Lab Projects
Read about some of our ongoing and recent projects!
NOTE: This list is non-exhaustive. See our "working papers" list (including pre-prints and pre-registrations) for a broader view of our current and ongoing research.
Project COPE: Testing Scalable, Single-Session Interventions for Adolescent Depression
PI: Jessica Schleider, PhD
Co-Is: Kathryn Fox, PhD; Michael Mullarkey, PhD
Supported by the National Institutes of Health (Office of the Director, NIMH)
PI: Jessica Schleider, PhD
Co-Is: Kathryn Fox, PhD; Michael Mullarkey, PhD
Supported by the National Institutes of Health (Office of the Director, NIMH)
PROJECT SUMMARY: States and localities nationwide took unprecedented steps to reduce public health threats posed by COVID-19, including school closures affecting >50 million youth. The pandemic also caused families extreme financial hardship and distress. This combination of collective trauma, social isolation, and economic recession drastically increases risk for adolescent major depression (MD): already the lead cause of disability in youth. However, youth MD treatments face problems of potency and accessibility. Up to 65% of youth receiving MD treatment fail to respond, partly due to MD’s heterogeneity: an MD diagnosis reflects >1400 possible symptom combinations, highlighting the need for treatments matched to personal need. Treatment accessibility issues are similarly severe. Before the pandemic, <50% of youth with MD accessed any treatment at all; newfound financial strain may further preclude families’ capacity to afford care for their children. It is thus critical to identify effective, scalable strategies to buffer against youth MD in the context of COVID-19, along with strategies to match such interventions with youth most likely to benefit. Project COPE integrates machine learning approaches and large-scale SSI research to rapidly test potent, accessible strategies for reducing adolescent depressive symptoms, confirming their utility during and beyond the pandemic. Via the largest-ever SSI trial (N=2,452 adolescents), Project COPE aims to test whether: (1) evidence-based SSIs improve proximal targets (e.g., hopelessness and perceived agency/hope, which has predicted longer-term SSI response) and 3-month clinical outcomes (depressive symptom severity), and (2) whether SSIs targeting cognitive depressive symptoms versus behavioral depressive symptoms differentially affect depression symptoms across 3 months. In this fully-online trial, youths ages 13-16 recruited from across the U.S. via social media-based strategies will be randomized to 1 of 3 self-administered SSIs: a behavioral activation SSI (“ABC Project”), targeting behavioral MD symptoms (anhedonia; activity withdrawal); an SSI teaching growth mindset (“Project Personality”), the belief that personal traits are malleable, targeting cognitive MD symptoms (e.g. hopelessness); or a control SSI (“Sharing Feelings Project”). Per baseline, post-SSI, and 3-month follow-up data, we will test each SSI’s relative benefits, versus the control, for depressive symptoms (at 3 months) and proximal outcomes (hopelessness, agency/hope). Results may identify immediately actionable strategies to matching adolescents to targeted SSIs based on personal needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Trial preregistrations: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04634903; Study Protocol
In summer 2021, we followed-up with a subsample of 300 Project COPE participants to examine a number of secondary questions via quantitive and qualitative methods, including: (1) What do adolescents believe causes depression? (2) What barriers do adolescents believe keep them from accessing treatment? (3) What characteristics of treatment (including, but not limited to, single-session interventions) do adolescents prefer? And (4) What factors relate to adolescents’ comfort and willingness to talk with parents about their mental health needs? COPE Follow-up Project Pre-Registration: OSF
Project COPE primary results: Schleider, J.L., Mullarkey, M.C., Fox, K.R., Dobias, M.L., Shroff, A., Hart, E.A., Roulston, C. (2022). A Randomized Trial of Online Single-Session Interventions for Adolescent Depression during COVID-19. Nature Human Behaviour, 6, 258-268. Full Paper
Secondary projects using Project COPE data:
Roulston, C., McKetta, S., Price, M., Fox, K., & Schleider, J. L. (in press). Structural Correlates of Mental Health Support Access Among Sexual Minority Youth of Color During COVID-19. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. Preprint
Cohen, K., & Schleider, J. L. (2022). Adolescent Dropout from Brief Digital Mental Health Interventions Within and Beyond Randomized Trials. Internet Interventions, 27, 100496. Open-Access Article
Ahuvia, I., Mullarkey, M. C., Sung, J. Y., Fox, K. R., & Schleider, J. L. (in revision). Evaluating a Treatment Selection Approach for Online Single-Session Interventions for Adolescent Depression. Preprint
Cohen, K., Shroff, A., Nook, E. C., & Schleider, J. L. (in press). Linguistic Distancing Predicts Response to a Digital Single-Session Intervention for Adolescent Depression. Preprint
McDanal, R., Shen, J., Eaton, N. R., Fox, K., & Schleider, J. L. (invited revision, Clinical Psychological Science). Predicting Transdiagnostic Symptom Change in a Randomized Trial of Single-Session Interventions for Adolescent Depression. Pre-Registration
Hollinsaid, N., Hatzenbuehler, M., Fox, K. R., & Schleider, J. L. (in preparation). Does multilevel stigma moderate single-session intervention efficacy for sexual or gender minority adolescents? Pre-registration
Thorpe, D., Mirhashem, R., Shen, J., Roulston, C.A., Fox, K.R., & Schleider, J.L. (invited revision, Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology). Ecological systems contributors to depression and anxiety symptoms in a national sample of adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Preprint
Mirhashem, R., Thorpe, D., Ahuvia, I., Fox, K.R., & Schleider, J.L. (in prep). How do subjective social status and objective neighborhood resources relate to adolescent depression? Pre-Registration
Shen, J., Eaton, N.R., Fox, K.R., & Schleider, J.L. (in prep). Evaluating LGBTQ+ adolescent mental health during COVID-19: An intersectional and transdiagnostic approach. Pre-Registration
In summer 2021, we followed-up with a subsample of 300 Project COPE participants to examine a number of secondary questions via quantitive and qualitative methods, including: (1) What do adolescents believe causes depression? (2) What barriers do adolescents believe keep them from accessing treatment? (3) What characteristics of treatment (including, but not limited to, single-session interventions) do adolescents prefer? And (4) What factors relate to adolescents’ comfort and willingness to talk with parents about their mental health needs? COPE Follow-up Project Pre-Registration: OSF
Project COPE primary results: Schleider, J.L., Mullarkey, M.C., Fox, K.R., Dobias, M.L., Shroff, A., Hart, E.A., Roulston, C. (2022). A Randomized Trial of Online Single-Session Interventions for Adolescent Depression during COVID-19. Nature Human Behaviour, 6, 258-268. Full Paper
Secondary projects using Project COPE data:
Roulston, C., McKetta, S., Price, M., Fox, K., & Schleider, J. L. (in press). Structural Correlates of Mental Health Support Access Among Sexual Minority Youth of Color During COVID-19. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. Preprint
Cohen, K., & Schleider, J. L. (2022). Adolescent Dropout from Brief Digital Mental Health Interventions Within and Beyond Randomized Trials. Internet Interventions, 27, 100496. Open-Access Article
Ahuvia, I., Mullarkey, M. C., Sung, J. Y., Fox, K. R., & Schleider, J. L. (in revision). Evaluating a Treatment Selection Approach for Online Single-Session Interventions for Adolescent Depression. Preprint
Cohen, K., Shroff, A., Nook, E. C., & Schleider, J. L. (in press). Linguistic Distancing Predicts Response to a Digital Single-Session Intervention for Adolescent Depression. Preprint
McDanal, R., Shen, J., Eaton, N. R., Fox, K., & Schleider, J. L. (invited revision, Clinical Psychological Science). Predicting Transdiagnostic Symptom Change in a Randomized Trial of Single-Session Interventions for Adolescent Depression. Pre-Registration
Hollinsaid, N., Hatzenbuehler, M., Fox, K. R., & Schleider, J. L. (in preparation). Does multilevel stigma moderate single-session intervention efficacy for sexual or gender minority adolescents? Pre-registration
Thorpe, D., Mirhashem, R., Shen, J., Roulston, C.A., Fox, K.R., & Schleider, J.L. (invited revision, Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology). Ecological systems contributors to depression and anxiety symptoms in a national sample of adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Preprint
Mirhashem, R., Thorpe, D., Ahuvia, I., Fox, K.R., & Schleider, J.L. (in prep). How do subjective social status and objective neighborhood resources relate to adolescent depression? Pre-Registration
Shen, J., Eaton, N.R., Fox, K.R., & Schleider, J.L. (in prep). Evaluating LGBTQ+ adolescent mental health during COVID-19: An intersectional and transdiagnostic approach. Pre-Registration
Developing the Unified Protocol - Single Session Experience Platform for Adolescent Mental Health
Co-PIs: Jessica Schleider, PhD; Jill Ehrenreich-May, PhD; Melissa DeRosier, PhD
Supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (Small Business Innovation in Research Program)
In collaboration with 3C Institute
Co-PIs: Jessica Schleider, PhD; Jill Ehrenreich-May, PhD; Melissa DeRosier, PhD
Supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (Small Business Innovation in Research Program)
In collaboration with 3C Institute
