App has potential to reduce student anxiety, study finds

A mobile app can improve the symptoms of one of the common mental health problems in students – even with limited engagement – according to University of Manchester researchers.

The app, called Cerina, uses the principles of cognitive behavioural therapy to treat Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) – which affects a significant number of students, studies show.

Lead author Dr Ozlem Eylem-Van Bergeijk from is from the University of Manchester.

 

The researcher said: “University students can sometimes be vulnerable to generalised anxiety disorder because the rigours of academic pressure and financial uncertainty, let alone the issues young people often go through when they leave home for the first time.

“But despite the need for treatments the availability of psychological services is patchy for students.

“And perceived stigma, long waiting times, service availability can restrict access to treatment.”

A sample of 158 Ulster University students with mild to moderate GAD symptoms were randomly allocated to either an intervention group of 79 or to a wait-list control group of 79

The wait list group would still have the opportunity to complete the intervention following the study and were offered to optional on-campus wellbeing services during the study period.

The intervention group had direct access to Cerina and followed CBT-based interactive sessions for 6 weeks.

All participants completed online self-reported assessments on anxiety, depression, worry, and usability at three time points.

When they completed the intervention, they were invited to an online interview to understand the implementation of the intervention in more depth.

In the intervention group, 13 per cent dropped out and 61 per cent completed 2 sessions – the minimum required. 12 per cent completed six or seven sessions.

The students who completed two or more sessions, when modules on worry starts, showed significant improvement in GAD, worry symptoms and functional impairment.

The greater the engagement, the greater the impact on worry symptoms

When they re-ran analyses for all participants including those who dropped out or were lost to follow-up, the significant improvements on GAD symptoms maintained.

There was also  marginally significant improvement in worry symptoms.

Participants who completed their assessments, argue the researchers engaged better with the app, completed more sessions including the ones focusing on worry, and benefitted more.

University of Ulster professor Gerard Leavey said: “Our results suggest that even with limited engagement, Cerina had a meaningful impact on reducing GAD symptoms and modest impact in reducing worry symptoms among participants.

“Our study supports findings from other trials  showing that digital CBT-based interventions are effective and feasible for a wide range of age groups and populations experiencing GAD symptoms –   none the least because they are cheap, accessible and anonymous.

“However, many participants did not complete the recommended number of sessions, highlighting the importance of making the Cerina app even more engaging and user-friendly in future.

“Co-design with users might be a good way  to  test the effects of the technology-driven engagement features such as AI-based chatbot on engagement with longer follow-ups.”