An interventional study of Email-Delivered Positive Affect Intervention and Psychoeducational Control in Depression Symptoms, sponsored by Vilnius University. Active, not recruiting at 1 site in Zimbabwe. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 25 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-11-02.
Sponsored by Vilnius University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention
This study evaluates the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a brief email-delivered positive affect intervention for young adults in Zimbabwe. The study uses a randomised controlled trial design with two parallel arms.
A total of 100 participants aged 18-25 years will be randomly assigned to two arms: an experimental arm receiving an email-delivered positive affect intervention or a control arm receiving psychoeducational materials. The intervention group will receive guided activities twice weekly over three weeks, focusing on identifying, reflecting on, and engaging in positive experiences. The control group will receive general psychoeducational materials on mental health without structured activities.
Assessments will be conducted at baseline and after the intervention. The primary outcome is feasibility( including recruitment, retention, and adherence) and acceptance. Secondary outcomes include changes in positive affect, symptoms of depression and anxiety,self-stigma, and suicidal ideation.
Digital mental health interventions are increasingly recognised as scalable and accessible approaches to supporting psychological well-being, particularly among young adults. These approaches may be especially valuable in low- and middle-income countries, where mental health services are limited and barriers to help-seeking remain substantial. Previous research in Zimbabwe has demonstrated the feasibility and acceptability of digitally delivered mental health interventions (Dambi et al., 2022). However, little is known about the feasibility of self-guided digital interventions designed to enhance positive affect and psychological well-being among young adults.
Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of a brief email-delivered positive affect intervention among young adults in Zimbabwe and to explore its preliminary effects on positive affect, negative affect, symptoms of depression and anxiety, suicidality, and self-stigma associated with seeking psychological help.
The primary objective of the study is to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, usability, and participant engagement of a brief email-based positive affect intervention.
The secondary objectives of the study are; To examine changes in positive affect following participation in the intervention.
To assess changes in anxiety, depression, suicidality, and negative affect following participation in the intervention.
To explore changes in self-stigma associated with seeking psychological help following participation in the intervention.
This study is a two-arm, parallel-group randomised controlled feasibility trial. Participants will be randomly allocated in a 1:1 ratio to either a positive affect intervention group or an active psychoeducational control group. The intervention period will last three weeks, with assessments conducted at baseline (T0) and immediately following the intervention (T1).
In addition to that, participants will be recruited from a previously established cohort of young adults in Zimbabwe who participated in a cross-sectional mental health survey and consented to future contact. The study aims to recruit 100 participants aged 18-25 years.
Ethical approval has been obtained from the Medical Research Council of Zimbabwe and relevant authorities. Participation is voluntary, and informed consent will be obtained before enrolment. Participants may withdraw from the study at any time without penalty. All data will be collected electronically, stored securely, and managed in accordance with data protection and confidentiality requirements.
8,577 studies on the registry are indexed under Depression; 1,720 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 100 is above the median of 81 across 7,063 interventional studies indexed under Depression.
Browse Depression studies →Vilnius University is the lead sponsor of 61 studies on the registry; 11 are open to participants now.
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Participants must meet all of the following criteria:
Exclusion Criteria
Participants will be excluded if they:
Intervention type: Behavioral Intervention (Psychoeducation) Participants receive email-based psychoeducational materials at one point. The materials provide structured information on mental health and emotional well-being, including stress, anxiety, depression, and coping strategies. Participants are encouraged to read and reflect on the information during the study period. The control condition does not include structured behavioural exercises or positive activity tasks.
Behavioral: Psychoeducational Control
Participants allocated to the intervention group will receive a brief, structured, email-delivered positive affect intervention over a three-week period. Emails will be delivered twice weekly and will include psychoeducational content, guided reflection exercises, and activities designed to increase awareness of positive experiences and promote engagement in meaningful daily activities. The intervention is organised into three sequential phases: * Week 1: Remember * Week 2: Contemplate * Week 3: Act Across these phases, participants will identify personally meaningful sources of positive emotion, reflect on their relevance and feasibility within everyday life, and engage in positive activities aimed at enhancing positive affect and psychological well-being.
Behavioral: Email-Delivered Positive Affect Intervention
This intervention is a brief email-delivered positive affect program designed specifically for young adults in a low-resource setting and it uses a structured three-step process of remembering, contemplating, and acting on positive experiences to intentionally increase positive affect. Unlike standard psychoeducational or symptom-focused mental health interventions, this program actively guides participants to identify personally meaningful sources of positive emotion and to translate them into daily behavioural activities. The intervention is fully automated and delivered entirely via email, making it highly scalable and accessible without the need for trained clinicians or face-to-face contact.
