TY  - JOUR
AU  - Toh, Sean Han Yang
AU  - Tan, Jessalin Hui Yan
AU  - Kosasih, Feodora Roxanne
AU  - Sündermann, Oliver
PY  - 2022
DA  - 2022/12/14
TI  - Efficacy of the Mental Health App Intellect to Reduce Stress: Randomized Controlled Trial With a 1-Month Follow-up
JO  - JMIR Form Res
SP  - e40723
VL  - 6
IS  - 12
KW  - mobile health
KW  - mHealth
KW  - randomized controlled trial
KW  - RCT
KW  - self-guided interventions
KW  - cognitive behavioral therapy
KW  - CBT
KW  - stress coping
KW  - stress management
KW  - university students
KW  - psychological mindedness
KW  - coping self-efficacy
KW  - mobile phone
AB  - Background: Excessive stress is a major global health concern, particularly in young adults. Short skills-focused self-guided interventions (SGIs) on smartphones are a scalable way to improve stress-coping skills at the population level. Objective: In this randomized controlled trial, we aimed to examine the possible efficacy of a recently developed stress-coping SGI (Intellect) in improving psychological distress, relative to an active control group and 2 potential moderators of this predicted relationship (ie, psychological mindedness [PM] and coping self-efficacy [CSE]). Methods: University students (N=321) were randomly assigned to either an 8-day SGI on stress-coping or an active control group. Self-reported measures were obtained at baseline, after the intervention, and at the 1-month follow-up. The primary outcome was psychological stress (Psychological Stress Measure-9). Secondary outcomes were anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7) and depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire-9). PM and CSE were assessed as potential moderators at baseline. Results: The final sample (n=264) included 188 (71.2%) female, 66 (25%) male, 7 (2.7%) nonbinary, and 3 (1.1%) others participants with a mean age of 22.5 (SD 5.41) years. The intervention group reported significantly lower perceived stress (partial eta–squared [ηp2]=0.018; P=.03) and anxiety (ηp2=0.019; P=.03) levels after intervention relative to the active control group. The effects on perceived stress levels remained statistically significant at the 1-month follow-up (ηp2=0.015; P=.05). Students with the lowest CSE and highest PM experienced the fastest decline in perceived stress levels (β=6.37, 95% Cl 2.98-9.75). Improvements in anxiety levels were not observed at 1-month follow-up. Similarly, no intervention effects were found for depression levels at postintervention and follow-up periods. Conclusions: This study provides evidence that the Intellect stress-coping SGI is effective in reducing perceived stress and anxiety levels among university students. Mobile health apps are brief, scalable, and can make important contributions to public mental health. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04978896; https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04978896 
SN  - 2561-326X
UR  - https://formative.jmir.org/2022/12/e40723
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/40723
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36515984
DO  - 10.2196/40723
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/40723
ER  -