feel better." 7-point Likert scale (1 = "strongly disagree" to 7 = "strongly agree")
Behavioral: Social Support Just-in-Time Adaptive Intervention
The intervention is a smartphone-based system designed to encourage the activation of social support networks during critical moments. Triggers are based on real-time Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) data. When a condition is met, the app prompts participants to identify a specific type of support needed and a person from their social network to contact. It then provides one of three evidence-based recommendations to facilitate effective support-seeking behavior (direct communication, solution-focused discussion, and reframing the situation). If no social contact is available, the app suggests alternative self-help activities. Detailed information can be found on the OSF project page: https://osf.io/4e8gz
Experimental: Social Support JITAI triggered based on Support Need

The intervention will be delivered when the participants indicate "yes" in the support need item. Original german wording can be found in on the repository of the Open Science Framework (OSF) at https://osf.io/r8mks.

Support need item (single item; self-developed) "Would it help you right now to talk to someone about how you're feeling?" (Yes / No)
Behavioral: Social Support Just-in-Time Adaptive Intervention
The intervention is a smartphone-based system designed to encourage the activation of social support networks during critical moments. Triggers are based on real-time Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) data. When a condition is met, the app prompts participants to identify a specific type of support needed and a person from their social network to contact. It then provides one of three evidence-based recommendations to facilitate effective support-seeking behavior (direct communication, solution-focused discussion, and reframing the situation). If no social contact is available, the app suggests alternative self-help activities. Detailed information can be found on the OSF project page: https://osf.io/4e8gz
No Intervention: Control Condition
No interventions are delivered on the respective study days

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Depressive Symptoms
Time Frame: Measured in the evening of study days 1-21

PHQ-2, adapted for daily measurement

"Today, I felt down, depressed, or hopeless." "Today, I had little interest or pleasure in my activities." (7-point Likert scale with 1 = "strongly disagree" to 7 = "strongly agree")
Measured in the evening of study days 1-21
Received Social Support
Time Frame: Measured in the evening of study days 1-21

"Today, I received emotional support from others."

"Today, I received practical help from others." (7-point Likert scale with 1 = "strongly disagree" to 7 = "strongly agree")

Before that the participants were shown a definition of emotional and practical support:

"Support can be emotional (e.g., listening, offering comfort, encouraging, etc.) or involve practical assistance (e.g., giving advice, gathering information, running errands, etc.)."
Measured in the evening of study days 1-21

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Loneliness
Time Frame: Measured in the evening of study days 1-21
"I felt lonely today" (5-point Likert scale with 1 = "strongly disagree" to 5 = "strongly agree")
Measured in the evening of study days 1-21
Perceived Social Support
Time Frame: Measured in the evening of study days 1-21
(i) "If I had fallen ill today, I could have asked friends/relatives to take care of important things for me without hesitation." (ii) "If I were feeling very depressed right now, I would know who I could easily turn to." (7-point Likert scale with 1 = "strongly disagree" to 7 = "strongly agree")
Measured in the evening of study days 1-21

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Zurich

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

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)

April 22, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 3, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 10, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

March 13, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 30, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 29, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 25.09.06
  • PZ00P1_208742 (Other Grant/Funding Number: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF))

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

De-identified and anonmyized individual participant data that underlie the results reported in this study, will be made available on an Open Science Framework (OSF) repository to researchers for the purpose of reproducing the reported analyses.

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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