Trial reportJournal of medical Internet research2023
A Personalized, Transdiagnostic Smartphone Intervention (Mello) Targeting Repetitive Negative Thinking in Young People With Depression and Anxiety: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.
Trial report in Journal of medical Internet research, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The Use of Waivers of Guardian Permission in the United States for Pediatric Digital Health Intervention Research Since 2020: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled it
- Toward Participatory Precision Health With Co-Designed Recommendations: Systematic Review of Just-in-Time Adaptive Interventions in Adolescents and Young Adults.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled it
- AI-enabled and comparator digital interventions for adolescent mental health (2020-2025): early detection, human-AI collaboration, and ethical governance-a PRISMA-ScR scoping review.Frontiers in child and adolescent psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Association between user engagement and clinical outcomes in smartphone apps for depression and anxiety: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Psychiatry research · 2026Pooled it
- Comparative effectiveness and acceptability of internet-based psychological interventions on depression in young people: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy in treating repetitive negative thinking, rumination, and worry - a transdiagnostic meta-analysis.Psychological medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Effectiveness of evidence based mental health apps on user health outcome: A systematic literature review.PloS one · 2025Pooled it
- Personalization variables in digital mental health interventions for depression and anxiety in adolescents and youth: a scoping review.Frontiers in digital health · 2025Pooled it
- Harnessing digital health interventions to address the heterogeneity of depression: a systematic review.Frontiers in digital health · 2025Pooled it
- A bibliometric analysis of research on the application of just-in-time adaptive interventions in mental health.Medicine · 2026Review
- Uncovering the heterogeneity in young adult anxiety: subtypes predict outcomes of a CBT mobile app.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Repetitive negative thinking in adolescence: a mixed methods study.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2025Article
- Insights from fifteen years of real-world development, testing and implementation of youth digital mental health interventions.Internet interventions · 2025Review
- Effectiveness of 2 Just-in-Time Adaptive Interventions for Reducing Stress and Stabilizing Cardiac Autonomic Function: Microrandomized Trials.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Just-in-Time Delivery of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-Based Exercises: Single-Case Experimental Design With Random Multiple Baselines.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- Transdiagnostic-focused apps for depression and anxiety: a meta-analysis.NPJ digital medicine · 2025Article
- The evolving field of digital mental health: current evidence and implementation issues for smartphone apps, generative artificial intelligence, and virtual reality.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2025Article
- A Just-in-Time Adaptive Intervention (Shift) to Manage Problem Anger After Trauma: Co-Design and Development Study.JMIR human factors · 2025Article
- Digital Mental Health Interventions for Young People Aged 16-25 Years: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Suitability of just-in-time adaptive intervention in post-COVID-19-related symptoms: A systematic scoping review.PLOS digital health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundRepetitive negative thinking (RNT) is a key transdiagnostic mechanism underpinning depression and anxiety. Using "just-in-time adaptive interventions" via smartphones may disrupt RNT in real time, providing targeted and personalized intervention.
objectiveThis pilot randomized controlled trial evaluates the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary clinical outcomes and mechanisms of Mello-a fully automated, personalized, transdiagnostic, and mechanistic smartphone intervention targeting RNT in young people with depression and anxiety.
methodsParticipants with heightened depression, anxiety, and RNT were recruited via social media and randomized to receive Mello or a nonactive control over a 6-week intervention period. Assessments were completed via Zoom sessions at baseline and at 3 and 6 weeks after baseline.
resultsThe findings supported feasibility and acceptability, with high rates of recruitment (N=55), uptake (55/64, 86% of eligible participants), and retention (52/55, 95% at 6 weeks). Engagement was high, with 90% (26/29) and 59% (17/29) of the participants in the Mello condition still using the app during the third and sixth weeks, respectively. Greater reductions in depression (Cohen d=0.50), anxiety (Cohen d=0.61), and RNT (Cohen d=0.87) were observed for Mello users versus controls. Mediation analyses suggested that changes in depression and anxiety were accounted for by changes in RNT.
conclusionsThe results indicate that mechanistic, targeted, and real-time technology-based solutions may provide scalable and effective interventions that advance the treatment of youth mental ill health.
trial registrationAustralian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12621001701819; http://tinyurl.com/4d3jfj9f.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.