Efficacy of an adaptation of the Best Possible Self intervention implemented through positive technology: a randomized control trial

Abstract

Context Best possible Self (BPS) is a positive psychological intervention based on positive future thinking. It has been shown to be effective in improving well-being and depressive symptoms over short periods of time. Positive technology is a scientific approach designed to increase well-being through Information and Communication Technologies.Objective To assess the efficacy of the BPS implemented through a positive technology application in improving optimistic thinking, affect and depressive symptoms, during a one-month period, with two follow-ups one and three months later.Design, setting and participants Randomized, single-blind control trial. Central randomization was performed by an independent researcher using computer software to generate lists allocating participants to treatments. Recruitment was carried out through advertisements at two universities. Randomized participants were 78 young adults who were assigned to the e-BPS condition (n=38) or to a control group (n=40).Interventions Participants were asked to visualize their BPS each day using a Positive Technology Application. The Control condition consisted of thinking and writing about daily activities, also through technologies.Main outcome measures Affect, future expectations, and depressive symptoms were measured in different time frames.Results 78 participants were analyzed using intention-to-treat analyses. Results showed that BPS was effective in improving future expectations measures and reducing depressive symptoms until the post-training. However, these effects were not maintained in the three-month follow-up period. ConclusionThis study indicates that BPS can also be effectively adapted for implementation through positive technologies. Factors such as the variety of exercises and the instructions can play a role in maintaining the changes in the long term. Trial registration clinicaltrails.gov Identifier: NCT02321605Funding Jaume I University grant PREDOC/2012/51

Implementation of a Positive Technology Application in Patients With Eating Disorders: A Pilot Randomized Control Trial

“…Results showed that the BPS exercise produced larger decreases marginally significant in negative expectations after 1-month training compared to the control exercise. These effects are in line with prior results in general population ( Meevissen et al, 2011 ; Enrique et al, 2017a ), indicating that BPS exercise implemented through PT has the ability to decrease negative expectations in patients with ED. This is important given that these patients use to have a pessimistic view about the future ( Malson et al, 2011 ), so that PPIs as the BPS exercise can produce benefits at this level.…”

“…Finally, the total sample receiving the allocated intervention was composed of 54 participants. During the training, the drop-out rate was 24.1% in the BPS condition and 16% in the control condition and these rates were slightly lower to those obtained in a prior study conducted by our group (26.3% in the BPS condition vs. 20% in the control condition; Enrique et al, 2017a ). A total of seven participants did not respond to the online assessments at the follow-ups.…”

“…Lastly, PT can also be used to improve social integration and connectedness ( Gaggioli et al, 2017 ; Guillén et al, 2017 ). In fact, all previous studies testing the efficacy of BPS that were conducted by our group implemented this exercise through PT, and found high levels of acceptability by the patients ( Enrique et al, 2017a ; Molinari et al, 2017 ).…”

“…Besides, this exercise has also been tested with depressive patients, showing that it is able to promote positive affect and life satisfaction, and to reduce depressive symptoms ( Pietrowsky and Mikutta, 2012 ; Sergeant and Mongrain, 2015 ). Recent controlled studies conducted by our group explored the effects of this intervention in university students finding positive effects in terms of optimistic thinking compared to controls ( Enrique et al, 2017a ). Another controlled study with a similar design examined the effects of BPS in a sample of patients with fibromyalgia finding benefits on affect and optimism after 1-month training ( Molinari et al, 2017 ).…”

“…The present study outlines a first approximation of PT to the ED field by studying the preliminary efficacy of the BPS exercise on a sample of patients who are receiving ongoing treatment. The design and procedure followed in the present study is very similar to prior controlled studies conducted by our group, which also implemented a PT application ( Enrique et al, 2017a ; Molinari et al, 2017 ). We only focused on examining the effects of this intervention on building positive aspects as opposed to reduce the negative, since this is aligned with the use of PPIs in clinical populations ( Meyer et al, 2012 ; Schueller et al, 2014 ).…”