Clinical trial NCT06509802: Web-based Single-session Intervention of Mindset for Improving Pre-practicum Anxiety and Coping
Official title: Efficacy of an Integrated Growth Mindset Intervention on Reducing Anxiety for Social Work and/or Counselling Practicum Trainees: Study Protocol for a Two-Arm Randomised Controlled Trial
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Anxiety
Keywords: implicit theory
growth mindset
social work students
counselling students
practicum
anxiety
Lead sponsor: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2024-07-19
Enrollment: 117
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 24
Standard ages: ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: Practicum is an essential educational component of professional training, however, the process can be challenging and sometimes frustrating, with obstacles such as the rigorous training process and mental distress. Being adequately prepared to confront the challenges and difficulties in practicum is crucial for the learning outcomes and psychological well-being of social work and/or counselling trainees. At the same time, mindset is found to be a modifiable factor in intervention, which is essential in clinical psychology, therapy, prevention, and early intervention. Instilling growth mindsets regarding intelligence, emotion, and failure-is-enhancing mindsets, respectively, is worthwhile in easing anxiety and stress coping. However, the existing intervention approaches lack of mindset integration, low intensity, distinctions of employees and interns, more objective and reliable outcome indictors and well-designed randomised controlled trials.

Using a two-arm randomised controlled trial, the proposed study will examine the efficacy of a Web-based Single-session Intervention of Mindset on Intelligence, Failure, and Emotion (We-SMILE) on reducing anxiety related to practicum and improving mental health and practicum-related outcomes.

A total of 117 students will be recruited from the social work and/or counselling programmes, and randomly assigned to existing pre-practicum training (Training As Usual, TAU) or that plus the We-SMILE. The intervention is 45 minutes in length. Participants will be assessed at three timepoints: baseline (T1), two weeks post-intervention (T2), and eight weeks post-intervention (T3). Patient and public involvement is adopted in the intervention design and implementation strategies. It is expected that the We-SMILE group will present lower anxiety related to practicum and more positive secondary outcomes (depression, anxiety, stress, psychological well-being, learning and performance orientation, academic self-efficacy, and confidence) compared to the TAU group. The intention-to-treat principle and linear-regression-based maximum likelihood multi-level models will be used for data analysis.

The study will not only provide evidence on integrated mindset intervention for trainees' mental health and learning outcomes, but also benefit social work and/or counselling supervisors and programmes as an accessible module.


Eligibility criteria: Pre-practicum students in social work and/or counselling programmes are eligible.

* Inclusion Criteria: students who

  1. are about to start the practicum soon;
  2. can read and write Chinese;
  3. consent to participate.
* Exclusion Criteria: students who

  1. do not consent to participate;
  2. cannot concentrate for at least 45 minutes to complete the intervention and questionnaires;
  3. have a disability or serious physical or mental illness resulting in poor condition;
  4. do not participate in the practicum.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Anxiety related to practicum
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Anxiety related to practicum
timeFrame: Two-week post-intervention
measure: Anxiety related to practicum
timeFrame: Eight-week post-intervention
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Depression, anxiety and stress
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Depression, anxiety and stress
timeFrame: Two-week post-intervention
measure: Depression, anxiety and stress
timeFrame: Eight-week post-intervention
measure: Psychological well-being
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Psychological well-being
timeFrame: Two-week post-intervention
measure: Psychological well-being
timeFrame: Eight-week post-intervention
measure: Learning and performance orientation
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Learning and performance orientation
timeFrame: Two-week post-intervention
measure: Learning and performance orientation
timeFrame: Eight-week post-intervention
measure: Academic self-efficacy
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Academic self-efficacy
timeFrame: Two-week post-intervention
measure: Academic self-efficacy
timeFrame: Eight-week post-intervention
measure: Confidence related to practicum
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Confidence related to practicum
timeFrame: Two-week post-intervention
measure: Confidence related to practicum
timeFrame: Eight-week post-intervention
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Hong Kong
country: Hong Kong
facility: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Study officials:
affiliation: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
name: Shimin Zhu, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: