Bidargaddi N, Musiat P, Winsall M, et al. (2017). Efficacy of a web-based guided recommendation service for a curated list of readily available mental health and well-being mobile apps for young people: Randomized controlled trial. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 19(5): e141. doi: 10.2196/jmir.6775
Reachout.com offers the Toolbox, a compendium of wellbeing mobile applications (apps) for adolescents and young adults (13-25 years old). Users take an assessment about their goals for wellbeing and receive recommendations for apps. Researchers recruited 387 young adults aged 16 to 25 though online advertisements and referrals from recruitment and youth organizations for a randomized clinical trial of the Toolbox. Participants were randomized to use the Toolbox or to a waitlist control group that could only access psychoeducational resources on Reachout.com. Assessments of wellbeing were administered at baseline and four weeks (post-intervention). When participants logged into the website, they completed assessments of mood, energy, and sleep. There were no significant differences in wellbeing or changes in wellbeing between the intervention and control groups. There was a significant decrease in mood, energy, and sleep for the control group per login to the website. The intervention group’s mood, energy, and sleep scores did not change based on login. The intervention group did not experience the deteriorations in mood, energy, and sleep that the control group did, but the design of this study makes it difficult to identify what parts of the intervention may contribute to this potential preventative effect.