Preliminary Testing and Development of a Short Digital Intervention for Patients on Waiting Lists for Psychological Treatment

Summary

The goal of this randomized pilot feasibility trial is to assess the feasibility and further develop a single-session digital mental health intervention for patients on waiting lists for psychological treatment. The main aims are:

1. To evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the study procedures and the digital single-session intervention.
2. To gather quantitative and qualitative feedback on the intervention to inform further development.
3. To collect preliminary data to refine the analysis plan for a main trial.

Researchers will compare two different versions of the intervention (one longer and one shorter) with two control conditions (one active and one passive) to see if the study is feasible.

Participants will be randomized to one of the four conditions, do a short digital mental health intervention and fill out 4 questionnaires across a 5 week period.

Conditions

• Depression
• Anxiety

Interventions

OTHER

Digital therapy program (short)

This is a brief digital mental health program lasting for 30-40 minutes and includes text, self-reflection questions, and therapeutic exercises. Participants will learn and reflect on worrying and rumination behavior and how it impacts their life. The program only lasts for one session and is not module based. The intervention has been designed by the research team and is under development. This intervention is nested within Digital therapy program (long).

OTHER

Digital therapy program (long)

This is a brief digital mental health program lasting for 45-55 minutes and includes text, self-reflection questions, and therapeutic exercises. Participants will learn and reflect on worrying, rumination, avoidance and rigid attention behavior and how it impacts their life. The program only lasts for one session and is not module based. The intervention has been designed by the research team and is under development.

OTHER

Mental health advice

ABC is a public health campaign about building and strengthening mental health for the entire population. The ABC messages: Do something active, do something together, and do something meaningful are meant to motivate people, municipalities, and organizations to take action to strengthen mental health. A description of the ABC framework is provided online by The Norwegian Directorate of Health and is implemented digitally as a set of advice ("ABC for god psykisk helse").

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Oslo

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Sverre U Johnson, PhD · University of Oslo

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

80 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-03-24

Primary Completion

2026-10-31

Completion

2034-10-31

Countries

• Norway

Study Locations