Effects and Mechanisms of Smartphone-Based Stress Management Training on Well-Being in College Students

Effects and Mechanisms of Smartphone-Based Stress Management Training on Well-Being in College Students

Studying can be a difficult time, and some students can find it challenging to deal with stress. This research project at Virginia Commonwealth University aims to understand how two different online stress management training programs affect students' daily experiences and activities. This research project will help us understand how those training programs help students to improve their emotional well-being.

Participants will be randomly assigned (like the flip of a coin) to one of the two online stress management training programs. For two weeks, participants will receive daily online lessons that will teach you how to deal with stress.

To investigate how this program affects mood, researchers will monitor participant's daily activities and experiences combining brief daily surveys with activity tracking via smartphones. The activities and experiences will be tracked for a week before the training, two weeks of the training, and one week after. Shortly after the training, researchers will also reach out to participants for a phone interview where they will ask about the training experience in more detail. Afterwards, researchers will check in with participants at the end of the semester for one more week of experience and activity tracking.

Inclusion Criteria:

• 18-25 years old;
• Enrollment as a full-time student;
• Studying in-person;
• Reduced emotional well-being;
• Absence of major depressive, generalized anxiety, and panic disorder diagnoses;
• Little or no experience of the intervention;
• Ownership of a smartphone with an OS no older than iPhone 5 or Android 5 and an active data plan.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Diagnosis of major depression, generalized anxiety, and panic disorder