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Personalizing digital mental health: a micro-randomized trial analysis of cognitive behavioral therapy/dialectical
Caroline A Figueroa1,2, Jing Xu3,4, Marvyn R Arévalo Avalos2,5
1Faculty of Technology, Policy, and Management, Delft Technical University, Delft, 2628, The Netherlands.
Purpose:
Digital mental health interventions could improve population health. However, our understanding of how to improve their effectiveness through personalization is limited. We describe the outcomes of a micro-randomized trial (MRT) of a 60-day text messaging program, delivered during the final stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyze the effects of 6 different types of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) messages, and examine whether socio-demographic, health-related, and contextual factors (eg, timing of sending a message) moderate effectiveness.
Methods:
This secondary analysis included 373 adults aged 18 years or older (mean = 38.07), mostly English-speaking female, highly educated White individuals who reported being in good health, but having high stress and struggling to get their basic needs met. Participants were recruited between December 2021 and September 2022 through social media and a recruitment service (Health Match). We used the weighted and centered least squares method to examine the proximal effects of the text-message categories on daily mood, and whether sociodemographic, health-related factors, and the timing of message delivery moderated effectiveness.
Results:
None of the 6 CBT/DBT-message categories significantly improved mood ratings marginally. However, their effectiveness varied based on the time of day and self-reported health. Overall, sending a message in the afternoon was more effective. However, certain message categories showed significant effects when sent in the morning among participants with poorer self-reported health, while some showed lower effectiveness when sent in the late afternoon for participants with better health.
Conclusion:
Our analysis underscores the importance of considering the time of day and individual health status when developing digital mental health interventions. These insights can help in designing more personalized, adaptive, and effective digital interventions.
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