A mobile app to challenge obsessional beliefs in adolescents: a protocol of a two-armed, parallel randomized controlled trial

• Published in: BMC psychiatry Vol. 24; no. 1; p. 265
• Main Authors: Saman, Yuliya, Pascual-Vera, Belén, Corberán, Marta, Arnáez, Sandra, Roncero, María, García-Soriano, Gemma
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 09.04.2024; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Adolescence; Adolescent; Adolescents; Advertising executives; Analysis; Care and treatment; Cognitive Behavioral Therapy - methods; Cognitive therapy; Developmental stages; Diagnosis; Emotions; Health aspects; Humans; Maladaptive beliefs; mHealth application; Mobile Applications; Multivariate Analysis; Obsessive compulsive disorder; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - psychology; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - therapy; Patient outcomes; Protocol; Randomized controlled trial; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Social aspects; Students; Study Protocol; Teenagers; Telemedicine; Youth; Spain; Adolescence; Maladaptive beliefs; mHealth application; Obsessive-compulsive disorder; Protocol; Randomized controlled trial
• ISSN: 1471-244X; 1471-244X
• DOI: 10.1186/s12888-024-05735-x

Adolescence is a crucial stage for the development of OCD symptoms that, in most cases, persist into adulthood. This requires designing preventive strategies tailored to this population. Therefore, we aim to describe the study protocol that will be used to examine the effectiveness of a mobile health application to challenge obsessional beliefs in adolescents. A two-armed randomized controlled trial will be conducted on an adolescent sample from the general population. The experimental group will use the intervention module (GGOC-AD) of a mobile app on the GGtude platform for 14 days whereas the control group will use a non-active module (GGN-AD) of said app. Primary outcome measures will be obsessional beliefs and obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and secondary measures will be self-esteem and emotional symptoms. Three assessment points will be conducted at baseline, post-intervention, and one-month follow-up. A linear multiple regression model with an intention to treat approach will be used. The expected total sample size will be 55 participants. We expect that the intervention group will show a reduction in obsessional beliefs and OCD-symptoms at post and follow-up in comparison with the control group. Additionally, we expect that the app will improve participants' self-esteem. This study could provide an accessible mobile health tool to prevent OCD-related symptoms in adolescents. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT06033391 . Registered September 4, 2023.