Recruiting

Self-Dislike Intervention

Sponsor:

Stony Brook University

Code:

NCT04082052

Conditions

Depressive Symptoms

Self-Appraisal

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

Single Session Interventions

Study Details

Brief summary:

The investigators are testing whether a single session online intervention for self-dislike decreases:

1. Fear of self-compassion from immediate pre to immediate post intervention
2. Self-hatred immediate pre to 1 month post-intervention
3. Individual depression symptoms immediate pre to 1 month post-intervention more than a placebo online single session intervention encouraging the disclosure of feelings in college students.

The investigators will also explicitly test whether the following variables are predictors, of at least the smallest variance predicted of interest, of response to treatment vs. placebo on self-hatred:
4. Pre intervention self-hatred score
5. Screening positive for clinical depression based on self-report
6. Immediate pre to post-intervention reduction in fear of self-compassion
7. The investigators will also assess whether any of the variance shared between the treatment and changes in individual depression symptoms immediately pre Intervention to 1 month post-intervention is statistically mediated by change in self-hatred from immediate pre intervention to 1 month post intervention

Conditions

Depressive Symptoms

Self-Appraisal

Study ID

NCT04082052

Start date

Sep 23, 2019

Status verified date

Oct, 2020

Completion date

Sep 1, 2021

Anticipated

Primary completion date

May 31, 2021

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

Participant is a current college student at the time of study enrollment

Participant has not previously taken part in the study

Participant speaks English well enough to complete online intervention activities, which are available in English only

Participant is comfortable with completing online surveys and programs

Participant is at least 18 years of age.

Exclusion Criteria:

The investigators will exclude participants 3 SDs above/below the mean completion time for the study or exit the study prior to randomization for our listed analyses.

The investigators will also test whether there's any association between how quickly participants are responding to questions and the variability in their responses. If there is a response time frame (i.e., a series of questions that require answers where timing is measured) where there is a linear relationship between response time and response variability, the investigators may exclude those participants, as response time and response variability should be uncorrelated and a linear association can indicate random responding. This time frame can be identified visually on a graph, and sensitivity tests can be conducted to determine if slight variations on the visual interpretation affect substantive results.

The investigators will exclude participants who respond with either copy/pasted responses from text earlier in the intervention (e.g. Copy and pasting only text from a previous testimonial slide) to any of free response questions.

The investigators will exclude for primary analyses (but may run sensitivity analyses including them) any participants who provide responses of 5 words or fewer to writing prompts that ask for at least 1 sentence or more.

Study Design

Enrollment

1800 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Single Session Intervention for Self-Dislike

A 30-45 minute intervention delivered in a web browser that focuses on reducing self-dislike using facts about the brain, testimonials from peers, and writing exercises.

placebo comparator: Single Session Intervention for Feelings Disclosure

A 30-45 minute intervention delivered in a web browser that focuses on encouraging feelings disclosure using facts about the brain, testimonials from peers, and writing exercises.

Interventions

Single Session Interventions

A single session intervention either active (for self-dislike) or placebo (feelings disclosure)

Primary outcome measure

  • Change in Fear of Self-Compassion by Condition [ Time Frame: Immediate pre intervention to 0-2 minute follow up post-intervention ]
  • Change in Self-Hatred by Condition [ Time Frame: Immediate pre intervention to one month follow-up ]
  • Change in Individual Depressive Symptoms by Condition [ Time Frame: Immediate pre intervention to one month follow-up ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Locations

Stony Brook University

Recruiting

Stony Brook, New York, United States, 11794-2500

Contacts

More Information

Sponsor

Stony Brook University

Last update posted

Oct 6, 2020

Last verified

Oct, 2020

Keywords

  • depression
  • self-dislike
  • self-compassion
  • symptom level
  • single session

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Stony Brook University on 2020-10-06.