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Trial registered on ANZCTR


Registration number
ACTRN12620000390987
Ethics application status
Approved
Date submitted
4/03/2020
Date registered
23/03/2020
Date last updated
16/07/2021
Date data sharing statement initially provided
23/03/2020
Type of registration
Prospectively registered

Titles & IDs
Public title
Managing Emotion: An Online Approach to Supporting the Mental Health of University Students
Scientific title
Evaluation of an Online Emotion Regulation Intervention for University Students: An Open Label Pilot Study
Secondary ID [1] 300696 0
None
Universal Trial Number (UTN)
Trial acronym
Linked study record

Health condition
Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied:
Emotion regulation 316509 0
Condition category
Condition code
Mental Health 314753 314753 0 0
Other mental health disorders

Intervention/exposure
Study type
Interventional
Description of intervention(s) / exposure
Managing Emotion is a brief online psychoeducation program designed to support the psychological and emotional well-being of university students. The psychoeducation content of Managing Emotion draws from the seminal Process Model of Emotion Regulation (Gross, 1998; 2015), which provides an overarching framework for understanding the experience of emotion, and how we can change our emotional states via a number of cognitive and behavioural strategies. Intervention content has been developed by the investigators who are researchers within the School of Psychology, Curtin University, with a demonstrated track record in emotion regulation and related fields. Peer consultation was further sought with clinical psychologists within Western Australia.

Managing Emotion consists of four main modules which progressively introduce and discuss strategies for regulating emotion. Psychoeducation content is delivered via a series of short engaging videos, with an accompanying written summary of the video content. At the end of each module, participants are also provided with a module worksheet, which includes some simple take-home activities designed to facilitate processing of the intervention content. These worksheets have been designed to help personalise the intervention content for each participant’s individual life circumstances and concerns.

Participants complete the online intervention modules individually, at their own pace, with each module typically requiring between 20 to 30 minutes to complete. The intervention has been designed to be delivered sequentially, as each module builds upon the content of previous modules. Participants are advised of this and encouraged to complete the entire Managing Emotion program (including take-home worksheets) spread over the course of one week, in sequential order with each module completed once.

It is noted that although we encourage participants to complete the intervention in the aforementioned way, we have opted to not implement “forced” participant responses. It will be technically possible for participants to either skip modules or worksheets, or to view the modules out of sequence, or to view one module multiple times. We will be collecting basic time-stamped usage statistics in order to assess participant compliance, which in turn will help inform the fidelity of the intervention delivery for future revision.

As this is the first evaluation of Managing Emotion, an open-label trial design will be implemented. All participants will receive the active intervention over the course of one week. Questionnaire-based assessment measures will be completed immediately before and after intervention, as well as following the end of each module (see Outcomes section for detailed information). This pilot study will be conducted entirely online.
Intervention code [1] 317019 0
Behaviour
Comparator / control treatment
No control group
Control group
Uncontrolled

