A Mobile Ecological Momentary Intervention for Reducing Experiential Avoidance in the Context of Rumination: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

TL;DR

This study tests a mobile app to reduce experiential avoidance in people who ruminate, aiming to improve mental health outcomes.

Contribution

A novel mobile ecological momentary intervention protocol is proposed to empirically examine experiential avoidance in rumination.

Findings

The trial will assess the app's potential to modify repetitive negative thinking.

It will evaluate the moderating effect of trial conditions on avoidance-mood and rumination-mood links.

The study will explore therapist support's impact on post-intervention outcomes.

Abstract

Rumination is a transdiagnostic process present in several psychological disorders, involving repetitive negative thinking that individuals may perceive as difficult to control. While the roles of numerous mechanisms underlying rumination have been supported, experiential avoidance (EA) still lacks empirical backing, despite a strong theoretical foundation, partly due to difficulties in examining EA in an ecologically valid context. One promising approach to addressing this challenge is through reducing EA using mobile health (mHealth) and ecological momentary intervention (EMI), and assessing any subsequent decrease in rumination’s deleterious outcomes.

This paper outlines the protocol for a randomized controlled trial using a novel mHealth EMI to address EA in the context of rumination. The app was developed by a multidisciplinary team, incorporating feedback from potential end users.

Consenting individuals (target N=60) who meet the inclusion criteria (self-reporting problems with repetitive negative thinking) will be randomly assigned to 1 of 4 conditions: (1) intervention with therapist support and daily sampling, (2) intervention without support and with daily sampling, (3) partial intervention (emotion validation EMI only) with daily sampling, or (4) control (daily sampling only). The intervention consists of a series of modules delivered over 4 weeks, with assessments conducted before and after intervention, and again at 1-month follow-up (plus an additional 3-month follow-up for intervention participants). Data will be collected both through online self-report assessments and via the app itself. The potential of the EMI to modify the maladaptive feature of repetitive negative thinking will be assessed using mixed-design ANOVA, while the links between avoidance-mood and rumination-mood, in terms of the moderating effect of trial condition, will be evaluated using multilevel models. These will be assessed as primary outcomes. Secondary outcomes are the effects of a supporting therapist on postintervention outcomes in the intervention groups, and time spent using the app as a measure of engagement (analyzed using the mixed-design analysis of covariance). Compliance will be defined as completing both of the first 2 weeks of intervention content in full, and 5 out of the 6 exercises from weeks 3 and 4. Additionally, the study will control for both the amount of time spent in the app and the length of responses to open-ended questions.

Recruitment and enrollment for the trial are expected to begin in May 2025 and be completed by July 2025. Data collection will conclude once the target sample size for each of the 4 conditions has been reached. The main results of the trial are expected to be submitted for publication in October 2025.

The outcomes of this research trial will not only provide insights into the clinical capabilities of the app, including its usability and acceptability in real-world contexts (and its potential future viability as a scalable product), but will also offer valuable theoretical insights into the role of EA in maladaptive rumination.

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06570694; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT06570694

PRR1-10.2196/66067

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