Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 19, 2025
The Participant-Reported Implementation Update and Score PRIUS: A Novel Method for Capturing Implementation-Related Data Over Time
Published on: February 19, 2021
Closing the Psychological Treatment Gap During the COVID-19 Pandemic With a Supportive Text Messaging Program:
Vincent Israel Opoku Agyapong1,2, Marianne Hrabok1,3, Wesley Vuong2
1Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
Background:
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has spread globally with far-reaching, significant, and unprecedented impacts on health and everyday life. Threats to mental health, psychological safety, and well-being are now emerging, increasing the impact of this virus on world health. Providing support for these challenges is difficult because of the high number of people requiring support in the context of a need to maintain physical distancing. This protocol describes the use of SMS text messaging (Text4Hope) as a convenient, cost-effective, and accessible population-level mental health intervention. This program is evidence-based, with prior research supporting good outcomes and high user satisfaction.
Objective:
The project goal is to implement a program of daily supportive SMS text messaging (Text4Hope) to reduce distress related to the COVID-19 crisis, initially among Canadians. The prevalence of stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms; the demographic correlates of the same; and the outcomes of the Text4Hope intervention in mitigating distress will be evaluated.
Methods:
Self-administered anonymous online questionnaires will be used to assess stress (Perceived Stress Scale), anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 scale [GAD-7]), and depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire-9 [PHQ-9]). Data will be collected at baseline (onset of SMS text messaging), the program midpoint (6 weeks), and the program endpoint (12 weeks).
Results:
Data analysis will include parametric and nonparametric techniques, focusing on primary outcomes (ie, stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms) and metrics of use, including the number of subscribers and user satisfaction. Given the large size of the data set, machine learning and data mining methods will also be used.
Conclusions:
This COVID-19 project will provide key information regarding prevalence rates of stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms during the pandemic; demographic correlates of distress; and outcome data related to this scalable population-level intervention. Information from this study will be valuable for practitioners and useful for informing policy and decision making regarding psychological interventions during the pandemic.
International Registered Report Identifier (Irrid):
DERR1-10.2196/19292.
More Related Videos
07:31Implementation of a Real-Time Psychosis Risk Detection and Alerting System Based on Electronic Health Records using CogStack
Published on: May 15, 2020
08:25Polar Histogram Visualization of Acute Stress Disorder Scale Scores for Comprehensive Clinical Assessment
Published on: December 6, 2024
Related Concept Videos
01:24Treatment Strategies for Psychological Disorders
Psychological therapies focus on modifying emotions, thoughts, and behaviors through talking, interpreting, listening, rewarding, challenging, and modeling. Clinical psychologists, counselors, and social workers commonly practice psychotherapy. Clinical...
01:30Community Based Intervention
Foundations of Community Mental Health Programs
Central to the success of community-based interventions is the...
01:28Acute Coronary Syndrome IV: Interprofessional Care
01:30Stress Prevention and Stress Management Techniques VI
Motivation and Self-Determination
Motivation, the driving force behind behavior, plays a pivotal role at every stage of the change process. The research...
01:28Stress Prevention and Stress Management Techniques V