Cited by 172Digital Mental Health InterventionsMobile Health and mHealth ApplicationsMental Health Research Topics

Conducting a fully mobile and randomised clinical trial for depression: access, engagement and expense

Open access
Anguera, Joaquin A, Jordan, Joshua T, Castaneda, Diego, Gazzaley, Adam, Areán, Patricia A·2016·BMJ Innovations

Abstract

Importance: Advances in mobile technology have resulted in federal and industry-level initiatives to facilitate large-scale clinical research using smart devices. Although the benefits of technology to expand data collection are obvious, assumptions about the reach of mobile research methods (access), participant willingness to engage in mobile research protocols (engagement), and the cost of this research (cost) remain untested. Objective: To assess the feasibility of a fully mobile randomised controlled trial using assessments and treatments delivered entirely through mobile devices to depressed individuals. Design: Using a web-based research portal, adult participants with depression who also owned a smart device were screened, consented and randomised to 1 of 3 mental health apps for treatment. Assessments of self-reported mood and cognitive function were conducted at baseline, 4, 8 and 12 weeks. Physical and social activity was monitored daily using passively collected phone use data. All treatment and assessment tools were housed on each participant's smart phone or tablet. Interventions: A cognitive training application, an application based on problem-solving therapy, and a mobile-sensing application promoting daily activities. Results: Access: We screened 2923 people and enrolled 1098 participants in 5 months. The sample characteristics were comparable to the 2013 US census data. Recruitment via Craigslist.org yielded the largest sample. Engagement: Study engagement was high during the first 2 weeks of treatment, falling to 44% adherence by the 4th week. Cost: The total amount spent on for this project, including staff costs and β testing, was $314 264 over 2 years. Conclusions and relevance: These findings suggest that mobile randomised control trials can recruit large numbers of participants in a short period of time and with minimal cost, but study engagement remains challenging. Trial registration number: NCT00540865.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1136/bmjinnov-2015-000098

Cites

36 of 36 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Anguera, J. A., Jordan, J. T., Castaneda, D., Gazzaley, A., & Areán, P. A.
Affiliations
  • University of California, San Francisco (US)
  • University of Washington (US)
Corresponding author
Areán, Patricia A
Venue
BMJ Innovations
Publisher
BMJ
Published
2016-01
Volume
2
Issue
1
Pages
14-21
ISSN
  • 2055-642X (ISSN-L)
  • 2055-8074
OpenAlex
W2261303017
Cited by
172
References
34
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 6
FWCI
31.18
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by-nc
Locations
  • BMJ Innovations (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
Funders
  • University of California, San Francisco
  • National Institute of Mental Health (MH100466, R34MH100466, K24MH074717, T32MH018261)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Mental Health Research Topics
Keywords
depression, mobile health apps, participant recruitment, participant engagement, trial costs, cognitive training, problem-solving therapy, mobile sensing, self-reported mood, cognitive function

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review