PROJECT SUMMARY: Fewer than 50% of adolescents experiencing emotional disorder symptoms (depression, anxiety) receive any mental health treatment, highlighting a troubling discrepancy between need for and access to youth mental health services. Single-Session Interventions (SSIs) have been shown to be an effective means for reducing youth psychopathology and to effectively lower cost, time, and stigma barriers to mental health treatment. Through this SBIR, we are applying the Unified Protocol (UP) trans-diagnostic principles for emotional disorders in youths to create a suite of digital, self- paced, and evidence-based SSI modules for youth with a range of emotional disorders. Our end product will utilize cutting-edge software to offer youth an enhanced digital SSI experience. This project have 3 specific aims: (1) develop a software prototype containing two fully-functioning SSI modules: “Awareness of Physical Sensations and Emotional Experience” and “Being Flexible in Your Problem-Solving”; (2) conduct usability and acceptability testing with youth with emotional disorder symptoms; and (3) conduct feasibility testing with stakeholders who commonly oversee youth mental health (school- and community-based mental health providers, after-school counselors, pediatric healthcare providers, and parents). The goal of this work is to support broad scale dissemination and use of market-ready digital SSI modules to reach as many youth as possible with evidence- based mental health supports. Read more via NIH RePORTER
As of December 2022, intervention prototype is being finalized in preparation for acceptability and feasibility testing.
As of December 2022, intervention prototype is being finalized in preparation for acceptability and feasibility testing.
Leveraging Social Media to Enhance Access to Brief, Evidence-Based, and Low-Cost Mental Health Treatment for LGBTQ+ Adolescents
Co-PIs: Jessica Schleider, PhD; Kathryn Fox, PhD
Co-I: Jill Ehrenreich-May, PhD
Supported by the Upswing Fund for Adolescent Mental Health
In collaboration with the Fox Lab at University of Denver
Co-PIs: Jessica Schleider, PhD; Kathryn Fox, PhD
Co-I: Jill Ehrenreich-May, PhD
Supported by the Upswing Fund for Adolescent Mental Health
In collaboration with the Fox Lab at University of Denver
PROJECT SUMMARY: Barriers to mental health support disproportionately undermine service access for LGBTQ+ and youth of Color, who experience disproportionate financial difficulties, discrimination, and stigma that preclude outreach for support. These unequal impacts threaten to exacerbate already high risk for mental illness among LGBTQ+ youth of Color, creating a critical need for barrier-free interventions tailored to this population’s needs. The goal of this project is to partner with LGBTQ+ youth of Color to adapt and improve the Lab's evidence-based, single-session, online interventions for LGBTQ+ youth of Color seeking anonymous online mental health support. Via focus groups and partnerships with LGBTQ+ youth of Color with lived experience of mental illness, we are integrating their stories, perspectives, and experiences as we update the language and personalize SSI content to be maximally affirming and acceptable. We are now using social media-based recruitment to disseminate and evaluate these adapted SSIs to ~5,000 LGBTQ+ youth of Color across the United States.
As of June 2022, all adapted single-session interventions have been publicly shared on our project website, www.projectrestore.info
As of June 2022, all adapted single-session interventions have been publicly shared on our project website, www.projectrestore.info
Embedding Digital Single-Session Interventions within Social Media Platforms
In collaboration with Koko
In collaboration with Koko
PROJECT SUMMARY: Existing mental health supports are insufficient for addressing mental health needs at scale, particularly for adolescents. To fill the gap between need for support and access to it, many teenagers seek out, and receive, mental health support online. Single-session interventions (SSIs) may be uniquely well-positioned for integration within online social platforms—providing free, brief, and anonymous mental health support options at scale. Thus, the Lab for Scalable Mental Health has launched an ongoing partnership with Koko--a nonprofit online mental health platform offering on-demand peer support, crisis triage, and self-guided mental health interventions—to test whether digital mental health SSIs may be usefully embedded within popular social media platforms, both to reduce mental health problems directly and to increase rates of help-seeking. As one recent example, Koko adapted three web-based SSIs (5-8 minutes), based on the lab's evidence-based, single-session, online interventions (ABC Project; Project SAVE; REFRAME) which Koko offered via its platform as “mini courses” on Tumblr, a microblogging and social networking website with 135 million monthly active users. Between March 2021 and February 2022, these digital SSIs were completed 6,179 times. All three SSIs generated high star ratings (>4 out of 5 stars), with high completion rates (~25-57%) relative to real-world completion rates among other digital self-help interventions. Paired t-tests detected significant pre-post reductions in hopelessness (ABC Project), reductions in self-hate (SAVE); further, desire to stop self-harm significantly increased from pre- to post-SSI (SAVE). Results of this initial project suggest that SSIs, when embedded within popular social platforms, offer a promising approach to providing free, scalable mental health support online. Our lab continues to support Koko in their evaluations of where, how, and for whom SSIs may be best leveraged as social media-embedded mental health resources.
