the face self-help app for fostering resilience

Conditions: Adverse Childhood Experiences

Summary: the face self-help app is an online intervention for young adults with adverse childhood experiences (aces). it was developed based on well-established cognitive-behavioural therapy principles. the self-help app contains two components, one targeting emotion regulation (er), the other social information processing (sip).

the face self-help app is an online intervention for young adults with adverse childhood experiences (aces). it was developed based on well-established cognitive-behavioural therapy principles. the self-help app contains two components, one targeting emotion regulation (er), the other social information processing (sip). the goal of the present study is to evaluate the efficacy of the face self-help app, which aims to foster resilience and improve well-being by enhancing emotion regulation, social skills and minimizing biases in social information processing. the primary objective is to examine the efficacy of the face self-help app for improving resilience and well-being in young adults with a history of aces compared to a waiting list control group and to examine the stability of a possible effect. secondary objectives are to test 1. the differential efficacy of the self- and emotion regulation and the social skills and social information processing component 2. the effects of the face self-help app on real life data in affective states, social interactions, the use of coping strategies and state resilience. to assess real life data, additionally to questionnaires (q), an ecological momentary assessment (ema) will be conducted in three one-week episodes, with 6 daily assessments each. procedures: after giving informed consent, participants will receive the online questionnaires and one week of ema (t0, week 1). then, participants will be randomly assigned to either the intervention or waiting list control group. within the intervention group, participants are randomly assigned to start with the er or sip component. after 5 weeks of using the first component of the face self-help app, participants fill out the intermediate measure (t1, week 7). after another week of ema, the next component (er or sip) of the self-help app is available for 5 weeks. subsequently, the post-measurement and the last ema period start (t2, week 13). this results in a total intervention period of 11 weeks. a follow-up measure will be conducted after another 11 weeks (t4, week 25). participants will receive online guidance from trained e-coaches.

Eligibility criteria:
inclusion criteria: * self-reported aces * an informed consent * the possession of a smartphone * mastery of the german language. * age between 18 and 25 exclusion criteria: * inability to follow the procedures of the study, e.g., due to comprehension problems, visual impairment, lack of sufficient motor skills or severe psychological or somatic disorders which require immediate treatment which impedes the continuous work on the self-help programme. these points will be discussed with the participant in the screening telephone call. * acute suicidality.

Keywords: adverse childhood experiences psychosocial functioning emotion regulation social information processing online self-help