Outcomes
Primary outcome [1] 323098 0
Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale – Short Form (DERS-SF; Victor & Klonsky, 2016) – an 18-item self-report measure of emotion regulation ability
Timepoint [1] 323098 0
i. Baseline: Immediately prior to commencing Module 1
ii. Post-intervention: Immediately following completion of Module 4 (one week following baseline)
Primary outcome [2] 323099 0
Regulatory Emotional Self-Efficacy Scale (RESE; Capara et al, 2008) – a 12-item self-report assessment of perceived self-efficacy in managing negative affect and expressing positive affect.
Timepoint [2] 323099 0
i. Baseline: Immediately prior to commencing Module 1
ii. Post-intervention: Immediately following completion of Module 4 (one week following baseline)
Primary outcome [3] 323100 0
Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ; Gross & John, 2003) – A 10-item self-report measure of how an individual regulates their emotional experience and expression
Timepoint [3] 323100 0
i. Baseline: Immediately prior to commencing Module 1
ii. Post-intervention: Immediately following completion of Module 4 (one week following baseline)
Secondary outcome [1] 380772 0
Brief Resilience Scale (Smith et al, 2008) – A 6-item self-report measure of the ability to recover from stress.
Timepoint [1] 380772 0
i. Baseline: Immediately prior to commencing Module 1
ii. Post-intervention: Immediately following completion of Module 4 (one week following baseline)
Secondary outcome [2] 380773 0
Self-Compassion Scale (Raes et al, 2011) – A 12-item measure of self-compassion via attitudes and behaviours directed towards oneself during emotionally difficult times.
Timepoint [2] 380773 0
i. Baseline: Immediately prior to commencing Module 1
ii. Post-intervention: Immediately following completion of Module 4 (one week following baseline)
Secondary outcome [3] 380774 0
Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) – A widely used 21-item self-report assessment of depression, anxiety, and stress.
Timepoint [3] 380774 0
i. Baseline: Immediately prior to commencing Module 1
ii. Post-intervention: Immediately following completion of Module 4 (one week following baseline)
Secondary outcome [4] 380775 0
Inventory of Statements About Self-Injury (ISAS; Klonsky & Olino, 2008) – a comprehensive self-report assessment of non-suicidal self-injury
Timepoint [4] 380775 0
i. Baseline: Immediately prior to commencing Module 1
ii. Post-intervention: Immediately following completion of Module 4 (one week following baseline)
Note: only participants who report past or present self-injuring (item 1) are required to complete the ISAS
Secondary outcome [5] 380776 0
Credibility and Expectancy Questionnaire (Devilly & Borkovec, 2000) – a 6-item self-report scale for measuring participant views on treatment expectancy and rationale credibility for clinical outcome studies.
Timepoint [5] 380776 0
i. Immediately following completion of Modules 1, 2, 3, and 4

Eligibility
Key inclusion criteria
Current university students
Minimum age
16 Years
Maximum age
No limit
Sex
Both males and females
Can healthy volunteers participate?
Yes
Key exclusion criteria
None

Study design
Purpose of the study
Treatment
Allocation to intervention
Non-randomised trial
Procedure for enrolling a subject and allocating the treatment (allocation concealment procedures)
Methods used to generate the sequence in which subjects will be randomised (sequence generation)
Masking / blinding
Open (masking not used)
Who is / are masked / blinded?



Intervention assignment
Single group
Other design features
Phase
Not Applicable
Type of endpoint/s
Efficacy
Statistical methods / analysis
Assuming a medium effect size, with an alpha of 0.05 and power of 0.8, a minimum sample size of 65 will be required to provide adequate statistical power (G*Power 3.0.10; Faul, Erdfelder, Lang, & Buchner, 2007). Factoring in possible participant attrition throughout the study, we are planning on recruiting 100 participants in order to ensure that the final sample is greater than 65.

General Linear Mixed Models (GLMM), including participant as a random effect, will be used to compare changes in outcomes measure across the two timepoints. We will conduct both intent to treat and per protocol analyses. Investigation into potential confounds will be conducted, and controlled for in the GLMM as seen appropriate. We predict significant changes in outcome measures (i.e. emotion regulation ability, emotion-related self-efficacy, resilience, mood, and self-compassion) for participants from pre- to post-intervention timepoints.

Correlation analyses will be conducted to examine for whether any changes in emotion-based symptomatology (e.g. self-reported depression, anxiety, stress) are associated with changes in the factors targeted by the psychoeducation content (e.g. emotion regulation ability, self-efficacy, self-compassion).

Assessment of intervention fidelity will be explored descriptively via participant completion rates and reported treatment expectancy and rational credibility.

