Symposia
Technology
Eve Rosenfeld, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist (Fellow)
VA Palo Alto Health Care System/Stanford
Menlo Park, California
Depression poses a significant public health burden, causes functional impairments to its sufferers, and is a risk factor for serious health consequences and suicide. A major risk and maintenance factor for depression is rumination, i.e., behaviors and cognition that focus one’s attention on depressive symptoms and on the causes, consequences, and implications of these symptoms. While a number of interventions for depression have demonstrated efficacy and effectiveness, access to treatment remains limited. One promising avenue for increasing access to evidence-based treatment is the development of mental health (mHealth) apps. Given that rumination increases risk for depression and contributes to its persistence, it is a promising treatment target for an mHealth app. This research aimed to establish the feasibility and acceptability of a new mHealth app for rumination—RuminAid. A mixed-methods study of the consumer-rated quality of a storyboard version of RuminAid found it to be in the acceptable to good range, but highlighted the need for improved app aesthetics (e.g., a more appealing color scheme and modern design). A single-arm pilot feasibility trial (N = 41) consisted primarily of participants who were early middle aged (M = 37.80, SD = 12.25), assigned female at birth (n = 38) and identified as women (n = 36), White (n = 38), non-Latinx (n = 38), and heterosexual (n = 29). We found initial evidence for the feasibility and acceptability of RuminAid as a treatment for depression and rumination, as well as effects on key proximal outcomes. For example, treatment completers reported a significant increase in adaptive beliefs about rumination from pre-treatment (M = 16.94, SD = 2.77) to post-treatment (M = 20.38, SD = 2.68; t(15) = 3.62, p = .003), as well as reductions in daily rumination (b = -9.34, p < .001). In order to establish the efficacy and effectiveness of RuminAid as an mHealth treatment for depression and rumination, future research should focus on rigorous empirical evaluation via randomized control trials.