The Effect of Increasing Physical Activity or Reducing Mobile Phone Use on Mental Health in Young People in Austria - Trial NCT06153524

Timeline & Enrollment

Primary Outcome

Change in depression score over time,Change in anxiety score over time,Change in well-being score over time

Summary

Introduction: Data show adolescent mental health has declined in recent years, possibly due
 to increased uncertainty and loss of opportunities. The SPARKY study aims to test an at-home
 intervention which aims to promote autonomous healthy levels of physical activity and
 smartphone use, in turn reducing clinical mental illness symptoms and increasing wellbeing.
 
 Methods and analysis: Adolescents (14-19 years) in Austria and Germany will be recruited and
 randomised into one of three groups (physical activity, smartphone, control). The physical
 activity (PA) and smartphone time (ST) groups will be guided over 12-weeks to increase PA or
 decrease ST respectively. All groups will objectively measure PA using wrist-worn trackers
 and ST using an app and will regularly self-report on standardised mental health scales.
 Analyses will be run to assess the pre-post changes in mental health in the intervention
 groups compared to the control.
 
 Ethics and dissemination: The conduct of the trial was approved by the institutional research
 ethics board and written informed consent will be obtained from participants and the parents
 of those under 18. Data will be stored open access. Findings will be disseminated through
 conferences, media interviews and publications to peer-reviewed journals.
 
 Overall, mental health interventions are sorely needed in adolescents to counteract the
 effects of the pandemic and other uncertainties. The at-home nature of the intervention will
 promote autonomous healthy habit formation in youth.

ICD-10 Classifications