Dobias, M. L., Morris, R., & Schleider, J. L. (2022). Single-session interventions embedded within Tumblr: A test of acceptability and utility. JMIR Formative Research.
Cohen, K., Dobias, M. L., Morris, R., & Schleider, J. L. (in press). Improving uptake of mental health crisis resources: Randomized test of a single-session intervention embedded in social media. Journal of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies. Preprint
Dobias, M. L., Morris, R., & Schleider, J. L. (2022). Single-session interventions embedded within Tumblr: A test of acceptability and utility. JMIR Formative Research.
Cohen, K., Dobias, M. L., Morris, R., & Schleider, J. L. (in press). Improving uptake of mental health crisis resources: Randomized test of a single-session intervention embedded in social media. Journal of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies. Preprint
Project S.A.F.E.
Service Access for Families Everywhere
PI: Jessica Schleider, PhD
Co-I: Susmita Pati, MD
In collaboration with Stony Brook University's Division of Pediatric Primary Care
Supported by the Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation
Service Access for Families Everywhere
PI: Jessica Schleider, PhD
Co-I: Susmita Pati, MD
In collaboration with Stony Brook University's Division of Pediatric Primary Care
Supported by the Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation
PROJECT SUMMARY: Major depression (MD) in youth is a serious psychiatric illness with extensive morbidity and mortality. The American Academy of Pediatrics recently released practice guidelines promoting primary care (PC)-based youth MD screening; however, even when diagnosed by PC providers, <50% of youth with MD access treatment. Thus, a need exists for interventions that are feasible for youths and parents to access and complete—and that may strengthen parents’ likelihood of pursuing longer-term services. Single-session interventions (SSIs) may help forward these goals. SSIs include elements of comprehensive treatments, but their brevity makes them easier to disseminate at scale. Meta-analytic evidence suggests SSIs can reduce youth psychopathology, including self-administered (e.g., online) SSIs. One computer-based SSI, teaching growth mindset (GM; viewing personal traits as malleable), has reduced adolescent depressive symptoms in multiple RCTs; GM-SSIs have also improved parents’ expectancies that psychotherapy could benefit their children’s mental health. This project will test whether these online, youth- and parent-directed GM-SSIs—designed to reduce youth depressive symptoms and improve parents’ mental health treatment expectancies, respectively—may increase mental health service access, reduce youth depressive symptoms, and relieve parental stress following PC-based youth MD screening. Youths reporting elevated MD symptoms at PC visits (target N = 246) will receive either Information/Psychoeducation/Referral (IPR) or IPR plus parent- and youth-directed GM-SSIs (IPR+SSI). We will examine whether IPR+SSI, versus IPR alone, increases MD service access; reduces parental stress; and reduces youth depressive symptoms across 3 months. Results may yield a disseminable model for promoting treatment access after PC-based depression screening.
Trial preregistration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT 04030897
Study Protocol/Stage 1 Registered Report: Schleider, J. L., Dobias, M. L., Fassler, J., Shroff, A., & Pati, S. (2020). Promoting treatment access following pediatric primary care depression screening: Randomized trial of web-based, single-session interventions for parents and youths. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 59, 770-773. Preprint
As of December 2022, participant recruitment for Project SAFE is underway.
Trial preregistration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT 04030897
Study Protocol/Stage 1 Registered Report: Schleider, J. L., Dobias, M. L., Fassler, J., Shroff, A., & Pati, S. (2020). Promoting treatment access following pediatric primary care depression screening: Randomized trial of web-based, single-session interventions for parents and youths. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 59, 770-773. Preprint
As of December 2022, participant recruitment for Project SAFE is underway.
