Testing a Digital Intervention for Adolescents

Teen participants (ages 13-17) will be randomly assigned to either an experimental (the Happify Teens digital platform), or a waitlist control group. The study includes an 8-week intervention period and a 1-month follow up period.

Teen participants (ages 13-17) will be randomly assigned to either the experimental group in which participants receive access to Happify Teens, a digital platform rooted in several therapeutic traditions that aims to improve wellbeing, or a waitlist control group. Both group conditions last 8 weeks. Participants assigned to the Happify Teens platform will have full access to the intervention, with featured tracks that focus on dealing with stress, worries and building skills for greater happiness. Participants assigned to the waitlist (control) condition will not have access to the Happify Teens platform for the full study period (12 weeks total). Participants in the waitlist control will receive access to Happify Teens after the full study period is complete (12 weeks). Perceived stress, rumination, and optimism will be assessed via self-report at baseline, end of the 8-week intervention, and at 1 month post intervention.

Users are randomly assigned between arms after completing baseline assessment and stay in that arm for the duration of the study.

Happify Teens is a digital well-being intervention that can be accessed via mobile application or web browser

An online platform for conveying techniques from positive psychology, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and mindfulness-based stress reduction.

10-item measure of perceived stress scoring how often the participant felt stressed by each statement in the following month from never (0) to very often (4), with higher scores indicating higher levels of perceived stress.

A 5-item measure of rumination (brooding) scoring how often participants engage with each of the 5 behaviors on a scale from almost never (1) to almost always (4), with higher scores indicating more brooding in the past month.

Inclusion Criteria: 13-17 years of age US resident Perceived Stress Scale Score ≥ 10 Ruminative Responses Scale Score ≥ 14 Ability and willingness to complete study activities Willingness and access to using a digital intervention via mobile application or web browser Exclusion Criteria: Current or past user of any Happify platform Non-US Resident Perceived Stress Scale Score < 10 Ruminative Responses Scale Score < 14

Boucher EM, Ward HE, Stafford JL, Parks AC. Effects of a Digital Mental Health Program on Perceived Stress in Adolescents Aged 13-17 Years: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Res Protoc. 2021 Apr 19;10(4):e25545. doi: 10.2196/25545.