Remote vs. In-Person Study Evaluation (RISE) Trials: RISE Above Depression (Trial 2 of 3)

November 2, 2026 updated by: Larry Hawk, Ph.D., State University of New York at Buffalo

Remote vs. In-Person Study Evaluation (RISE) Above Depression

The study will employ a randomized, parallel-group design with two-stage randomization. After an initial brief screen for basic eligibility, participants will be randomized (within site) to either Remote (R) or In-Person (IP) Intake Groups. During the Intake, detailed consent and eligibility assessment will be completed. Participants who are eligible at the Intake will be randomized (within site and Intake Group) to R or IP Treatment and Assessment Groups. Participants will be followed for 3 months.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

100

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
    • South Carolina
      • Charleston, South Carolina, United States, 29425
        • Medical University of South Carolina

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

18 years to 99 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

INCLUSION CRITERIA:

Common to all 3 RCTs:

  1. age18+ years
  2. stable mailing address (for mailing study packets if assigned to Remote Intake and/or Remote Treatment/Assessment) within accessible range (1.5 hours) of each study site (per self report)
  3. able to read, speak & verbally comprehend English
  4. currently own an iOS- or Android-compatible smartphone
  5. have a valid e-mail address that is checked regularly (at least once per day) or have regular access to text messages (to access follow-up assessments)

Specific to RCT 2:

e) Elevated depressive symptoms, defined as a score of > 10 on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) f) Report willingness to utilize a mobile app for the treatment for depressed mood (response of "yes" on yes/no item)

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

Common to All 3 RCTs:

  1. consumption of >28 alcohol-containing drinks per week

  2. suicide attempt with at least some wish to die in past 3 months

  3. mental illness (such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression) that led to hospitalization in the past 30 days

  4. unable/unwilling to provide informed consent or follow directions, inappropriately responsive, based on staff observations

    Specific to RCT2:

  5. Current suicidal ideation at study screening, defined as a response of ≥ 1 on item nine ("Thoughts that you would be better off dead, or of hurting yourself") of the PHQ-9

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: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Other: REMOTE intake AND REMOTE treatment/assessment

In this arm, ppts have been randomly assigned to a REMOTE INTAKE eligibility/baseline visit, and subsequently randomized to 5 REMOTE treatment/assessment visits.
Behavioral: mobile health application (Moodivate)

All participants receive the mobile health application "Moodivate".
Other: REMOTE intake BUT IN-PERSON treatment/assessment

In this arm, ppts have been randomly assigned to a REMOTE INTAKE eligibility/baseline visit, and subsequently randomized to 5 IN-PERSON treatment/assessment visits.
Behavioral: mobile health application (Moodivate)

All participants receive the mobile health application "Moodivate".
Other: IN-PERSON intake, BUT REMOTE treatment/assessment

In this arm, ppts have been randomly assigned to an IN-PERSON INTAKE eligibility/baseline visit, and subsequently randomized to 5 REMOTE treatment/assessment visits.
Behavioral: mobile health application (Moodivate)

All participants receive the mobile health application "Moodivate".
Other: IN-PERSON intake AND IN-PERSON treatment/assessment

In this arm, ppts have been randomly assigned to an IN-PERSON INTAKE eligibility/baseline visit, and subsequently randomized to 5 IN-PERSON treatment/assessment visits.
Behavioral: mobile health application (Moodivate)

All participants receive the mobile health application "Moodivate".

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Trial Quality: Retention
Time Frame: ~3 months

Retention will be assessed using visit milestone data to determine whether each participant achieved each T/A Visit (Visits 2-5) following T/A initiation at T/A Visit 1. We will calculate a continuous metric of retention (0-4; the number of visits completed) for each participant, supplemented by visit-specific data to provide a detailed examination of the time course and overall amount of retention.
~3 months
Accrual efficiency/Pre-treatment visits
Time Frame: ~1 month

Calculated from visit milestones. Percentage of screen-eligible participants who attend the Intake Visit after randomization to Remote vs In-Person Intake. Additional accrual metrics include 1) Intake-to-Treatment/Assessment Visit 1 completion and 2) Overall pre-treatment accrual (Brief Screen to Treatment/Assessment Visit 1
~1 month
Trial Quality: Treatment utilization
Time Frame: ~3 months (assessed from T/A1 [when app is distributed] through T/A5)

Participant engagement with the Moodivate mobile application pulled directly from the Moodivate analytics data. The primary outcome will be the percentage of days in which the app was used (from T/A 1 until T/A 5). Additional secondary outcomes include: the number of sessions of app use, average time per session, and total time using the app, as well as fidelity metrics (number of goals created and the number of activities created, scheduled, and completed).
~3 months (assessed from T/A1 [when app is distributed] through T/A5)
Trial quality: Biospecimen completion rates
Time Frame: ~3 months (assessed at T/A Visits 1,2, 3, 4, and 5)

The number of saliva samples completed/returned for Treatment/Assessment visits 1-5 that each participant attended. Remote participants return samples by mail; to count as completed/returned, the mailed package must be postmarked within 7 days of the visit.
~3 months (assessed at T/A Visits 1,2, 3, 4, and 5)

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

State University of New York at Buffalo

Collaborators

Medical University of South Carolina
Wake Forest University Health Sciences
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)

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.

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 (Estimated)

November 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

May 1, 2028

Study Completion (Estimated)

May 1, 2028

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 26, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 26, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

October 2, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

November 3, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 2, 2026

Last Verified

September 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • STUDY00010275
  • 4UH3TR004797 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

We plan to make available the full de-identified data set with metadata through the NAHDAP, a NIDA-funded platform for data sharing/archiving, with a topical focus on behavioral health data. NAHDAP operates under the umbrella of the ICPSR, based at the University of Michigan. Per the ICPSR website, the ICPSR is "the largest social science data archive in the world".

IPD Sharing Time Frame

The study protocol and informed consent form will be shared at risetrials.org by 12/31/26.

Consistent with NIH and Institute of Medicine recommendations, the data will be deposited no later than the publication of the primary study data or one year after each RCTs completion, whichever comes first. There is no planned end date.

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

The study protocol and informed consent form will be shared at risetrials.org by 12/31/26.

Data submitted for archiving/sharing will be consistent with Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) and the National Addiction and HIV Data Archive Program (NAHDAP) data standards and data stewardship policies and will contain no personal identifiers. Typically, the data are publicly available via a unique digital object identifier (DOI).

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • ICF

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

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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