Project TRACK to TREAT:
Harnessing Network Science to Personalize Scalable Interventions for Adolescent Depression
PI: Jessica Schleider, PhD
Consultants: Nicholas Eaton, PhD; Laura Bringmann, PhD
Supported by the National Institutes of Health (Office of the Director) & the American Psychological Foundation
Harnessing Network Science to Personalize Scalable Interventions for Adolescent Depression
PI: Jessica Schleider, PhD
Consultants: Nicholas Eaton, PhD; Laura Bringmann, PhD
Supported by the National Institutes of Health (Office of the Director) & the American Psychological Foundation
PROJECT SUMMARY: Efforts to reduce major depression (MD) in youth have advanced greatly, yet 30-65% of youth who receive treatment fail to respond. The multifarious nature of MD contributes to this problem. An MD diagnosis reflects >1400 possible symptom combinations, highlighting the need for treatments matched to personal clinical need. Compounding the problem of potency, existing treatments are not uniformly accessible: up to 70% of youth with MD do not access services. This project aims to address the need for accessible, potent youth depression interventions by integrating methods and findings from previously separate areas: single-session intervention (SSI) research and network science. In a meta-analysis of 50 randomized trials, SSIs have reduced diverse youth psychiatric problems, including MD. Further, a web-based SSI teaching growth mindset (the belief that personal traits are malleable) reduced depression and anxiety in high-symptom youth across 9 months. Thus, well-targeted SSIs can yield lasting benefits—but given MD’s heterogeneity, there is a need for tools that can match youth to SSIs optimized for personal symptom structures. This project harnesses computational advances from the network approach to psychopathology, which views psychiatric disorders as causal interactions between symptoms, to evaluate such a tool. Aim 1 is to establish guidelines for computing personalized symptom networks using experience sampling method (ESM) data from youth with MD across several weeks. This will include a comparison of two leading approaches for computing network parameters, such as outward centrality (the degree to which a symptom prospectively predicts other symptoms). Aim 2 is to test network parameters as SSI outcome predictors among youth with MD. Youth will be randomized to a behavioral activation (BA) SSI (adapted from evidence-based BA SSIs); the mindset SSI noted above; or a control SSI. Network parameters will be tested as predictors of SSI response. For instance, youth with stronger centrality on a behavioral symptom (e.g. withdrawal from pleasurable activities) may respond more favorably to the BA SSI, and youth with stronger centrality on a cognitive symptom (e.g. hopelessness) to the mindset SSI. Results may identify a novel means of matching youth to targeted MD SSIs by personal need. The project will also include the first RCT comparing two youth MD SSIs, with the longest follow-up of any SSI trial to date (2 years), gauging their relative promise to reduce youth MD. Read about TRACK to TREAT via NIH RePORTER. Clinicaltrials.gov Registration, Phase 2.
As of December 2022, recruitment for Phase/Aim 1 of TRACK to TREAT (N = 110) is complete; follow-up assessments are underway. Recruitment for Phase 2/Aim 2 (N = 216) began in March 2021 and is ~70% complete. Follow-ups will span through 2025.
As of December 2022, recruitment for Phase/Aim 1 of TRACK to TREAT (N = 110) is complete; follow-up assessments are underway. Recruitment for Phase 2/Aim 2 (N = 216) began in March 2021 and is ~70% complete. Follow-ups will span through 2025.
Building and Evaluating a Single Session Mental Health Drop-In Center for Healthcare Workers and Trainees
Project Lead and Co-PI: Jessica Schleider, PhD
Overall Grant PI: Susmita Pati, MD, MPH
Supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration
Project Lead and Co-PI: Jessica Schleider, PhD
Overall Grant PI: Susmita Pati, MD, MPH
Supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration
PROJECT SUMMARY: Healthcare workers (HCWs) face substantial needs for mental health supports, particularly in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, most existing models of mental healthcare are difficult for providers to access; entail weeks- to months-long waiting lists; or are prohibitively expensive for hospital systems to offer on a broad scale. Single-session mental health interventions (SSIs) may offer a sustainable path toward addressing these challenges. Given SSIs’ established benefits, a walk-in single-session mental health center, providing evidence-based SSIs to HCWs, would confer at least three structural benefits: 1) increased access to meaningful therapeutic resources at just the right moment (when HCWs first seek help); (2) reduced risks of delayed treatment due to long waiting-lists for mental health care (or prevent over-treatment, as an SSI may be sufficient to address certain individuals’ needs); and (3) generation of valuable training opportunities in brief psychotherapy for trainees (e.g., nursing students). Therefore, we are establishing and evaluating a Drop-In Single-Session Support Center (“S3 Center”), which will offer evidence-based, face-to-face and digital/self-guided single-session interventions on-demand, and at no charge, to all HCWs and trainees at Stony Brook University Hospital. Read more about the overall HRSA grant, including our lab's S3 Initiative, via an SBU News Release.
