The REThinkACADEMY project aims to integrate cutting edge ecological with game based assessment and prevention tools into an innovative online platform, and test its efficacy in the prevention of emotional disorders in college student population. The project will make use of the following tools: the mobile MoodWheel and the PsyPills apps (David & David, 2019), and the REThink therapeutic online game (David & Fodor, 2022), in conducting assessment and offering mental health support to college students.
The project is based on the Grant PN-III-P2-2.1-PED-2021-3882 Experimental Demonstrative Projects, called REThink ACADEMY: Helping universities to effectively care for the mental health of college students in the digital age, UEFISCDI (548.000 RON; director professor Oana David).
This project will provide a viable, accessible and evidence-based preventive digital solution to support the mental health of college students, scalable to other universities.
UBB STUDENT LIVING LAB
UBB STUDENT LIVING LAB is an ecosystem created by Babes-Bolyai University, through the DATA laboratory and the REThink Academy project. It aims to evaluate the emotional well-being of students on the campuses, by monitoring the mental health of first-year students. The REThink Academy project, together with other international projects, such as World Mental Health - International Student Initiative coordinated by Harvard University, will allow a deeper understanding of the affective component of UBB student life.
Update December 2022
This stage of the project the focus was on refining the apps that will be used in later stages of the project. We developed and released the StudentMood app that includes the mood wheel tool, physiological parameters and self-report questionnaires. Also, we started the process of adapting the REThink Game to the student population using latest digital technologies.
In this stage we started the first study, the evaluation of the student`s mood through the current semester using ecological momentary assessment system. Over 500 students enrolled in this study and we perform actions in order to maintain their engagement.
Future activities in the project will focus on developing the REThink Game for student population and its assessment system to be validated later on.
Update December 2023
This stage of the project was focused on developing the REThink Life Game, creating and testing the usability of the Virtual Clinic and testing the efficacy of the platform in the prevention of emotional problems in student population.
The REThink Life Game was developed and is comprised of four levels, each training a specific emotion regulation ability such as: emotion recognition, mindfulness and relaxation, cognitive change and positive bias training. The game also has an embedded assessment system which was validated in this stage. In this phase of the project, three research studies were conducted.
The first was started last year and was continued at the beginning of the year, represented by the ecological evaluation of the emotional health of the first year students.
The second was focused on validating the evaluation system of the game and the third one was started during this stage and will continue on the last stage of the project and is focused on testing the efficacy of the integrated platform
Update June 2024
At this stage, the primary focus was on conducting the sequential randomized clinical trial, beginning with the recruitment and randomization of participants in the previous stage. Participants were assigned to interventions: the experimental group received the PsyPills intervention, while the control group received the MoodWheel intervention. They were instructed to access the app daily. After 6 weeks, participants completed a set of questionnaires to assess the effectiveness of the PsyPills intervention. Based on these reports, the reliable change index was calculated to analyze how many participants experienced a significant change in distress levels as a result of using the PsyPills app.
In the second phase of the study, participants who reported significant changes in terms of distress reduction were instructed to use the MoodWheel app to continue monitoring their mood, along with the initial control group, which received no additional instructions. Participants who did not report significant changes in distress reduction were allocated to the gamified intervention REThink Life Game and progressed through one level per week for 6 weeks.
Additionally, at this stage, before conducting the controlled clinical trial, the usability testing of the PsyPills app was carried out, and the results showed adequate usability of the app, with a score of 70. Furthermore, cut-off scores for the MoodWheel app were calculated and will be included in the MoodWheel app to be used as a stress indicator for first-year students.
Publications based on this project: Publications based on the REThink Academy project_june2023
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