Recruitment
Recruitment status
Completed
Date of first participant enrolment
Anticipated
30/03/2020
Actual
26/03/2020
Date of last participant enrolment
Anticipated
22/06/2020
Actual
10/06/2020
Date of last data collection
Anticipated
30/06/2020
Actual
19/06/2020
Sample size
Target
100
Accrual to date
Final
104
Recruitment in Australia
Recruitment state(s)
WA

Funding & Sponsors
Funding source category [1] 305139 0
Government body
Name [1] 305139 0
WA Department of Health Merit Award
Country [1] 305139 0
Australia
Primary sponsor type
Individual
Name
Prof. Penelope Hasking
Address
Curtin University
School of Psychology
Kent St, Bentley WA 6102
Country
Australia
Secondary sponsor category [1] 305498 0
None
Name [1] 305498 0
Address [1] 305498 0
Country [1] 305498 0

Ethics approval
Ethics application status
Approved
Ethics committee name [1] 305508 0
Curtin University Human Research Ethics Committee
Ethics committee address [1] 305508 0
Human Research Ethics Office
Curtin University
Kent St, Bentley, WA 6102
Ethics committee country [1] 305508 0
Australia
Date submitted for ethics approval [1] 305508 0
Approval date [1] 305508 0
11/12/2019
Ethics approval number [1] 305508 0
HRE2019-0822

Summary
Brief summary
The present study seeks to evaluate a brief online intervention, Managing Emotion, which has been developed by the present investigators for the purpose of supporting the psychological and emotional well-being of university students. The intervention content seeks to increase understanding of the relationship between thoughts, emotions, and behaviour, and discusses a number of evidence-based strategies for managing one’s emotions, particularly during times of stress. The intervention content is divided into four self-paced modules, to be completed over the course of one week. Each module includes a number of brief engaging videos, light reading material, and take-home activities. A set of questionnaire measures will be administered immediately before and after completion of the Managing Emotion program to provide an initial evaluation of the effectiveness, acceptability and feasibility of this intervention. We predict that completion of the Managing Emotion program will be associated with an increase in participants' ability to regulate their own emotions, an increase in participants' perceived self-efficacy and resilience, and reductions in reported depressed mood, anxiety and stress.
Trial website
https://tulip-heron-l8r5.squarespace.com/
Trial related presentations / publications
Public notes

Contacts
Principal investigator
Name 100610 0
Prof Penelope Hasking
Address 100610 0
Curtin University
School of Psychology
Kent St, Bentley WA 6102
Country 100610 0
Australia
Phone 100610 0
+61 08 9266 3437
Fax 100610 0
Email 100610 0
[email protected]
Contact person for public queries
Name 100611 0
Penelope Hasking
Address 100611 0
Curtin University
School of Psychology
Kent St, Bentley WA 6102
Country 100611 0
Australia
Phone 100611 0
+61 08 9266 3437
Fax 100611 0
Email 100611 0
[email protected]
Contact person for scientific queries
Name 100612 0
Penelope Hasking
Address 100612 0
Curtin University
School of Psychology
Kent St, Bentley WA 6102
Country 100612 0
Australia
Phone 100612 0
+61 08 9266 3437
Fax 100612 0
Email 100612 0
[email protected]

Data sharing statement
Will individual participant data (IPD) for this trial be available (including data dictionaries)?
Yes
What data in particular will be shared?
De-identified individual participant data pertaining to the listed primary and secondary outcome measures, will be made available.
When will data be available (start and end dates)?
Data will be made available immediately following publication. End date of IPD availability has not been determined.
Available to whom?
Data availability to other researchers will be considered on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of Primary Sponsor, Prof. Penelope Hasking.
Available for what types of analyses?
Any purpose, which will be considered on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of Primary Sponsor, Prof. Penelope Hasking.
How or where can data be obtained?
Access is subject to approvals by Principal Investigator. Please email [email protected]


What supporting documents are/will be available?

No Supporting Document Provided



Results publications and other study-related documents

Documents added manually
No documents have been uploaded by study researchers.

Documents added automatically
No additional documents have been identified.