A Health Apps for Post-Pandemic Years for People With Physiological and Psychosocial Distress
A Health Apps for Post-Pandemic Years (HAPPY) for People With Physiological and Psychosocial Distress During the Post-Pandemic Era
About This Trial
The negative impacts on physical and psychological health brought by COVID-19 seem to perpetuate in the post-pandemic era. It is estimated that there will be an impending mental health crisis in the general population in the aftermath of the pandemic due to the delayed negative impacts of COVID-19 and the associated non-pharmaceutical public health interventions such as social distancing, quarantining, and lockdown. Smart Health, defined as the provision of medical and public healthcare services by using mobile technologies, is a cost-effective and easily operated intervention that can provide various functions and can bring significant changes in people's health behaviour, such as prompting them to adopt a physically active lifestyle. Despite the rapid growth of digital health technology, most of them were developed during pandemic with a focus on delivering non-systematic, general virtual healthcare to people. The aim of this study is 1) to develop a Health Apps for Post-Pandemic Years (HAPPY) driven by the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping Theory, and 2) to evaluate its efficacy of alleviating people's physiological and psychosocial distress during post-pandemic era. A total of 814 eligible participants, both COVID-19 victims and non-COVID-19 victims exhibiting physiological and/or psychosocial distress during post-pandemic era, will be recruited and randomized to either the experimental or the waitlist control group. The experimental group will receive a 24-week intervention combined with an 8-week regular supervision phase plus a 16-week self-help phase. Participants will receive different coping strategies, namely physical training, energy conservation techniques and mindfulness-based coping in the intervention hub at Level 2 based on participants' assessments at Level 1, and enhance self-management at Level 3. Participants' physical activity levels will be measured using commercial wearable sensors. The waitlist control group will receive materials on the promotion of physical and psychological health during waiting period and receive the same intervention as the experimental group in week 25. It is hypothesized that the experimental group will exhibit milder symptoms of physiological and psychosocial distress, and have a more positive appraisal mindset, greater self-efficacy, and more sustainable self-management ability than participants in the waitlist control group.
Who May Be Eligible (Plain English)
Original Eligibility Criteria
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Treatments Being Tested
Physical Activity Training
Participants who exhibit both physical and psychosocial distress will be recommended to receive physical activity intervention. An approach of adding game mechanics into an interactive environment that combines live action and an award system will be integrated into the intervention. The physical training involves 15-min resistance training and 30-min interactive cardio dancing each with beginner and advanced levels. Participants are recommended to start with the beginner level and do the exercises on regular intervals during the intervention period. The Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) motion sensor with tablet-based console and the full-body tracking sensor will be used to capture real-time data on participants' human body movements in order to enhance understanding of performance. Participants will get a commercial wearable sensor. Participants will be asked to wear the sensor at all times and sync the data with the Smart Health Platform to self-monitor daily condition.
Mindfulness-based Intervention
Participants who exhibit psychosocial distress will be recommended to receive mindfulness-based intervention which is designed based on the concept of validated Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) combined with techniques from Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). The intervention consists of 10 sessions, each session has different main themes and associated activities including body scan, mindful eating, abdominal breathing, chair yoga, awareness of breathing, mindful walking, breathing, body and emotions, yoga stretching, mindful listening and choiceless awreness. The materials will be delivered in the format of animation videos. Participants will be asked to complete one session per week.
Energy Conservation Techniques
Participants who exhibit physiological symptoms will be recommended to receive energy savings intervention which is co-developed by the local Occupational Therapy Association. The intervention consists of six session, each session has different topics and associated energy savings techniques related to particular circumstances, such as the six principle of energy conservation, application of energy conservation in the domains of self-care, household tasks, outdoor activities and work. The materials will be delivered in the format of animation videos. Participants will be asked to complete one session per week. Revision quiz will be given to understand the learning progress of participants.