Mental Health App and Impact on Wellbeing
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: mental health app.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Well-Being, Psychological. Basic parameters: from 18 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
- United States
- 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
Landing Place: Impact of the Landing Place Mental Health App on Mental Health and Well-being
Overview
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if intervention with Landing Place mental health app can support wellness in college students. The main questions it aims to answer are: Can the app increased well-being in college students? Will the app have increased use and usability by the college students? Researchers will compare two groups of participants to see if the app intervention will increase wellbeing and app usability rates. Participants will randomly assigned into group 1 and 2. Group 1 will not use the app at all. Group 2 will use the app almost every day for 4 weeks.
Detailed description
Mental health concerns across the United States have increased substantially, affecting individuals across age groups, geographic regions, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Emerging adults demonstrate the highest prevalence of mental health conditions among adult populations, while simultaneously exhibiting the lowest rates of treatment utilization. Barriers to treatment for this population include limited affordability, accessibility, availability, and acceptability of mental health services.
Digital mental health interventions have demonstrated effectiveness across a range of outcomes, including symptom reduction, self-management, and well-being enhancement. Smartphone-based applications, in particular, have been evaluated as tools to integrate mental health support through scalable and accessible technologies. Such applications may offer features including guided self-help activities, mindfulness practices, journaling, mood tracking, psychoeducational content, and location-based resources for mental health services.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health challenges among U.S. college students have intensified, with documented impacts on academic performance and overall functioning. These challenges are further exacerbated by stigma, financial constraints, and limited access to campus-based or community mental health services, particularly for students from historically marginalized backgrounds.
In response to these needs, Penn State Behrend's Virtual/Augmented Reality (VAR) Lab developed the Landing Place mental health app, a free digital intervention designed to support mental wellness among college students in the Erie region. The application was developed with an emphasis on usability, privacy, and accessibility, and is tailored to the developmental and contextual needs of young adults. Planned future iterations of the application aim to extend its use to additional populations, such as survivors of domestic violence.
The Landing Place app incorporates artificial intelligence, supported features and evidence-based therapeutic components, including mindfulness exercises, goal-setting activities, journaling, mood tracking, and educational content related to mental health and coping strategies. This clinical trial evaluates the effectiveness, usability, and acceptability of the application when used as a self-guided mental wellness intervention among college students.
The study examines multiple forms of data, including behavioral change measures, user engagement metrics, usability assessments, and participant feedback, to assess the app's utility in supporting well-being. It is hypothesized that participants who use the application will demonstrate increased well-being compared to a control group, along with higher engagement and acceptability of the app-based intervention modality.
Interventions
- Behavioral mental health app
The intervention will be the use of an AI-powered mental health app that includes activities based on evidence-based therapeutic techniques, mindfulness, goal setting, journaling, mood tracking, and educational material. The app is secure, easy-to-use, and customized for the needs of the college students.
Primary outcome measures
- Well-being related to Attention and Cognitive Functioning [Time frame: From enrollment to the end of intervention at 5 weeks]
- Well-being related to Health-related quality of life [Time frame: From enrollment to the end of the intervention at 5 weeks]
- Well-being related to Mental Health Symptom Severity [Time frame: From enrollment to the end of the intervention at 5 weeks]
- Well-being related to Functional Impairment [Time frame: From enrollment to the end of the intervention at 5 weeks]
Secondary outcome measures (3)
- Usability [Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 5 weeks]
- Usage [Time frame: From enrollment to the end of the intervention at 5 weeks]
- Engagement [Time frame: From enrollment to the end of the intervention at 5 weeks]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- Penn State Behrend students
- Over the age of 18
- Must have an iPhone
Exclusion criteria
- People outside of Penn State
- Minors
- People currently in therapy
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
- Single blind
- Primary purpose
- Supportive care
Study locations
United States · 1 center
- PennState the Beherend College/VAR Lab — Erie
Publications
- Andersson, G., & Titov, N. (2014). Advantages and limitations of Internet-based interventions for common mental disorders. World Psychiatry; Official Journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), 13(1), 4-11. doi:10.1002/wps.20083 PMID:24497236 Barak, A., Hen, L., Boniel-Nissim, M., & Shapira, N. (2008). A comprehensive review and a meta-analysis of the effectiveness of internet-based psycho
Identifiers
NCT: NCT07331922 · STUDY00024830