As of December 2022, S3 Center set-up is underway; the grant period spans from January 2022 through January 2025.
As of December 2022, S3 Center set-up is underway; the grant period spans from January 2022 through January 2025.
Testing the Single-Session Consultation (SSC) Program
for Emotional and Behavioral Distress
PI: Jessica Schleider, PhD
Co-PI: Jenna Sung, BA
Co-Is: Dina Vivian, PhD; Adam Gonzales, PhD; Wilfred Farquharson IV, PhD;
Amanda Bianco, MA; Michael Mullarkey, PhD
PROJECT SUMMARY: The Krasner Psychological Center (KPC), the Mind Body Clinical Research Center (MBCRC), and Child and Adolescent Outpatient Services (CAOS) are outpatient mental health clinics affiliated with Stony Brook University (SBU). All three clinics faces a challenge common to virtually all mental health clinics across the United States: the demand for psychotherapy far outpaces the number of available providers. As such, wait-lists at clinics like the KPC, MBCRC, and CAOS are increasingly long, and longer wait-times for psychotherapy have predicted worse clinical outcomes once treatment is accessed. Thus, there is a need for effective, sustainable service delivery models that facilitate rapid access to care—for instance, providing a low-intensity service shortly after an individual decides to seek treatment, capitalizing on client motivation. Such a service might have the added benefit of reducing overall waitlist lengths: If some subset of clients find a low-intensity service to be sufficient, a single session might be able (in some cases) to spur positive behavioral and emotional change. Therefore, the objective of our initial pilot study was to examine the feasibility, acceptability, and short-term effects of the new Single-Session Consultation (SSC) service, for clients 13 and older on the psychotherapy waitlists at the KPC, MBCRC, and CAOS. The SSC offers clients the opportunity to participate in a single, goal-directed consultation session within two weeks of inquiring about psychotherapy services, based on Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT): an evidence-based therapy approach that guides services offered by single-session and walk-in clinics internationally. Results suggested acceptability and positive effects of the SSC.
Trial preregistration 1 (initial trial, face-to-face SSC): ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04069832
Trial preregistration 2 (Telehealth SSC): ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04725578
First Open Trial Results (2021): Schleider et al., 2021
Second Open Trial Results (2022): Sung et al., 2022
Following promising pilot trial results, we are continuing to test the SSC in diverse settings and populations, such as through tele-health and via delivery by lay providers (e.g., college students).
Trial preregistration 1 (initial trial, face-to-face SSC): ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04069832
Trial preregistration 2 (Telehealth SSC): ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04725578
First Open Trial Results (2021): Schleider et al., 2021
Second Open Trial Results (2022): Sung et al., 2022
Following promising pilot trial results, we are continuing to test the SSC in diverse settings and populations, such as through tele-health and via delivery by lay providers (e.g., college students).
Project YES
Youth Empowerment & Support PI: Jessica Schleider, PhD Co-PIs: Jenna Sung, BA; Mallory Dobias, BS Co-Is: Emma Mumper, PhD; Michael Mullarkey, PhD |
Culturally Adapting & Evaluating Project YES in San Antonio
Co-PIs: Jessica Schleider, PhD; Kristin Plastino, MD Co-Is: Jenna Sung, BA; Mallory Dobias, BS; Michael Mullarkey, PhD |
In Collaboration with UT Teen Health - San Antonio
Supported by a Service Grant from the City of San Antonio, Texas Health Department
Supported by a Service Grant from the City of San Antonio, Texas Health Department
PROJECT SUMMARY: Project YES (Youth Empowerment & Support; www.schleiderlab.org/YES) is the first large-scale program evaluation of anonymous, web-based SSIs for adolescent mental health. Project YES aims to evaluate the acceptability and effects of three free, web-based SSIs for adolescent internalizing distress developed by our team: Project Personality, the Teen Goals Project, and the ABC Project, (designed to improve hope, self-compassion, and agency, respectively). Each SSI follows an evidence-based framework SSI construction, developed by our team and informed by basic social-psychological research. First, youths (1) learn brain science that normalizes each program’s core concept; (2) are treated as “experts” and invited to help researchers learn about youths’ perspectives and challenges; (3) synthesize the program’s ideas using their own words, while offering advice to peers facing difficulties; (4) hear stories from peers who used the program’s content to overcome setbacks. Within Project YES, youths are invited to complete pre- and post-program assessments of proximal SSI targets and feedback on the SSI(s) they complete. Data from this ongoing program evaluation allows to (1) test the acceptability and feasibility of our SSIs in their current forms, and (2) gauge immediate effects of our SSIs on proximal, clinically-relevant outcomes (agency; hope; self-compassion), and (3) iteratively improve our SSIs per feedback from anonymous teen users.
