ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT05638516Updated May 18, 2023

Improving Mental Health in Youth and Lowering Risk for Obesity Through a Digital Preventative Product

An interventional study of Vira mobile app intervention and Vira mobile app intervention + coaching in Mental Health Disorder, Obesity and Overweight, sponsored by Ksana Health. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 25 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-05-18.

Sponsored by Ksana Health · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
73
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 25 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The goal of this study is to test the feasibility and utilization of a redesigned mobile app and health coaching platform (Vira) in youth (aged 18-25 years) with elevated depressive symptoms who are overweight/obese and/or self-report parental history of overweight/obesity.

Eligible participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups: one group will use the Vira mobile app intervention with support from a health coach, and the other group will use the Vira mobile app intervention without coaching. Both groups will use the app for 12 weeks.

Read the detailed description

The primary aim of this project is to examine the feasibility and utilization of a redesigned mobile app and health coaching platform (Vira) in a 2 x 2 (gender x condition) designed pilot study in a sample of 100 youth (18-25 years old) with (1) elevated depressive symptoms (PHQ-8 score ≥10) and (2) overweight/obesity (BMI ≥ 25 and/or reporting a parental history of overweight/obesity). The study will examine the feasibility and utilization of the mobile app intervention with coaching compared to that of the mobile app intervention without coaching.

This is an exploratory pilot study; therefore, no formal sample size calculation was conducted. It is anticipated that 1,000 individuals will be screened, of which 20% will be eligible, and that 50% of those eligible will agree to participate (final N = 100, 50 per arm).

02

Conditions studied

  • Mental Health Disorder
  • Obesity
  • Overweight
03

In context

Mental Disorders

1,740 studies on the registry are indexed under Mental Disorders; 348 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 73 is below the median of 100 across 1,301 interventional studies indexed under Mental Disorders.

Browse Mental Disorders studies →

Lead sponsor

Ksana Health is the lead sponsor of 4 studies on the registry; 2 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 25 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Age 18-25
  • Live in the United States
  • English fluency and literacy
  • Have access to an Android or iOS device
  • Elevated depressive symptoms (PHQ-8 score of 10 or above)
  • Overweight ( of 25 or above) OR reporting a parental history of overweight or obesity

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Previous participation in this study
  • Major mental or physical illness that will interfere with completing intervention and/or assessment activities.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(1)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

BMI (body mass index)

Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.

What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Prevention
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
73 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Vira Self-Care

    The Vira app is installed on the participant's phone. The app passively collects data from phone sensors (i.e., measures of physical activity, sleep patterns, mobility, and language patterns reflecting mood states and cognition) that are indicative of risk-relevant behavioral patterns and psychological states. It also so prompts users to answer a daily check in question. Mobile sensing data are processed to provide an automated assessment of the user's functioning. Users will be asked to use Vira for 12 weeks. The Vira app can be used as a standalone product. After an initial 10-day period, during which the app assesses the relationship between the user's patterns of behavior and their day-to-day variations in mental health and wellbeing using passive mobile sensing, the user is able to access a personalized behavior change goal that is support by in app information and functionality.

    Behavioral: Vira mobile app intervention

  • Experimental
    Vira + Coaching

    The Vira app can also be supported by a health coach. The health coach interacts with the user (via an instant messaging platform) and who also schedules just-in-time reminders (i.e., "nudges") to arrive in the user's phone at scheduled times to support their behavior change plan. The Vira Health Coach Platform therefore integrates mobile sensing, self-report assessment, and just-in-time nudges and notifications into the coach's workflow.

    Behavioral: Vira mobile app intervention + coaching

Interventions

  • BehavioralVira mobile app intervention

    The Vira app is installed on the participant's phone. The app passively collects data from phone sensors (i.e., measures of physical activity, sleep patterns, mobility, and language patterns reflecting mood states and cognition) that are indicative of risk-relevant behavioral patterns and psychological states. It also so prompts users to answer a daily check in question. Mobile sensing data are processed to provide an automated assessment of the user's functioning. Users will be asked to use Vira for 12 weeks.

  • BehavioralVira mobile app intervention + coaching

    The Vira app can also be supported by a health coach. The health coach interacts with the user (via an instant messaging platform) and who also schedules just-in-time reminders (i.e., "nudges") to arrive in the user's phone at scheduled times to support their behavior change plan. The Vira Health Coach Platform therefore integrates mobile sensing, self-report assessment, and just-in-time nudges and notifications into the coach's workflow.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Change in depressive symptoms

    Pre- to post-intervention changes in depressive symptoms will be assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8) an 8-item participant-report measure for screening for depression and for establishing depression severity. The total score ranges from 0-24, with a higher score indicating greater depression symptom severity.

    Time frame: 12 weeks

  2. Number of active days in the Vira mobile app intervention and health coaching platform

    To measure feasibility of implementation, the total number of active days using Vira during the study will be objectively collected via the Vira platform.

    Time frame: 12 weeks

  3. Number of features used

    To measure feasibility of implementation, the total number of features used during the study will be objectively collected via the Vira platform.

    Time frame: 12 weeks

  4. Acceptability of the mobile app intervention

    Acceptability of the mobile app intervention and health coaching platform will be assessed using 11 items adapted from the Technology Acceptance Model. Scores range from 11 to 77, with higher scores indicating greater acceptability.

    Time frame: 12 weeks

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Ksana Health
    Eugene, Oregon 97401, United States
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Ran from Nov 2022 to primary completion in May 2023, 5 months.

Of 680 interventional studies with no phase under Mental Disorders, half reached primary completion within 29 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 13 and three quarters within 45. This study's 5 months is below that.

Mental Disorders covers many different conditions, not one, so the studies compared here vary widely. Read these figures as a rough guide.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Nov 23, 2022
First posted
Dec 6, 2022
StartActual
Nov 7, 2022
Primary completionActual
May 6, 2023
CompletionActual
May 6, 2023
Last update
May 18, 2023
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on May 18, 2023, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05638516
Lead sponsor
Ksana Health
Collaborators
Novo Nordisk A/S
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Dec 6, 2022
Start date
Nov 7, 2022
Primary completion
May 6, 2023
Completion
May 6, 2023
Last update
May 18, 2023

Study contacts

Nick Allen, PhD
principal investigator · Ksana Health

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is completed, as verified in May 2023. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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