A Pre-post Pilot of a Smartphone Intervention

June 18, 2026 updated by: Philip Chow, Ph.D., University of Virginia

A Pre-post Pilot of Behavioral Interventions Delivered Through Smartphones

Digital mental and behavioral health interventions have potential to significantly improve accessibility for the large number of breast cancer survivors who need treatments. However, the landscape of digital interventions tested in this population remains limited, with the few that have been tested primarily focused on reducing symptoms of mental disorders. This is problematic given the range of psychosocial needs among breast cancer survivors, including those who may not have active mental health symptoms, yet could benefit from learning effective coping skills.

Digital health interventions delivered through smartphones have strong potential to improve access to care for the large number of breast cancer survivors who need mental and behavioral health support. There is a need to evaluate a range of supportive interventions that target different aspects of mental health, including negative thinking, coping skills, and knowledge. Our research team has previously tested individual digital interventions in relatively small samples, and found that they were effective in reducing mood symptoms among women with breast cancer.

The ultimate goal of this project is to evaluate how integrating these interventions into a single 8-week long app program affects mood and overall mental health in breast cancer survivors. The digital micro-interventions to be tested in this study are brief interventions that target specific behavioral and cognitive mechanisms of mental health. These include skills such as reducing negative thinking patterns, increasing knowledge of mental health factors, fostering a grateful outlook, promoting the practice of relaxation breathing, savoring positive memories, and acceptance-based mindfulness approaches.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

44

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 Contact

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Virginia
      • Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, 22904
        • University of Virginia

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:

  • age = 18 years
  • 0-5 years post-diagnosis of Stage I, II, or III female breast cancer
  • elevated symptoms of depression and/or anxiety as measured by the PHQ-8 (score > 9) or GAD-7 (score > 7).

Exclusion Criteria:

  • receiving individual (1 on 1) treatment for depression and/or anxiety to avoid treatment interference (note, individuals will be permitted to enroll if they are taking antidepressant medication and have not had an appointment to adjust the dosage over the past 2 weeks)
  • active suicidal ideation during the enrollment/screening call based on a trained staff member orally administering the suicidality item from the PHQ-9 to individuals on the phone ("In the last 2 weeks, have you had thoughts that you would be better off dead, or thoughts of hurting yourself in some way?"). If an individual responds in any way other than "not at all" based on the available response options (i.e., either "several days", "more than half the days", or "nearly every day"), or if they mention having suicidal ideation or thoughts of death during the enrollment/screening call, the Pitt-Optimum risk assessment tool will be administered. Only participants deemed low risk may proceed in enrollment; all will be given additional resources
  • do not have an app-compatible phone
  • cannot read and speak English (intervention and measures only available in English).

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: Treatment
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Digital Intervention
Participants are provided with a suite of digital micro-interventions over an 8 week period
Behavioral: Digital Micro-Interventions
Digital Micro-Interventions are brief interventions that target specific behavioral and cognitive mechanisms of mental health, designed for brief periods of engagement.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Anxiety Symptoms
Time Frame: Baseline
7 item scale that measures anxiety symptoms on a continuous scale. Scores range from 0-21, with a higher score indicating greater severity of symptoms of anxiety.
Baseline
Anxiety Symptoms
Time Frame: Post 8-week Intervention
7 item scale that measures anxiety symptoms on a continuous scale. Scores range from 0-21, with a higher score indicating greater severity of symptoms of anxiety.
Post 8-week Intervention
Depression symptoms
Time Frame: Baseline
8 item scale that measures depression symptoms on a continuous scale. Scores range from 0-24, with a higher score indicating greater severity of symptoms of depression.
Baseline
Depression symptoms
Time Frame: Post 8-week Intervention
8 item scale that measures depression symptoms on a continuous scale. Scores range from 0-24, with a higher score indicating greater severity of symptoms of depression.
Post 8-week Intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Virginia

Collaborators

National Cancer Institute (NCI)

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 (Estimated)

July 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

September 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

September 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 18, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 18, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

June 24, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 24, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 18, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 8333
  • R37CA248434 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

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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