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Subproject 1:
Aim:
The main goal with the project is that adolescents with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) will recover as fast as possible. It is also a goal to have more user involvement in treatment of PTSD, and that patients will attain more insight in, and better possibilities to influence, their own therapy courses.
In order to do this we will
1. Develop an app where adolescents with PTSD can learn about and cope their own symptoms, thoughts and feelings, in a user-friendly, fun, useful, and effective way, and
2. Conduct a preliminary assessment of the effect of this app (both from the perspective of users, and with a quantitative pilot study)
The main questions to be explored in this project are therefore: What should the content of this app be, and how should it look, in order to be useful for adolescents in treatment for PTSD? Is the app helpful from the users’ perspectives (both patients and therapists)? Is the app effective in reducing symptoms of PTSD?
Work package 1: Creating and designing a pilot version of the app
Work package 2: Testing the app
Work package 3: Evaluate the effect of the app
Work package 4: Dissemination and making the app available
Methods:
To get input on relevant functionality and design of the app, we will undertake interviews of adolescents and therapists, and we will gather information regarding experiences with similar apps. For now, we think that the app will have four main functions:
1) Psychoeducation: The app will provide information about trauma, common reactions, and how recovery can be promoted.
2) Tools: The app includes a variety of breathing and meditation exercises, and suggest ways to cope with trauma reactions.
3) Support to set goals and do the necessary tasks to achieve them: The app encourage the adolescent to set their own goals, and they can schedule reminders to do tasks they have given themselves, and register their accomplishments.
4). Feedback about their own profile of symptoms and development: Once a day, the participants will be asked to indicate to what extent they have experienced intrusive memories and other symptoms of PTSD that day. Based on this, the app will provide information about what the adolescent and the therapist should focus on.
These are elements that can be changed during the process of developing and designing the app.
Subproject 2:
Aim:
The app is now free and openly available on the App Store and Google Play (in Norwegian). People who are 16 years or older can choose to participate in further research. The purpose of this research project is to gain knowledge about how changes in post-traumatic stress (PTSD) occur from week to week, and how this is related to changes in emotions. This will provide us with a better understanding of the processes of change during the recovery from PTSD.
Methods:
Data for the project will be collected through self-recruitment via the internet. The app is readily available on the App Store and Google Play so that anyone who wishes can download it, either as part of their treatment or for individual use. One of the features of the app is that it provides feedback on your own symptom profile and development. For those who are 16 years or older, it is possible to choose between using the app without participating in research or using the app while also contributing to research by sharing data on their own symptom profile and development with us. We estimate that approximately 200 people will wish to share data with us over the four years we will be collecting data (2024-2028).
Both subprojects are approved by the Regional Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics in South-East Norway (REK), and will be conducted in line with recommendations on data privacy from the Norwegian Centre for Research Data (NSD).
Subproject 1 was funded by the Dam Foundation through The Norwegian Council of Mental Health, and subproject 2 is funded by NKVTS.