The Effectiveness of the Mobile-based Youth COMPASS Program to Promote Adolescent Well-being and Life-control

Summary

The aim of this randomized control trial is to examine effectiveness of individually tailored web- and mobile-based Acceptance- and Commitment Therapy interventions to promote adolescents' well-being and life-control and subsequently support their successful transition from basic education to upper secondary education. Our additional aim is to examine to what extent the effectiveness of the intervention varies according to intervention intensity and according to risk for school failure. The five-week structured intervention is delivered using the novel web-and mobile-based program Youth COMPASS following the principles of the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). The Internet context is assumed to be particularly motivating for youth who enjoy spending time online using different social media. Internet-based interventions have several advantages; they can include more information and treatment components than traditionally delivered treatments and that intervention programs are accessible at any time and at any place. Another unique aspect of the Youth COMPASS is the fact that it is individually-tailored. Each participant have an individually assigned online coach who provides support and encouragement, reminds about Youth COMPASS, sends individualized feedback, and recommends different exercises. The study hypothetizes that the Youth COMPASS is more effective than school counseling as usual. More specifically, the Youth COMPASS is expected to be more effective when it is combined with face-to-face support than when support and feedback are provided only via the Internet. Also, the Youth COMPASS with no face-to-face support (online only) is expected to be more effective than receiving only regular school counseling. Finally, the Youth COMPASS is expected to be more effective for students at risk for school failure than for students without risk for school failure, especially when at risk-adolescents receive more intensive support (i.e., both online and face-to-face support).

Conditions

• Well-being

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Experimental: face-to-face and online support group:

5-week intervention according to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy principles with the web-and mobile-based Youth COMPASS program, face-to-face support (2 meetings) and weekly online mobile support and feedback from the individually assigned coach (one third of the participants is randomly assigned to this group)

BEHAVIORAL

Experimental: only online support group:

5-week intervention according to ACT principles with the web-and mobile-based Youth COMPASS program, no face-to-face support, weekly mobile online support and feedback from the individually assigned coach (one third of the participants is randomly assigned to this group)

BEHAVIORAL

Control

Control group, no intervention, school counseling as usual. (one third of the participants is randomly assigned to this group)

Sponsors & Collaborators

• the Finnish Cultural Foundation, Central Finland Regional Fund

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• University of Jyvaskyla

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Noona Kiuru, PhD · Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Finland

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

14 Years

Max Age

16 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2017-09-21

Primary Completion

2017-12-15

Completion

2019-12-31

Countries

• Finland

Study Locations