Stress, Psychological
Conditions
Brief summary
The aim of this study is to verify the efficacy of chatbot internet intervention for reduction of stress and improvement of quality of life among university students through the enhancement of coping self-efficacy.
Detailed description
University students experience high stress levels and mental health risks. Research shows that increasing resources such as coping self-efficacy can reduce stress. Internet interventions can be successfully employed to deliver programs for improving university students' mental health. The primary objective of this randomized controlled trial is to evaluate short- and long-term efficacy of coping self-efficacy enhancing intervention in reducing university students' stress and improving quality of life. The intervention will be delivered through a Facebook Messenger chat-bot. The secondary goal is to investigate acceptability of a chat-bot delivered intervention. Participants will be recruited via social media and randomized to 1 of 2 groups: (1) experimental condition increasing coping self-efficacy with a 7-day program delivered through a chat-bot, or (2) waitlist control group. Outcomes include perceived stress and quality of life. Measurements will be taken at baseline (T1), immediately after intervention (T2), at 1 month follow-up (T3), and at 6 months follow-up (T4). Linear mixed effects model will be used to analyze the data. The study aims to assess Stressbot's potential benefit for improving university students' well-being. Moreover, it will provide insight into feasibility of using chat-bots for delivering smartphone-based e-health treatments.
Interventions
Participants in this condition are asked to take part in a 7-day psychological intervention delivered through Facebook Messenger chat-bot. Each day one CBT-framed exercise aimed at coping self-efficacy enhancement is delivered. An exercise takes form 5 to 30 minutes to complete.
Sponsors
University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Age of at least 18 years * University students * Mobile personal device with internet access
Exclusion criteria
* Not meeting at least 1 inclusion criteria
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change on Perceived Stress Scale 4 (PSS-4) | Change from baseline on PSS-4 (7 days) | The PSS-4 is a measure of perceived stress. It consists of 4 items with response scale from 0 to 4. Higher total score represents higher perceived stress. |
| Change on Brunnsviken Brief Quality of Life Scale (BBQ) | Change from baseline on BBQ (7 days) | The BBQ is a measure of quality of life. It consists of 12 items with response scale from 0 to 4. Higher total score represents higher quality of life. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Coping Self-Efficacy Scale (CSES) | Change from baseline on CSES (7 days) | The CSES is a measure of coping self-efficacy. It consists of 26 items with response scale from 1 to 10. Higher total score represents higher coping self-efficacy. |
Countries
Poland
Outcome results
None listed