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Evaluation of a Novel Intervention Aimed at Instilling Future-oriented Mindsets and Behaviors Using a Smartphone Application and Immersive Virtual Reality

NCT05578755 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 321

Last updated 2024-05-08

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Short-term thinking, or the inability to make informed tradeoffs between immediate benefits and longer-term costs, has been related to a variety of negative or self-defeating behaviors, such as substance use, impulsive decision making, and delinquency, whereas future-oriented thinking tends to be positively associated with positive behaviors, such as self-esteem, planning, and goal-directed behaviors. To bolster people's psychosocial development, the investigators are developing an intervention, FutureU, aimed at instilling future-oriented mindsets and behaviors by strengthening people's identification with who they may be in the future, i.e., their 'future self'. Through the use of a smartphone application (app) and immersive virtual reality (VR), participants interact with a visual representation of their future self. In the present study, the investigators will evaluate the current iteration of this intervention and compare the FutureU app and FutureU VR with each other and with a goal-setting control group. Knowledge and insights gained from this study will be used to further develop the FutureU intervention program and can provide insights for intervention theory building and implementation strategies.

Conditions

  • Future Orientation
  • Self-defeating Behavior
  • Future Self-identification

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

FutureU

FutureU is based on the assumption that future orientation can be strengthened by increasing the extent to which people identify with their future self. People who identify more with their future self appear to be more inclined to make more altruistic choices favoring their future self and foregoing immediate gratification. The intervention provides psychoeducation and exposure to and interaction with the future self. Participants interact with a digitally aged version of themselves, i.e., their 'future self', using a smartphone application (app) or through immersive virtual reality (VR). The app consists of three week-long modules. Participants interact with the app on a daily basis for about 5 minutes a day for 21 consecutive days. The VR consists of three sessions, each lasting about 30 minutes. Each VR session is guided by a trained researcher.

BEHAVIORAL

Goal-setting

In the control condition participants set goals (as in the intervention conditions), but receive no further guidance.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Universiteit Leiden

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Jean-Louis van Gelder, Prof.dr.dr. · Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security, and Law; Leiden University

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2022-10-19
Primary Completion
2023-12-31
Completion
2024-01-31

Countries

  • Netherlands

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT05578755 on ClinicalTrials.gov