Digital Training for Mental Health Promotion in Young People With Climate Change-Related Distress: Protocol for a...

Efforts in mental health research have long focused on the care and long-term outcomes of mental disorders. More recently, a shift in focus has occurred toward mental health promotion and prevention. One priority target population for promotion and prevention is youth with climate change-related distress. In light of the real-world threat of climate change, adaptive emotion regulation and engagement in meaningful action are 2 important strategies for promoting mental health. Ecological momentary interventions (EMIs) allow for the delivery of accessible interventions for young people with climate change-related distress, but evidence on their feasibility or beneficial effects is currently lacking.

We aimed to examine the feasibility and initial signals of efficacy of the Climate Mind and Act (CliMACT) training, a novel hybrid EMI for mental health promotion in youth with climate change-related distress.

A 2-arm, parallel-group, and assessor- and analyst-blinded feasibility randomized controlled trial (RCT) will be conducted in 50 young people aged 14-25 years with climate change-related distress, who will be allocated on a 1:1 ratio to the experimental condition (CliMACT training + care as usual [CAU]) or the control condition (CAU only). CliMACT involves 3 sessions with a mental health professional and 6-week access to a smartphone-based EMI to support the real-world transfer of training content based on compassion-focused interventions and acceptance and commitment therapy. The EMI delivery schemes involve enhancing (introducing new EMI components), consolidating (training of EMI components), and adaptive (triggered in moments of higher negative affect) components. CAU involves access to all standard health care and social services. Feasibility criteria of the trial methodology include recruitment, randomization, and retention. Feasibility outcomes of delivering the CliMACT training include participant satisfaction, participant adherence, and mental health professionals' fidelity to the training protocol. Initial signals of efficacy on mental health candidate outcomes and mechanisms will be explored. As feasibility criteria for a priori planned subgroup analyses, credibility criteria will be established and distributions of indicators for health inequities explored. Feasibility criteria for measuring costs of care and service use and health-related quality of life for an economic evaluation in a future definitive RCT will include exploring response distributions across groups. Candidate outcomes and mechanisms will be assessed at baseline, post training, and 4-week follow-up, using self-report and 6 days of ecological momentary assessment.

The first enrollment took place in December 2024. Data collection was completed by August 25, 2025. Results are expected for publication in 2026.

To our knowledge, this is the first study to establish the feasibility and initial signals of efficacy of an EMI, targeted specifically at young people with climate change-related distress. If feasibility can be established, the trial will inform a future fully powered efficacy-effectiveness RCT, accompanied by an economic evaluation.

ISRCTN ISRCTN33613914; https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN33613914.

DERR1-10.2196/77764.