A Randomized Pilot Trial Investigating a Novel Mobile Application for Practicing Exercises from ACT

Summary

Mindfulness-related skills are associated with positive mental health outcomes and can be effectively taught through mobile apps. However, further research is needed to determine how best to support skill acquisition through the delivery of mindfulness exercises via smartphone apps. ACTaide is a novel mobile app designed to support home practice of mindfulness-related skills through exercises presented as stepwise annotated image sequences. The primary objective of this pilot and feasibility trial is to evaluate the feasibility of a prototype version of ACTaide. This two-arm parallel single-blinded (blinded participants) pilot trial will be conducted virtually with distressed Canadian adults. Participants (N = 60) will be recruited through the online platform Prolific. The intervention group will receive an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) psychoeducational workshop and access to ACTaide for two weeks to support home practice of a mindfulness exercise from ACT: dropping anchor. The control group will receive the same psychoeducational workshop and access to a reminders-only mobile app to support their practice of the dropping anchor exercise. The main outcome measures will assess intervention feasibility, including adherence to the intervention, acceptability of the app, and retention rates. In addition, measures related to mindfulness-related skills and psychological distress will be collected. Prespecified progression criteria will be used to determine whether and how to proceed to a future trial designed to investigate the efficacy of ACTaide.

Conditions

• Psychological Distress

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

ACT Psychoeducational Workshop

The 1-hour ACT psychoeducational workshop will introduce participants to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and include guided practice of the mindfulness exercise that they will be asked to practice for two weeks.

BEHAVIORAL

ACTaide Mobile App

The ACTaide mobile app is a novel app that is designed to support home practice of exercises from ACT via annotated image sequences and reminder notifications. A prototype version that features the dropping anchor mindfulness exercise will be investigated in this study.

BEHAVIORAL

Reminders-only mobile app

This app will include only reminder notifications to encourage home practice of the dropping anchor mindfulness exercise in the comparator condition. It will not include the annotated image sequence for the exercise (i.e., the primary feature of the ACTaide app to be investigated in the intervention condition).

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Barbel Knauper

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Bärbel Knäuper, PhD · McGill University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-10-31

Primary Completion

2025-05-31

Completion

2025-05-31

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations