Examining Heterogeneity of Treatment Effects in a Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluating the Effectiveness of an App-based E-Mental Health Intervention for University Students

Health Research BC is providing match funds for this research project, which is co-funded by the Canadian Behavioural Intervention and Trials Network (CBITN) Doctoral Studentship. 

University is a transition period for students, a time when many students face significant mental health and substance use challenges. For many students, access to traditional treatments and interventions are limited. E-interventions for mental health and substance use disorders (MSUD) have shown promise in improving health outcomes for students and young adults. The Student E-Mental Health Project is conducted by the Mental Health Systems and Services Laboratory at the University of British Columbia and seeks to improve mental health and substance use outcomes for university students. As part of this initiative, the Minder mobile app was codeveloped with university students, and offers a suite of evidence-based interventions to support university students in managing their mental health and substance use. A pragmatic randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted with approximately 1500 university students at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver to assess the effectiveness of the mobile app to improve the mental health and substance use outcomes of university students. This project will use a precision medicine approach to investigate whether the multiple evidence-based e-mental health interventions within the Minder mobile app have differential effects on various subgroups of students based on demographic, clinical, and behavioral characteristics. We will build an understanding of how characteristics of individuals in the pragmatic trial can be used to predict intervention outcomes. Findings from this project will help identify population subgroups that benefit most from various components of the e-intervention, and will inform tailoring of the Minder app to provide personalized e-mental health services. It is also expected that these findings will advance the application of personalized medicine in the field of psychotherapy and in the context of pragmatic RCTs investigating the effectiveness of e-health interventions. 

End of Award Update – December 2024

Results

This research is elucidating how the effectiveness of the Minder app differs on outcomes of change in depression and anxiety scores based on participant characteristics, including gender and ethnicity. 

Impact

Research findings will be helpful to understand differential effectiveness of this e-mental tool on the diverse participants of a pragmatic trial. As such, findings may help inform tailoring of the Minder app to various population subgroups to improve mental health outcomes. 

Potential Influence

The development of e-mental health tools is a compliment to brick-and-mortar mental health services. Understanding how to improve and tailor these e-mental health tools to user characteristics (i.e. personalized e-mental health services) can lead to greater uptake and effectiveness. 

Next Steps

Outputs from this research are currently being interpreted and regression models revised. Once results are finalized, publications in scientific journals and/or at conferences will be explored. Findings may also inform future clinical/behavioural trials and/or support further implementation of the Minder app.