Efficacy of Intellect’s self-guided anxiety and worry mobile health programme: A randomized controlled trial with an active control and a 2-week follow-up

Abstract

Digital self-guided mobile health [mHealth] applications are cost-effective, accessible, and well-suited to improve mental health at scale. This randomized controlled trial [RCT] evaluated the efficacy of a recently developed mHealth programme based on cognitive-behavioral therapy [CBT] principles in improving worry and anxiety. We also examined psychological mindedness [PM] as a mediator by which app engagement is thought to improve outcomes. The Intervention group completed a 2-week “Anxiety and Worry” programme with daily CBT-informed activities, while the active waitlist-control completed a matched 2-week mHealth programme on procrastination. Participants filled out the Generalized Anxiety Disorder [GAD-7], Patient Health Questionnaire [PHQ-9], and Psychological Mindedness Scale [PMS] at baseline, post-intervention, and 2-week follow-up. App engagement was measured at post-intervention only. Contrary to prediction, the Intervention group did not perform better than the Active Control group; both groups showed significant improvements on anxiety and depressive symptoms from baseline to follow-up. From post-intervention to follow-up, only the Intervention group showed further improvements for anxiety symptoms. Higher engagement with the mHealth app predicted lower anxiety and depressive symptoms at follow-up, and this relationship was fully mediated by psychological mindedness. This study provides evidence that [a] engaging in a CBT mHealth programme can reduce anxiety and worry, and [b] Psychological mindedness is a potential pathway by which engaging with a mHealth app improves anxiety and depressive symptoms. While overall effect sizes were small, at the population level, these can make significant contributions to public mental health.

Efficacy of the mHealth App Intellect in Improving Subclinical Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in University Students: Randomized Controlled Trial With a 4-Week Follow-Up (Preprint)

“…The app adheres to the highest standards of data security and privacy, employing zero-knowledge encryption to ensure user data confidentiality. Various selfguided programs on the app have been validated in previous RCTs using samples of Singaporean university students: "Stress", "Improving your Body Image", and "Anxiety & Worry" [58,59,60].…”

Mobile Behavioral Health Coaching as a Preventive Intervention for Occupational Public Health: Retrospective Longitudinal Study

“…Intellect is a consumer-based mental health app that provides all registered users with free access to a variety of self-guided features, some of which have been validated in previous randomized controlled trials [ 18 , 19 , 53 , 54 ]. On the “Home” tab, participants can access any of the 3 self-help features: “Learning Paths,” “Rescue Sessions,” or “Guided Journals” ( Figure 3 ).…”