Randomized trial testing a self-guided digital mental health intervention teaching calming skills for Ukrainian children
Abstract Ukraine’s war-exposed youth face a myriad of barriers to receiving mental health services, perhaps most notably a dearth of mental health professionals. Experts recommend evaluating digital mental health interventions (DMHIs), which require minimal clinician support. Based on the content of...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-05-01
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| Series: | npj Mental Health Research |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s44184-025-00134-w |
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| author | Joshua S. Steinberg Jingxuan Sun Katherine E. Venturo-Conerly Gauri Sood Patrick Mair Oksana Davydenko Robert Porzak Dennis Ougrin John R. Weisz |
| author_facet | Joshua S. Steinberg Jingxuan Sun Katherine E. Venturo-Conerly Gauri Sood Patrick Mair Oksana Davydenko Robert Porzak Dennis Ougrin John R. Weisz |
| author_sort | Joshua S. Steinberg |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Ukraine’s war-exposed youth face a myriad of barriers to receiving mental health services, perhaps most notably a dearth of mental health professionals. Experts recommend evaluating digital mental health interventions (DMHIs), which require minimal clinician support. Based on the content of empirically supported treatments for war-exposed youth (e.g., Teaching Recovery Techniques), one strategy that might be useful is self-calming (e.g., paced breathing, progressive muscle relaxation). In this pre-registered randomized controlled trial (ClinicalTrials.gov Record: NCT06217705 ; first submitted January 12, 2024), we assessed the acceptability, utility, and clinical efficacy of one such DMHI (Project Calm) relative to a usual schoolwork control among a sample of Ukrainian students in grades 4–11. We analyzed outcomes for the full sample and subsamples with elevated symptoms at baseline. Although Calm was perceived favorably, there were no significant between-group differences in the full sample (N = 626); differences in subsample analyses demonstrated that while internalizing, externalizing, and trauma symptoms held steady for the Calm group, control participants’ symptoms reduced. We generated potential explanations for these results (e.g., interference with youths’ natural coping skills or fear extinction) through a focus group with school staff. Given that we found no evidence that calming skills taught via DMHI are effective for Ukrainian youth, we suggest that researchers test other strategies delivered by DMHI and that calming skills continue to be taught in provider-guided formats. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-52d3d1ba7faa450f95a5f26d48f2ee40 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2731-4251 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | npj Mental Health Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-52d3d1ba7faa450f95a5f26d48f2ee402025-08-20T03:54:00ZengNature Portfolionpj Mental Health Research2731-42512025-05-014111410.1038/s44184-025-00134-wRandomized trial testing a self-guided digital mental health intervention teaching calming skills for Ukrainian childrenJoshua S. Steinberg0Jingxuan Sun1Katherine E. Venturo-Conerly2Gauri Sood3Patrick Mair4Oksana Davydenko5Robert Porzak6Dennis Ougrin7John R. Weisz8Department of Psychology, Harvard UniversityDepartment of Psychology, Harvard UniversityDepartment of Psychology, Harvard UniversityDepartment of Psychology, Harvard UniversityDepartment of Psychology, Harvard UniversityDepartment of Psychology, Political Science, and Sociocultural Technologies, Sumy State UniversityInstitute of Psychology and Human Sciences, WSEI UniversityYouth Resilience Unit Centre for Psychiatry and Mental Health Wolfson Institute of Population Health WHO Collaborating Centre for Mental Health Services Development, Queen Mary University of LondonDepartment of Psychology, Harvard UniversityAbstract Ukraine’s war-exposed youth face a myriad of barriers to receiving mental health services, perhaps most notably a dearth of mental health professionals. Experts recommend evaluating digital mental health interventions (DMHIs), which require minimal clinician support. Based on the content of empirically supported treatments for war-exposed youth (e.g., Teaching Recovery Techniques), one strategy that might be useful is self-calming (e.g., paced breathing, progressive muscle relaxation). In this pre-registered randomized controlled trial (ClinicalTrials.gov Record: NCT06217705 ; first submitted January 12, 2024), we assessed the acceptability, utility, and clinical efficacy of one such DMHI (Project Calm) relative to a usual schoolwork control among a sample of Ukrainian students in grades 4–11. We analyzed outcomes for the full sample and subsamples with elevated symptoms at baseline. Although Calm was perceived favorably, there were no significant between-group differences in the full sample (N = 626); differences in subsample analyses demonstrated that while internalizing, externalizing, and trauma symptoms held steady for the Calm group, control participants’ symptoms reduced. We generated potential explanations for these results (e.g., interference with youths’ natural coping skills or fear extinction) through a focus group with school staff. Given that we found no evidence that calming skills taught via DMHI are effective for Ukrainian youth, we suggest that researchers test other strategies delivered by DMHI and that calming skills continue to be taught in provider-guided formats.https://doi.org/10.1038/s44184-025-00134-w |
| spellingShingle | Joshua S. Steinberg Jingxuan Sun Katherine E. Venturo-Conerly Gauri Sood Patrick Mair Oksana Davydenko Robert Porzak Dennis Ougrin John R. Weisz Randomized trial testing a self-guided digital mental health intervention teaching calming skills for Ukrainian children npj Mental Health Research |
| title | Randomized trial testing a self-guided digital mental health intervention teaching calming skills for Ukrainian children |
| title_full | Randomized trial testing a self-guided digital mental health intervention teaching calming skills for Ukrainian children |
| title_fullStr | Randomized trial testing a self-guided digital mental health intervention teaching calming skills for Ukrainian children |
| title_full_unstemmed | Randomized trial testing a self-guided digital mental health intervention teaching calming skills for Ukrainian children |
| title_short | Randomized trial testing a self-guided digital mental health intervention teaching calming skills for Ukrainian children |
| title_sort | randomized trial testing a self guided digital mental health intervention teaching calming skills for ukrainian children |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s44184-025-00134-w |
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