In December 2020, we partnered with the City of San Antonio, Texas Health Department to adapt Project YES to serve a broader youth population. This partnership has four primary goals:
Results of this academic-community partnership are now published here.
Project YES was recently covered in Vox.
Study preregistration: Open Science Framework
Project YES — Initial Results: Schleider, J. L., Dobias, M. L., Sung, J. Y., Mumper, E., & Mullarkey, M. C. (2020). Acceptability and utility of an open-access, online single-session intervention platform for adolescent mental health. Journal of Medical Internet Research: Mental Health, 7, e2013. Open-Access Article
Project YES — San Antonio Results: Shroff, A., Roulston, C. A., Fassler, J., Dierschke, N. A., San Pedro Todd, J., Rios, Á., Plastino, K., & Schleider, J. L. (2023). A Digital Single-Session Intervention Platform for Youth Mental Health: Cultural Adaptation, Evaluation, and Dissemination. JMIR Mental Health. Preprint
Secondary projects using Project YES data:
McDanal, R., Rubin, A., Fox, K. R., & Schleider, J. L. (in press). Associations of LGBTQ+ Identities on Acceptability and Response to Online Single-Session Youth Mental Health Interventions. Behavior Therapy. Preprint
Cohen, K., & Schleider, J. L. (2022). Adolescent Dropout from Brief Digital Mental Health Interventions Within and Beyond Randomized Trials. Internet Interventions, 27, 100496. Open-Access Article
In December 2020, we partnered with the City of San Antonio, Texas Health Department to adapt Project YES to serve a broader youth population. This partnership has four primary goals:
- Culturally adapt Project YES for use with ethnic and racial minority youth, via focus groups with teens living in San Antonio;
- Translate Project YES into Spanish, to enable use by Spanish-speaking youth
- Disseminate Project YES to ~1,000 youth across San Antonio, TX;
- Assess the feasibility and acceptability of the culturally-adapted Project YES
Results of this academic-community partnership are now published here.
Project YES was recently covered in Vox.
Study preregistration: Open Science Framework
Project YES — Initial Results: Schleider, J. L., Dobias, M. L., Sung, J. Y., Mumper, E., & Mullarkey, M. C. (2020). Acceptability and utility of an open-access, online single-session intervention platform for adolescent mental health. Journal of Medical Internet Research: Mental Health, 7, e2013. Open-Access Article
Project YES — San Antonio Results: Shroff, A., Roulston, C. A., Fassler, J., Dierschke, N. A., San Pedro Todd, J., Rios, Á., Plastino, K., & Schleider, J. L. (2023). A Digital Single-Session Intervention Platform for Youth Mental Health: Cultural Adaptation, Evaluation, and Dissemination. JMIR Mental Health. Preprint
Secondary projects using Project YES data:
McDanal, R., Rubin, A., Fox, K. R., & Schleider, J. L. (in press). Associations of LGBTQ+ Identities on Acceptability and Response to Online Single-Session Youth Mental Health Interventions. Behavior Therapy. Preprint
Cohen, K., & Schleider, J. L. (2022). Adolescent Dropout from Brief Digital Mental Health Interventions Within and Beyond Randomized Trials. Internet Interventions, 27, 100496. Open-Access Article
The BETR Project
Brief Experiences for Teen Resilience
PIs: Mallory Dobias, BS; Jessica Schleider, PhD
Co-I: Michael Mullarkey, PhD
In collaboration with the Child Mind Institute's Healthy Brain Network
Brief Experiences for Teen Resilience
PIs: Mallory Dobias, BS; Jessica Schleider, PhD
Co-I: Michael Mullarkey, PhD
In collaboration with the Child Mind Institute's Healthy Brain Network
PROJECT SUMMARY: Despite increasing rates of depressive disorders in recent years, a majority of adolescents experiencing depression never access treatment. Additionally, substantial limitations in our capacity to predict whether and where high-symptom adolescents access mental health treatment underscores the need for more accessible, scalable adolescent depression treatments. One computer-based SSI, teaching growth mindset (GM; viewing personal traits as malleable), has reduced adolescent depressive symptoms in multiple RCTs. A second computer-based SSI was recently developed to reduce youth depressive symptoms via targeting reductions in self-hate, a symptom identified as potentially important