Digital Intervention for Healthcare Workers

August 27, 2026 updated by: University of Illinois at Chicago

Enhancing Sustained Engagement in Digital Mental Health Interventions (DMHIs)

The goal of this clinical trial is to test which engagement strategies lead to more participation in a digital mental health program among healthcare workers. The main questions it aims to answer is:

  • Does content tailoring increase engagement with the digital program?
  • Does human support increase engagement with the digital program?

Researchers will compare the general intervention to a tailored intervention and to the tailored intervention with human support coaching to see what leads to more engagement with/use of the program.

Participants will:

  • Use a digital program weekly for 6 weeks
  • Complete questionnaires at 5 times: Start of study, Week 2, Week 3 (mid-program), Week 6 (end of program), and Week 10 (follow-up)

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

201

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

  • Name: Jennifer Duffecy, PhD
  • Phone Number: 312-413-1225
  • Email: jduffecy@uic.edu

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Illinois
      • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60612
        • Neuropsychiatric Institute
        • 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:

  • Age 18 years or older, all sexes
  • Currently working in healthcare in the US with at least 4 hours per week of direct patient contact
  • Stable access to internet
  • Have a total score between 3-14 on the PHQ-9 (Patient Health Questionnaire-9), suggestive of mild to moderate depressive symptoms

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Have a total score of ≥15 on the PHQ-9, indicating Severe Depressive symptoms.
  • Currently diagnosed with a psychotic disorder or bipolar disorder, based on self-report.
  • Currently receiving psychotherapy for depression or anxiety based on self-report; If on medications for depression or anxiety, must be on a stable dose of medication for at least 2 weeks.

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: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Factorial Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Control Group
Infographic onboarding and the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)-based 6-week digital mental health intervention.
Behavioral: Engage
The digital mental health intervention is based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy principles and consists of learning modules covering basic skills (e.g., behavioral activation) and interactive tools to assist in learning and implementing the skills associated with the learning modules. Interactive tools are designed to support implementation of cognitive behavioral skills including activity scheduling and monitoring, cognitive restructuring, goal setting, relaxation, and mood tracking.
Experimental: Content Tailoring Group
Healthcare-worker-tailored infographic onboarding and the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)-based 6-week digital mental health intervention with healthcare worker tailoring.
Behavioral: HCW-Tailored Engage
The digital mental health intervention is based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy principles and consists of learning modules covering basic skills (e.g., behavioral activation) and interactive tools to assist in learning and implementing the skills associated with the learning modules. Interactive tools are designed to support implementation of cognitive behavioral skills including activity scheduling and monitoring, cognitive restructuring, goal setting, relaxation, and mood tracking. This version of the intervention contains content tailored specifically for healthcare workers, based on findings from a co-design, qualitative focus group process.
Experimental: Content Tailoring Plus Human Support Group
An onboarding engagement call with a human coach and the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)-based 6-week digital mental health intervention with healthcare worker tailoring, plus human support via messaging (coaching).
Behavioral: HCW-Tailored Engage
The digital mental health intervention is based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy principles and consists of learning modules covering basic skills (e.g., behavioral activation) and interactive tools to assist in learning and implementing the skills associated with the learning modules. Interactive tools are designed to support implementation of cognitive behavioral skills including activity scheduling and monitoring, cognitive restructuring, goal setting, relaxation, and mood tracking. This version of the intervention contains content tailored specifically for healthcare workers, based on findings from a co-design, qualitative focus group process.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Engagement with the intervention (subjective)
Time Frame: From start of intervention to end of intervention period at 6 weeks.
The primary outcome is engagement with intervention. Subjective engagement will be measured via the TWente Engagement with Ehealth Technologies Scale (TWEETS), a 9-item measure aimed at assessing behavioral engagement, cognitive engagement, and affective engagement. A higher total score reflects a greater, more positive engagement with the digital health intervention.
From start of intervention to end of intervention period at 6 weeks.
Engagement - Number of Lessons
Time Frame: From start of intervention to end of intervention period at 6 weeks.
An objective measure of engagement with the digital intervention is number of lessons read (i.e., module completion). More lessons read reflects more engagement with the intervention.
From start of intervention to end of intervention period at 6 weeks.
Engagement - Number of Tools
Time Frame: From start of intervention to end of intervention period at 6 weeks.
An objective measure of engagement with the digital intervention is number of tools completed (i.e., tool usage). More tools completed reflects more engagement with the intervention.
From start of intervention to end of intervention period at 6 weeks.
Engagement - Duration of Time
Time Frame: From start of intervention to end of intervention period at 6 weeks.
An objective measure of engagement with the digital intervention is the duration of time participants spend on the digital intervention site. More time on the site reflects more engagement with the intervention.
From start of intervention to end of intervention period at 6 weeks.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Burnout
Time Frame: From baseline to follow-up at 10 weeks.
Burnout is measured via the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory, a validated 16-item survey with positively and negatively framed items that cover 2 areas: exhaustion (physical, cognitive, and affective aspects) and disengagement from work (negative attitudes toward work objects, work content, or work in general). Scores on the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory can be presented as an overall total (range 16 to 64). Higher total scores indicate a higher level of burnout.
From baseline to follow-up at 10 weeks.
Depressive Symptoms
Time Frame: From baseline to follow-up at 10 weeks.
Depressive symptoms are measured via the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), a validated 9-item multipurpose instrument for screening, monitoring, and measuring depression, asking participants to rate their frequency of DSM symptoms over the past 2 weeks. PHQ-9 scores are obtained by adding score for each question (total points). Total scores of 5, 10, 15, and 20 represent cut-points for mild, moderate, moderately severe and severe depression, respectively. Higher scores reflect more depressive symptoms.
From baseline to follow-up at 10 weeks.
Anxiety symptoms
Time Frame: From baseline to follow-up at 10 weeks.
The Generalized Anxiety Disorder Screener (GAD-7) is a validated 7-item practical self-report anxiety questionnaire, asking participants to rate their frequency of symptoms over the past 2 weeks. GAD-7 score obtained by adding score for each question (total points). Total scores of 5, 10, and 15 represent cut-points for mild, moderate, and severe anxiety. Higher scores reflect more anxiety.
From baseline to follow-up at 10 weeks.

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Illinois at Chicago

Collaborators

National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)

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)

November 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

January 1, 2028

Study Completion (Estimated)

March 1, 2028

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 24, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 27, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

August 28, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 28, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 27, 2026

Last Verified

August 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2025-0594
  • UM1TR005438 (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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