A randomised controlled trial of a relationship-focussed mobile phone application for improving adolescents’ mental health
Open accessAbstract
Background: This study evaluated the acceptability and effectiveness of a relationship‐focussed mobile phone application (WeClick) for improving depressive symptoms and other mental health outcomes in adolescents. Methods: A randomised controlled trial involving 193 youth (M age: 14.82, SD: 0.94, 86.5% female) from Australia was conducted. Youth were recruited via the Internet and randomly allocated to the intervention or a 4‐week wait list control condition, stratified for age and gender. The primary outcome was change in depressive symptom scores measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire for Adolescents (PHQ‐A) at baseline, 4‐week post‐test and 12‐week follow‐up. Secondary outcomes included anxiety, psychological distress, wellbeing, help‐seeking intentions for mental health, social self‐efficacy and social support. Participants in the intervention condition received access to the intervention for four weeks. Thematic analysis was utilised to identify and examine acceptability. Results: The change in PHQ‐A scores from baseline to 4‐week post‐test did not differ significantly ( d = 0.26, p = .138) between the intervention (Mchange = −2.9, SD = 5.3) and wait list control conditions (Mchange = −1.7, SD = 4.3). However, significant between‐group improvements were observed in wellbeing ( d = 0.37, p = .023), help‐seeking intentions ( d = 0.36, p = .016) and professional help‐seeking intentions for mental health problems ( d = 0.36, p = .008). Increases in help‐seeking intentions were sustained at follow‐up in the intervention condition. No differential effects were found for generalised anxiety, separation anxiety, social self‐efficacy or for any social support outcomes. Over 90% of participants indicated the app was enjoyable, interesting and easy to use. The app provided ‘advice and direction’ ( n = 42; 46.15%), an ‘opportunity for self‐reflection’ ( n = 33; 36.3%) and ‘normalised experiences’ ( n = 21; 23.1%). Conclusions: The WeClick app was found to be effective for improving wellbeing and help‐seeking intentions for mental health in adolescents. A larger, adequately powered trial is now required to establish differential effects on depressive symptoms. This trial was registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR): ACTRN12618001982202.
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There is growing evidence of mobile apps' effectiveness at improving mental health and well-being.
“Additionally, there is growing evidence of their effectiveness at improving mental health and well-being (Firth et al., 2017; O'dea et al., 2020; Grist et al., 2017).”
From Pilot study of a well-being app to support New Zealand young people during the COVID-19 pandemic (2021) · cites this paper as O'dea et al., 2020
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Pilot study of a well-being app to support New Zealand young people during the COVID-19 pandemic
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MethodSelf-citation
- Authors
- O’Dea, B., Han, J., Batterham, P. J., Achilles, M. R., Calear, A. L., Werner‐Seidler, A., Parker, B., Shand, F., & Christensen, H.
- Affiliations
- Black Dog Institute (AU)
- Australian National University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- O’Dea, Bridianne
- ORCID
- Venue
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2020-07-19
- Volume
- 61
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 899-913
- ISSN
- 0021-9630 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-7610
- PMC
- PMC7496128
- OpenAlex
- W3043184072
- Cited by
- 77
- References
- 25
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 9.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ANU Open Research (Australian National University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Funders
- NSW Ministry of Health
- National Health and Medical Research Council (1122544, 115614, 1158707)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Keywords
- mobile application, adolescents, adolescent mental health, depressive symptoms, help-seeking intentions, well-being, acceptability, psychological distress, anxiety, social self-efficacy, social support, digital mental health interventions, PHQ-A, separation anxiety, self-reflection
- MeSH terms
- Psychological Distress, Adolescent, Psychology, Adolescent, Anxiety, Australia, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Mental Health, Social Support, Self Efficacy, Cell Phone, Mobile Applications
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