Digital Strategies to Advance Help-Seeking Aim 1 and 2

Last updated: April 29, 2025
Sponsor: Columbia University
Overall Status: Active - Recruiting

Phase

N/A

Condition

Schizotypal Personality Disorder (Spd)

Schizophrenia And Schizoaffective Disorders (Pediatric)

Treatment

N/A

Clinical Study ID

NCT06774430
AAAV1315 Aim 1 and 2
1R01MH133569-01A1
  • Ages 12-29
  • All Genders

Study Summary

This proposal aims to establish a Digital Laboratory focused on advancing help-seeking and expediting treatment initiation in youth ages 12-29 who are at Clinical High-Risk (CHR) for developing psychosis. Leveraging the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) model, this study will identify help-seeking subtypes in 25,000 youth who screen positive for psychosis-risk on Mental Health America's national online screening platform, iteratively develop and test theory and data-driven, personalized strategies to advance help-seeking using Micro-Randomized Trials and a Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trial, identify the most accurate CHR screening threshold in an online environment, and link youth, when indicated, to local clinical care via Accelerating Medicines Partnership - Schizophrenia (AMP-SCZ), a NIH funded national network of CHR programs throughout the US. This academic-industry partnership aims to curate one of the largest datasets of youth with CHR, and to develop effective strategies to enhance early help-seeking, in a population where help-seeking is critical and a significant barrier to care.

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Ages 12-29 years

  • Living within a 50-mile radius of a US based AMP-SCZ site

  • Able to complete the English language PQ-B on MHA's screening platform

Study Design

Total Participants: 25000
Study Start date:
April 07, 2025
Estimated Completion Date:
May 31, 2028

Study Description

Aim 1: Characterize help-seeking patterns in 25,000 youth who score above Prodromal-Questionnaire (PQ-B) threshold. H1a: Youth will cluster into (1) pre-intenders (take the PQ-B and engage with educational content), (2) intenders (initiate a text exchange with a Strong365 peer navigator (3) actors (advance from texting to clinical assessment with a Strong365 clinician over phone/video) and (4) super-actors (advance from assessment to AMP-SCZ intake). Data will include online metadata (time spent online,

of resources viewed, time spent to complete the PQ-B, # of texts initiated/exchanged),

self-report (demographics, symptom type and severity, PQ-B score, goals/needs, self-efficacy), and natural language. H1b (Strong365 only): Natural Language Processing (NLP) of data extracted from participant/provider interactions over text and video will identify linguistic markers of HAPA stages: intender, actor, super-actor. Models based on HAPA stages, along with behavioral features (i.e., message timing, frequency, response lag) will predict help-seeking advancement vs. disengagement. Top predictive features will be used to inform the crafting of help-seeking advancement strategies to be tested in MRTs (Aim 3).

Aim 2: To ensure that those who complete the PQ-B are directed appropriately, this study will establish the most accurate threshold for identifying CHR online. H2: Using data from population-based PQ-B screening, the investigators predict that a total distress score of 20+ will generate the highest diagnostic odds ratio with a sensitivity of at least 80% online, as determined by remote clinical assessment. For the remainder of the study, the threshold score that maximizes specificity and sensitivity will be used.

Connect with a study center

  • Columbia University Irving Medical Center

    New York, New York 10032
    United States

    Active - Recruiting

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