Efficacy of a Positive Psychology Intervention Through a Mobile App

Not Flourishing Population Clinical Trial

Official title:

Efficacy of a Positive Psychology Intervention Through a Mobile App: a Randomized Controlled Trial

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT03072680
• Other study ID #: 16337
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: April 23, 2019
• Est. completion date: July 27, 2019

Study information

• Verified date: September 2019
• Source: University of Valencia
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The aim of this study is to analyze the efficacy of several variations of an already validated Positive Psychology Intervention (PPI) called Best Possible Self in not flourishing population. This will be done through a mobile app specially designed for this aim.

Concretely, the design will permit to compare the classic intervention (BPS Future), a new variation (BPS Past), and a combination of both components (BPS Past+Future).

Participants will be randomly assigned to one of 3 conditions, in which they will practice the intervention for two weeks:

• BPS-PAST + BPS FUT condition: Participants will practice BPS Past for one week, and then they will switch to BPS future for another week.

• BPS-FUT condition: Participants will practice BPS Future for two weeks.

• CONTROL condition: Participants will practice DAILY ACTIVITIES for two weeks.

Description:

The design will permit two comparisons:

After the first week of the intervention, participants will answer the assessment. It will permit to compare BPS PAST, BPS FUTURE and CONTROL conditions (pre-post).

After the second week, participants will answer the assessment and then it will be possible to compare BPS PAST + BPS FUTURE combination, BPS FUTURE, and CONTROL conditions.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 361
• Est. completion date: July 27, 2019
• Est. primary completion date: July 27, 2019
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Participants must be 18 years old or older.

• Participants must be willing to participate in the study.

• Participants must have a smartphone (Android or Ios).

Exclusion Criteria:

• To suffer from moderate depression or anxiety (scores of 11 or higher) measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS; Zigmond & Snaith, 1983).

• To have "Flourishing mental health" measured by the Mental Health Continuum Short Form (MHC-SF; Keyes, 2009)

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Not Flourishing Population

Intervention

Behavioral:
• BPS PAST
Participants think about themselves in a past when they displayed their best self. Then, they visualize this with the help of audio instructions. They will practice within a mobile app.
• BPS FUT
Participants think about themselves in the future after everything has gone as well as it possibly could. Then, they visualize this with the help of audio instructions. They will practice within a mobile app.
• DAILY ACTIVITIES
Participants think about the activities they did during the last 24 hours. Then, they visualize this with the help of audio instructions. They will practice within a mobile app.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Netherlands	University of Twente	Enschede	Overijssel
Spain	University of Valencia	Valencia

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Valencia	University of Twente

Countries where clinical trial is conducted

Netherlands,  Spain, 

References & Publications (4)

King L. The Health Benefits of Writing About Life Goals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 27(7): 798-807, 2001.

Meevissen YM, Peters ML, Alberts HJ. Become more optimistic by imagining a best possible self: effects of a two week intervention. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry. 2011 Sep;42(3):371-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2011.02.012. Epub 2011 Mar 2. — View Citation

Peters ML, Flink IK, Boersma K, Linton SJ. Manipulating optimism: Can imagining a best possible self be used to increase positive future expectancies? The Journal of Positive Psychology 5(3): 204-211, 2010.

Sheldon KM, Lyubomirsky S. How to increase and sustain positive emotion: The effects of expressing gratitude and visualizing best possible selves. The Journal of Positive Psychology 1(2): 73-82, 2006.

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Change of Positive and Negative Affect from baseline to post-intervention	Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS; Watson, Clark & Tellegen, 1988)	Change from pre-intervention to post-intervention (2 weeks)
Secondary	Wellbeing	The Mental Health Continuum Short Form (MHC-SF; Keyes, 2009)	Change from pre-intervention to post-intervention (2 weeks)
Secondary	Optimism	Life Orientation Test (LOT-R; Scheier, Carver & Bridges, 1994).	Change from pre-intervention to post-intervention (2 weeks)
Secondary	Satisfaction with life	Temporal Satisfaction with Life Scale (TSWLS; Pavot, Diener & Suh, 1998).	Change from pre-intervention to post-intervention (2 weeks)
Secondary	Self-efficacy	New General Self-efficacy Scale (NGSES; Chen, Gully & Eden, 2001).	Change from pre-intervention to post-intervention (2 weeks)