Digital Rewards and Retention in a M-health App
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: Multipurpose Online Tool, No intervention.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Transdiagnostic Psychopathology, Attrition, Engagement, Depression, Anxiety. Basic parameters: 18 years — 60 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- Romania
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
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Official title
Does Engagement in a Computerized M-Health Intervention Increase With Digital Rewards?
Overview
Attrition and user engagement are two challenges that eHealth interventions struggle with. Attempts to address this have been previously made through gamification, instructional design and using different types of incentives. Overall, any type of reward, be it non-financial or monetary is better than the controls, but the latter usually produce a greater effect. It is also worth mentioning that having an affective value attached to the reward itself is also important to user retention and engagement. Given the ever-increasing interest in cryptocurrency and its current relevance, the present study - a randomized clinical trial with three arms - aims to compare cryptocurrency to non-monetary rewards regarding their effectiveness in reducing attrition and increasing engagement. In order to do this, a mental-health computerized intervention will be developed, in which the users will have to complete several modules, during which time they will be rewarded either with cryptocurrency, sweepstake rewards (e.g., vouchers), or nothing.
Detailed description
Albeit effective, eHealth interventions suffer from very high dropout rates. Finding novel ways in which to maximise user retention and engagement in such settings can be beneficial, and exploring cryptocurrency as a potential reward may be worthwhile, since motivation seems to increase as the reward is perceived as more meaningful by the recipient.
The design is experimental, between-subjects, with one independent variable (the type of reward offered) and mental health (e.g., depression, anxiety, stress, and transdiagnostic constructs) as well as engagement and retention outcomes. Thus, three groups will be formed: two in which participants will be enrolled in the modular MOTO intervention and will receive different rewards, and one in which they will not receive any intervention or reward but will be evaluated as part of a waitlist control group. The modular MOTO intervention involves, in addition to the mentioned assessments, the completion of six weekly modules, each focused on specific aspects of mental health and containing exercises that may improve psychological well-being. These modules are automated, requiring no interaction with others (except for communication between participants and research team). Each of these modules contains the following: psychoeducational section(s) that participants must complete; a short test of 5-10 questions after each section to assess understanding of the material; (only for the first two groups); a link where they can obtain their rewards; the exercise corresponding to that module; the evaluation corresponding to that module.
Interventions
- Behavioral Multipurpose Online Tool
The intervention consists of 6 psychoeducational modules, on the Canvas teaching platform. They are automated, requiring no interaction with others (except for communication between participants and the team). Participants go through the psychoeducational modules, then do the corresponding exercise, and then access their rewards (if they belong to the experimental or comparative groups). - Other No intervention
The participants will be assessed but without any intervention
Primary outcome measures
- Participant retention [Time frame: From enrollment to the end of the 6 week intervention]
Secondary outcome measures (10)
- User Engagement Scale - Short Version (UES-SF) [Time frame: From the first module to the last (from week 1 to 6)]
- The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) - Depression [Time frame: On week 1 and week 6 of the intervention]
- The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) - Anxiety [Time frame: On week 1 and week 6 of the intervention]
- The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) - Stress [Time frame: On week 1 and week 6 of the intervention]
- DSM-5 Self-Rated Level 1 Cross-Cutting Symptom Measure-Adult [Time frame: On week 1 and week 6 of the intervention]
- The Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale: Short Version (IUS-12) [Time frame: On week 1 and week 6 of the intervention]
- The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale: Brief Version (DERS-16) [Time frame: On week 1 and week 6 of the intervention]
- Ruminative Response Scale (RRS-10) [Time frame: On week 1 and week 6 of the intervention]
- Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (Short Version) - ATQ -8 [Time frame: On week 1 and week 6 of the intervention]
- The Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire (CFQ-7) [Time frame: On week 1 and week 6 of the intervention]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- English speaking
Exclusion criteria
\-
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: Yes
Study design
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Model
- Parallel assignment
- Masking
- Open label
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
Study locations
Romania · 1 center
- University of Bucharest — Bucharest
Identifiers
NCT: NCT06883773 · DIGITALGAMINGRCT