Clinical trial NCT06896071: Evaluating a Digital Single-session Intervention for Adolescent Mental Health in New Zealand
Official title: Project SOLVE and Rangatahi in Aotearoa: Evaluating a Digital Single-Session Intervention for Adolescent Mental Health in New Zealand Through a School-based Randomised Controlled Trial
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Healthy
Lead sponsor: The University of Waikato
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Whau Mental Health Foundation (New Zealand)
First posted: 2025-03-26
Enrollment: 300
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 12
Maximum age (years): 14
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: OTHER

Brief summary: Currently, one in five rangatahi (young people) in Aotearoa report difficulty accessing support for their mental health concerns. This treatment gap has prompted academics and clinicians to consider whether online and/or school-based interventions can increase access to evidence-based mental health care.

This research is a randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of Project SOLVE, an online problem-solving intervention, compared to Project Success, an activity that teaches young people study skills. Underdeveloped problem-solving skills have been associated with varying presentations of mental distress, including depression, hopelessness, and suicidal ideation. This association has meant problem solving is often featured as a core component of therapeutic interventions, and strengthening problem solving skills has been shown to improve clinical outcomes in youth who experience mental health concerns.

For these reasons, the investigators hope that Project SOLVE will support the development of problem solving in rangatahi in Aotearoa and have a positive effect on their proximal and longitudinal mental health outcomes.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Any Year 9 student (ages 12-14 years old) at a participating school who provides assent.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Any Year 9 student (ages 12-14 years old) at a participating school who does not provide assent and/or whose parent/caregiver does not provided consent.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Internalising and externalising symptoms
timeFrame: Immediately pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention and 12 weeks post-intervention
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Social Problem Solving Skills
timeFrame: Immediately pre-intervention and 12 weeks post-intervention
measure: General Self-Efficacy
timeFrame: Immediately pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention and 12 weeks post-intervention
measure: Hope
timeFrame: Immediately pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention and 12 weeks post-intervention
measure: Hopelessness
timeFrame: Immediately pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention and 12 weeks post-intervention
measure: Well-Being
timeFrame: Immediately pre-intervention and 12 weeks post-intervention
measure: Educational Self-Efficacy
timeFrame: Immediately pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention and 12 weeks post-intervention
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Cambridge
country: New Zealand
facility: St Peter's School Cambridge
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Waikato
name: Morgan T Blind, BA(Hon)
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Fenwick-Smith A, Dahlberg EE, Thompson SC. Systematic review of resilience-enhancing, universal, primary school-based mental health promotion programs. BMC Psychol. 2018 Jul 5;6(1):30. doi: 10.1186/s40359-018-0242-3.
citation: Thabrew H, Stasiak K, Hetrick SE, Wong S, Huss JH, Merry SN. E-Health interventions for anxiety and depression in children and adolescents with long-term physical conditions. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018 Aug 15;8(8):CD012489. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD012489.pub2.
citation: Ludin N, Holt-Quick C, Hopkins S, Stasiak K, Hetrick S, Warren J, Cargo T. A Chatbot to Support Young People During the COVID-19 Pandemic in New Zealand: Evaluation of the Real-World Rollout of an Open Trial. J Med Internet Res. 2022 Nov 4;24(11):e38743. doi: 10.2196/38743.
citation: Sutcliffe K, Ball J, Clark TC, Archer D, Peiris-John R, Crengle S, Fleming TT. Rapid and unequal decline in adolescent mental health and well-being 2012-2019: Findings from New Zealand cross-sectional surveys. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2023 Feb;57(2):264-282. doi: 10.1177/00048674221138503. Epub 2022 Dec 1.
citation: Schleider JL, Weisz JR. Little Treatments, Promising Effects? Meta-Analysis of Single-Session Interventions for Youth Psychiatric Problems. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2017 Feb;56(2):107-115. doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2016.11.007. Epub 2016 Nov 25.
citation: Schleider JL, Mullarkey MC, Fox KR, Dobias ML, Shroff A, Hart EA, Roulston CA. A randomized trial of online single-session interventions for adolescent depression during COVID-19. Nat Hum Behav. 2022 Feb;6(2):258-268. doi: 10.1038/s41562-021-01235-0. Epub 2021 Dec 9.