Teen Helpline Motivational Interviewing Study (MI)

June 22, 2026 updated by: Sylvanna Vargas, San Diego State University

Using Performance Feedback and Facilitation to Integrate Motivational Interviewing in Teen Helpline Services

The proposed study will establish a foundation for research within peer-delivered helplines for teens. It aims to evaluate the impact of a Motivational Interviewing training at peer-to-peer helpline. The study will leverage emerging technologies to surmount the challenges of providing tailored training to a large and diverse mental health workforce at scale.

Aim 1: Adapt Motivational Interviewing (MI) strategies for use in a teen peer-delivered text-based digital helpline.

Aim 2: Co-design performance feedback (PF) and facilitated practice (FP) processes to support MI adherence among peer helpers.

Aim 3: Examine feasibility, acceptability, and initial outcomes in a pilot feasibility trial. Peer helpers (N=50) will be randomized to receive MI training or MI training + PF-FP.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This study will adapt and implement Motivational Interviewing (MI) within Teen Talk App, a text-based teen-to-teen helpline, with the goal of increasing real-world help-seeking among youth users. Using human-centered design methods, teen helpers, supervisors, and users will participate in focus groups, interviews, and iterative prototyping activities to adapt MI for brief text-based interactions and to refine an implementation strategy consisting of performance feedback and facilitated practice (PF-FP). Stakeholder input will be used to ensure the intervention and implementation strategy are acceptable, feasible, and fit within existing helpline workflows.

Following adaptation, a pilot feasibility trial will evaluate the implementation strategy among Teen Talk peer helpers. Helpers who enroll in the study (N=50) will be randomized to receive either training as usual or enhanced training consisting of monthly performance feedback and facilitated practice sessions over a 6-month period. Teen Talk users (N=100) will also be recruited to assess clinical outcomes, including help-seeking behaviors and mental health symptoms. The study will provide preliminary data on implementation outcomes, helper MI skill use, and user outcomes to inform a future fully powered effectiveness-implementation trial.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

206

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
    • California
      • San Diego, California, United States, 92182-8000
        • Recruiting
        • San Diego State University
        • 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

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria

Teen Helpers

  • Current helpline peer helpers
  • Aged 14-19 years.
  • Provides assent and documented parental consent (when applicable).
  • Completes study measures prior to the first Motivational Interviewing (MI) training session.
  • Attends and completes assigned MI training activities.
  • Has access to technology required for online participation (computer, tablet, or smartphone with internet access; videoconferencing capability if needed).
  • Plans to continue helpline activities throughout the study period.

Teen Users

  • Aged 13-19 years.
  • Current U.S. resident.
  • Has engaged in at least 20 back-and-forth text exchanges with a helpline volunteer.
  • Demonstrates active communication and engagement on the helpline platform.
  • Has access to technology required to complete online surveys and, if selected, interviews (computer, tablet, or smartphone with internet access).

Exclusion Criteria

Teen Helpers

- Plans to discontinue helpline activities within the next 8 months.

Teen Users

  • Identified as currently experiencing acute suicide risk (i.e., assigned a "high-risk" flag by the helpline algorithm or identified as high risk by helpline staff).
  • Requires immediate crisis intervention or emergency services that could be disrupted by participation in the research study.

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: Health Services Research
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Performance feedback and facilitated practice
Helpline volunteers randomized into this study arm will receive additional MI training through feedback and practice (they will receive standard helpline training and MI training).
Other: Motivational Interviewing Training
All participants will receive Motivational Interviewing training through an educational workshop. Participants in the intervention arm will receive performance feedback and facilitated practice (implementation strategy). Those in the control arm will receive training as usual.
No Intervention: Training as usual
Helpline volunteers randomized into this study arm will not receive additional MI training through feedback or practice (they will receive standard helpline training only).

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
General Help Seeking Questionnaire
Time Frame: 11 months (consent to post 6-month follow up)
Measure of help seeking behavior. Minimum score = 10; Maximum score = 70. Higher scores indicate greater intentions or willingness to seek help.
11 months (consent to post 6-month follow up)
Patient Health Questionnaire-8
Time Frame: 11 months (consent to post 6-month follow up)
Measure helpline user distress. Minimum score = 0; Maximum score = 24. Higher scores indicate greater depressive symptom severity.
11 months (consent to post 6-month follow up)

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

San Diego State University

Collaborators

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

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)

August 28, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

October 31, 2029

Study Completion (Estimated)

October 31, 2029

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 5, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 5, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

June 10, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 25, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 22, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • IRB-24-0310
  • K23MH137387 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

Quantitative Data. De-identified, clinical self-report questionnaires from the pilot trial (Aim 3) will be shared via the National Institute of Mental Health Data Archive (NDA).

Qualitative data will not be shared to protect participant confidentiality.

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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