A Compassion-Focused Ecological Momentary Intervention for Enhancing Resilience in Help-Seeking Youth: Uncontrolled Pilot Study
BackgroundDigital interventions offer new avenues for low-threshold prevention and treatment in young people. Ecological momentary interventions (EMIs) represent a powerful approach that allows for adaptive, real-time, and real-world delivery of intervention components in dai...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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JMIR Publications
2021-08-01
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| Series: | JMIR Mental Health |
| Online Access: | https://mental.jmir.org/2021/8/e25650 |
| _version_ | 1797735820570918912 |
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| author | Christian Rauschenberg Benjamin Boecking Isabell Paetzold Koen Schruers Anita Schick Thérèse van Amelsvoort Ulrich Reininghaus |
| author_facet | Christian Rauschenberg Benjamin Boecking Isabell Paetzold Koen Schruers Anita Schick Thérèse van Amelsvoort Ulrich Reininghaus |
| author_sort | Christian Rauschenberg |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
BackgroundDigital interventions offer new avenues for low-threshold prevention and treatment in young people. Ecological momentary interventions (EMIs) represent a powerful approach that allows for adaptive, real-time, and real-world delivery of intervention components in daily life by real-time processing of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data. Compassion-focused interventions (CFIs) may be particularly amenable to translation into an EMI to strengthen emotional resilience and modify putative risk mechanisms, such as stress sensitivity, in the daily lives of young help-seeking individuals.
ObjectiveThis study aims to investigate the feasibility, safety, and initial therapeutic effects of a novel, accessible, transdiagnostic, ecological momentary CFI for improving emotional resilience to stress (EMIcompass).
MethodsIn this uncontrolled pilot study, help-seeking youth with psychotic, depressive, or anxiety symptoms were offered the EMIcompass intervention in addition to treatment as usual. The EMIcompass intervention consisted of a 3-week EMI (including enhancing, consolidating, and EMA-informed interactive tasks) administered through a mobile health app and three face-to-face sessions with a trained psychologist intended to provide guidance and training on the CFI exercises presented in the app (ie, training session, follow-up booster session, and review session).
ResultsIn total, 10 individuals (mean age 20.3 years, SD 3.8; range 14-25) were included in the study. Most (8/10, 80%) participants were satisfied and reported a low burden of app usage. No adverse events were observed. In approximately one-third of all EMAs, individuals scored high on stress, negative affect, or threat anticipation during the intervention period, resulting in real-time, interactive delivery of the CFI intervention components in addition to weekly enhancing and daily consolidating tasks. Although the findings should be interpreted with caution because of the small sample size, reduced stress sensitivity, momentary negative affect, and psychotic experiences, along with increased positive affect, were found at postintervention and the 4-week follow-up. Furthermore, reductions in psychotic, anxiety, and depressive symptoms were found (r=0.30-0.65).
ConclusionsOur findings provide evidence on the feasibility and safety of the EMIcompass intervention for help-seeking youth and lend initial support to beneficial effects on stress sensitivity and mental health outcomes. An exploratory randomized controlled trial is warranted to establish the feasibility and preliminary evidence of its efficacy. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T13:04:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a2c24fc009fb49f9ab4cc9b32fdb31a7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2368-7959 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T13:04:38Z |
| publishDate | 2021-08-01 |
| publisher | JMIR Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | JMIR Mental Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-a2c24fc009fb49f9ab4cc9b32fdb31a72023-08-28T18:28:27ZengJMIR PublicationsJMIR Mental Health2368-79592021-08-0188e2565010.2196/25650A Compassion-Focused Ecological Momentary Intervention for Enhancing Resilience in Help-Seeking Youth: Uncontrolled Pilot StudyChristian Rauschenberghttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-6050-3297Benjamin Boeckinghttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-8140-3332Isabell Paetzoldhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-4054-4331Koen Schruershttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-0134-406XAnita Schickhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-2043-0353Thérèse van Amelsvoorthttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-1135-5133Ulrich Reininghaushttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-9227-5436 BackgroundDigital interventions offer new avenues for low-threshold prevention and treatment in young people. Ecological momentary interventions (EMIs) represent a powerful approach that allows for adaptive, real-time, and real-world delivery of intervention components in daily life by real-time processing of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data. Compassion-focused interventions (CFIs) may be particularly amenable to translation into an EMI to strengthen emotional resilience and modify putative risk mechanisms, such as stress sensitivity, in the daily lives of young help-seeking individuals. ObjectiveThis study aims to investigate the feasibility, safety, and initial therapeutic effects of a novel, accessible, transdiagnostic, ecological momentary CFI for improving emotional resilience to stress (EMIcompass). MethodsIn this uncontrolled pilot study, help-seeking youth with psychotic, depressive, or anxiety symptoms were offered the EMIcompass intervention in addition to treatment as usual. The EMIcompass intervention consisted of a 3-week EMI (including enhancing, consolidating, and EMA-informed interactive tasks) administered through a mobile health app and three face-to-face sessions with a trained psychologist intended to provide guidance and training on the CFI exercises presented in the app (ie, training session, follow-up booster session, and review session). ResultsIn total, 10 individuals (mean age 20.3 years, SD 3.8; range 14-25) were included in the study. Most (8/10, 80%) participants were satisfied and reported a low burden of app usage. No adverse events were observed. In approximately one-third of all EMAs, individuals scored high on stress, negative affect, or threat anticipation during the intervention period, resulting in real-time, interactive delivery of the CFI intervention components in addition to weekly enhancing and daily consolidating tasks. Although the findings should be interpreted with caution because of the small sample size, reduced stress sensitivity, momentary negative affect, and psychotic experiences, along with increased positive affect, were found at postintervention and the 4-week follow-up. Furthermore, reductions in psychotic, anxiety, and depressive symptoms were found (r=0.30-0.65). ConclusionsOur findings provide evidence on the feasibility and safety of the EMIcompass intervention for help-seeking youth and lend initial support to beneficial effects on stress sensitivity and mental health outcomes. An exploratory randomized controlled trial is warranted to establish the feasibility and preliminary evidence of its efficacy.https://mental.jmir.org/2021/8/e25650 |
| spellingShingle | Christian Rauschenberg Benjamin Boecking Isabell Paetzold Koen Schruers Anita Schick Thérèse van Amelsvoort Ulrich Reininghaus A Compassion-Focused Ecological Momentary Intervention for Enhancing Resilience in Help-Seeking Youth: Uncontrolled Pilot Study JMIR Mental Health |
| title | A Compassion-Focused Ecological Momentary Intervention for Enhancing Resilience in Help-Seeking Youth: Uncontrolled Pilot Study |
| title_full | A Compassion-Focused Ecological Momentary Intervention for Enhancing Resilience in Help-Seeking Youth: Uncontrolled Pilot Study |
| title_fullStr | A Compassion-Focused Ecological Momentary Intervention for Enhancing Resilience in Help-Seeking Youth: Uncontrolled Pilot Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Compassion-Focused Ecological Momentary Intervention for Enhancing Resilience in Help-Seeking Youth: Uncontrolled Pilot Study |
| title_short | A Compassion-Focused Ecological Momentary Intervention for Enhancing Resilience in Help-Seeking Youth: Uncontrolled Pilot Study |
| title_sort | compassion focused ecological momentary intervention for enhancing resilience in help seeking youth uncontrolled pilot study |
| url | https://mental.jmir.org/2021/8/e25650 |
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