Also known as: SPARK-Z
Participants receive email-based psychoeducational materials about stress, anxiety, depression, and coping strategies over three weeks. No structured behavioural exercises or positive activity tasks are included.
Feasibility and Acceptability
Feasibility , usability and acceptability will be assessed using self-reported participation in email activities. Participant feedback on usability, satisfaction, and acceptability of the program will be collected at the post-intervention assessment using self-report questions.
Time frame: Baseline (Week 0) and post-intervention (Week 3)
Changes in The Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7
Changes in symptoms of anxiety are measured. The Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7, Spitzer et al., 2006) is a self-report measure comprising 7 items about symptoms of anxiety. All items are answered on a 4-point Likert scale that ranges from 0 (not at all) to 3 (nearly every day). A higher score indicates more pronounced symptoms.
Time frame: Baseline (Week 0) and post-intervention (Week 3)
Positive Affect (PANAS Positive Affect Subscale)
Changes in positive affect are measured using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; Watson et al., 1988) positive affect subscale. The PANAS is a self-report measure comprising 20 items, with 10 items assessing positive affect and 10 items assessing negative affect. Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (very slightly or not at all) to 5 (extremely). A higher score on the positive affect subscale indicates greater frequency of positive emotional experiences.
Time frame: Baseline (Week 0) and post-intervention (Week 3)
Changes in The Patient Health Questionnaire-9
Changes in symptoms of depression are measured. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9, Kroenke et al., 2001) is a self-report measure comprising 9 items about symptoms of depression. All items are answered on a 4-point Likert scale that ranges from 0 (not at all) to 3 (nearly every day). A higher score indicates more pronounced symptoms.
Time frame: Baseline (Week 0) and post-intervention (Week 3)
Changes in the Self-Stigma (SSOSH)
Changes in self-stigma associated with seeking psychological help are measured using the Self-Stigma of Seeking Help Scale (SSOSH; Vogel et al., 2006). The SSOSH is a self-report measure comprising 10 items assessing negative beliefs and attitudes about seeking professional psychological help. All items are answered on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). A higher score indicates greater self-stigma associated with seeking psychological help.
Time frame: Baseline (Week 0) and post-intervention (Week 3)
Changes in The SIDAS
Changes in suicidal ideation are measured. The SIDAS (Van Spijker et al., 2014) is a self-report measure comprising 5 questions about suicidal ideation. All items are answered on a 10-point Likert scale that ranges from 0 (never, no control, not close at all, not at all) to 10 (always, full control, made an attempt, extremely). A higher score indicates more pronounced symptoms.
Time frame: Baseline (Week 0) and post-intervention (Week 3)
Plan to share: Yes — De-identified individual participant data (IPD) will be shared upon reasonable request from qualified researchers. Data that may be shared include baseline and post-intervention questionnaire responses (e.g., PHQ-9, GAD-7, PANAS, SSOSH, SIDAS) and relevant demographic variables. All data will be fully anonymised before sharing to ensure participant anonymity. Requests will be reviewed by the study team and approved if they align with ethical approvals and data protection requirements. Data will be made available after publication of primary study results.
Supporting information: Study protocol, Statistical analysis plan, Informed consent form
Time frame: Start Date: After publication of the primary study results End Date: Until 5 years after study completion
Access criteria: De-identified individual participant data (IPD) and supporting study materials will be available to qualified researchers upon reasonable request. Access will be granted to researchers who provide a methodologically sound proposal and agree to use the data only for approved research purposes. Researchers may request access to de-identified participant-level data, including baseline and post-intervention questionnaire responses (e.g., PHQ-9, GAD-7, PANAS, SSOSH, SIDAS) and relevant demographic variables. Supporting materials such as the study protocol, statistical analysis plan, and data dictionary may also be shared. Data access requests will be reviewed and approved by the principal investigator in accordance with ethical approvals from the Medical Research Council of Zimbabwe (MRCZ) and relevant oversight from the Ministry of Health and Child Care of Zimbabwe. Once approved, data will be shared securely via encrypted file transfer or password-protected data-sharing platforms.
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Started Jul 2026 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Jun 2028, 23 months after the start.
Of 3,468 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Depression, half reached primary completion within 21 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 10 and three quarters within 41. This study's planned 23 months is close to that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 3,566 studies reached it within 21 months; a quarter within 9 and three quarters within 41.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
This study is active, not recruiting, as verified in Jun 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Vilnius University