Clinical trial NCT06883773: Digital Rewards and Retention in a M-health App
Official title: Does Engagement in a Computerized M-Health Intervention Increase With Digital Rewards?
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Transdiagnostic Psychopathology
Attrition
Engagement
Depression, Anxiety
Stress
Keywords: crypto
digital rewards
mHealth
attrition
CBT
NFT
Lead sponsor: University of Bucharest
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2025-03-19
Enrollment: 177
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 60
Standard ages: ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: Attrition and user engagement are two challenges that eHealth interventions struggle with. Attempts to address this have been previously made through gamification, instructional design and using different types of incentives. Overall, any type of reward, be it non-financial or monetary is better than the controls, but the latter usually produce a greater effect. It is also worth mentioning that having an affective value attached to the reward itself is also important to user retention and engagement. Given the ever-increasing interest in cryptocurrency and its current relevance, the present study - a randomized clinical trial with three arms - aims to compare cryptocurrency to non-monetary rewards regarding their effectiveness in reducing attrition and increasing engagement. In order to do this, a mental-health computerized intervention will be developed, in which the users will have to complete several modules, during which time they will be rewarded either with cryptocurrency, sweepstake rewards (e.g., vouchers), or nothing.

Detailed description: Albeit effective, eHealth interventions suffer from very high dropout rates. Finding novel ways in which to maximise user retention and engagement in such settings can be beneficial, and exploring cryptocurrency as a potential reward may be worthwhile, since motivation seems to increase as the reward is perceived as more meaningful by the recipient.

The design is experimental, between-subjects, with one independent variable (the type of reward offered) and mental health (e.g., depression, anxiety, stress, and transdiagnostic constructs) as well as engagement and retention outcomes. Thus, three groups will be formed: two in which participants will be enrolled in the modular MOTO intervention and will receive different rewards, and one in which they will not receive any intervention or reward but will be evaluated as part of a waitlist control group. The modular MOTO intervention involves, in addition to the mentioned assessments, the completion of six weekly modules, each focused on specific aspects of mental health and containing exercises that may improve psychological well-being. These modules are automated, requiring no interaction with others (except for communication between participants and research team). Each of these modules contains the following: psychoeducational section(s) that participants must complete; a short test of 5-10 questions after each section to assess understanding of the material; (only for the first two groups); a link where they can obtain their rewards; the exercise corresponding to that module; the evaluation corresponding to that module.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* English speaking

Exclusion Criteria:

-

Primary outcomes:
measure: Participant retention
timeFrame: From enrollment to the end of the 6 week intervention
Secondary outcomes:
measure: User Engagement Scale - Short Version (UES-SF)
timeFrame: From the first module to the last (from week 1 to 6)
measure: The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) - Depression
timeFrame: On week 1 and week 6 of the intervention
measure: The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) - Anxiety
timeFrame: On week 1 and week 6 of the intervention
measure: The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) - Stress
timeFrame: On week 1 and week 6 of the intervention
measure: DSM-5 Self-Rated Level 1 Cross-Cutting Symptom Measure-Adult
timeFrame: On week 1 and week 6 of the intervention
measure: The Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale: Short Version (IUS-12)
timeFrame: On week 1 and week 6 of the intervention
measure: The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale: Brief Version (DERS-16)
timeFrame: On week 1 and week 6 of the intervention
measure: Ruminative Response Scale (RRS-10)
timeFrame: On week 1 and week 6 of the intervention
measure: Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (Short Version) - ATQ -8
timeFrame: On week 1 and week 6 of the intervention
measure: The Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire (CFQ-7)
timeFrame: On week 1 and week 6 of the intervention
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Bucharest
country: Romania
facility: University of Bucharest
Study officials:
References: