Efficacy of the “Foundations” smartphone application in improving mental well-being in students: a randomized controlled trial

Schulze, Laura, Henwood, Amanda, Matić, Aleksandar, Skorulski, Bartlomiej, Schneider, Luc ORCID: 0000-0001-8803-3672, Dix, Sophie, Guerreiro, João and Dolan, Paul (2024) Efficacy of the “Foundations” smartphone application in improving mental well-being in students: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Technology in Behavioral Science. ISSN 2366-5963

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Abstract

The mental health challenges faced by student populations is a growing global public health issue. Accessible, scalable, and effective interventions are urgently needed. The primary objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of Foundations (Koa Health; Barcelona, Spain), a digital mental health intervention, compared to a waitlist control group in university students. We hypothesized that participants in the Foundations group would show greater improvement in well-being scores compared to those in the control group, after 2 and 4 weeks of usage. As part of a larger study, 232 participants were included in the primary analyses (Foundations, n = 95; control, n = 137). Well-being scores improved in both groups; however, improvements in well-being were significantly greater in the Foundations group after 4 weeks. Taken together, the present findings support the efficacy of digital mental health tools like Foundations in a student population. Trial Registration: OSF Registration, Registration https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/HVTF8 ; https://osf.io/hvtf8.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://link.springer.com/journal/41347
Additional Information:	© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Divisions:	LSE Management Psychological and Behavioural Science
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology T Technology > T Technology (General)
Date Deposited:	01 Jul 2024 14:06
Last Modified:	20 Dec 2024 00:55
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/124062

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