for the maintenance of other depressive symptoms in adolescents. This BETR Project will test whether either a growth mindset SSI (GM-SSI), a self-kindness SSI (SK-SSI), or both SSIs reduce symptoms of depression in a community sample of adolescents, relative to an active “supportive therapy” SSI, which teaches adolescents to share their emotions with trusted others. Our second goal is to evaluate whether the GM-SSI and SK-SSI target and specifically improve proximal targets, unique to each SSI, immediately after SSI administration, relative to the comparison intervention (e.g., whether the GM-SSI improves perceived control relative to the comparison intervention, and whether the SK-SSI mitigates fear of self-compassion relative to the comparison intervention).Youths participating in existing research through the Healthy Brain Network (N=501) will receive either the growth mindset SSI (GM-SSI), the self-kindness SSI (SK-SSI), or the supportive therapy SSI (ST-SSI). The investigators will examine whether the GM-SSI and/or the SK-SSI, versus the ST-SSI will reduce youth depressive symptoms across three months. Results may identify two novel, potent, and brief interventions for adolescent depressive symptoms.
As of March 2022, participant recruitment for The BETR Project is underway.
Trial preregistration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04066985
As of March 2022, participant recruitment for The BETR Project is underway.
Trial preregistration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04066985
Systematic Reviews on the Effects and Accessibility of Youth Mental Health Supports
PIs: Lab Grad Students & Jessica Schleider, PhD
PIs: Lab Grad Students & Jessica Schleider, PhD
PROJECT SUMMARY: In addition to spearheading original research on brief and single-session interventions, our lab is dedicated to characterizing what we know—and what we need to know--about scalable youth mental health interventions across diverse settings, problems, and delivery approaches. Recent and ongoing systematic review projects are listed below.
Cohen, K., Ahuvia, I., Cook, C., Zhang, Y., Renshaw, Y., & Schleider, J. L. (in prep). Brief School-Based Interventions Targeting Student Mental Health or Wellbeing: A Systematic Review. Pre-Registration
Dobias, M. L., Chen, S., Fox, K. R., & Schleider, J. L. (in press). Brief Interventions for Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors: A Systematic Review. Pre-Registration
Ahuvia, I., Jans, L., & Schleider, J. L. (2022). Secondary Effects of Body Dissatisfaction Interventions on Adolescent Depressive Symptoms: A Meta-Analysis. International Journal of Eating Disorders. Preprint
McDanal, R., Parisi, D., Opara, I., & Schleider, J. L. (2022). Effects of Brief Interventions on Mental Health and Substance Use Outcomes in Young People: A Systematic Review. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review. Preprint
Sung, J., Kacmarek, C., & Schleider, J. L. (2021). Economic Evaluations of Mental Health Programs for Children and Adolescents in the United States. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 24, 1-19. Preprint
Schleider, J. L., Mullarkey, M., & Chacko, A. (2020). Harnessing wise interventions to advance the potency and reach of youth mental health services. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 23, 70-101. Preprint
Schleider, J. L., Dobias, M. L., Sung, J. Y., & Mullarkey, M. C. (2020). Future directions in single-session youth mental health interventions. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 2, 264-278. Preprint
Cohen, K., Ahuvia, I., Cook, C., Zhang, Y., Renshaw, Y., & Schleider, J. L. (in prep). Brief School-Based Interventions Targeting Student Mental Health or Wellbeing: A Systematic Review. Pre-Registration
Dobias, M. L., Chen, S., Fox, K. R., & Schleider, J. L. (in press). Brief Interventions for Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors: A Systematic Review. Pre-Registration
Ahuvia, I., Jans, L., & Schleider, J. L. (2022). Secondary Effects of Body Dissatisfaction Interventions on Adolescent Depressive Symptoms: A Meta-Analysis. International Journal of Eating Disorders. Preprint
McDanal, R., Parisi, D., Opara, I., & Schleider, J. L. (2022). Effects of Brief Interventions on Mental Health and Substance Use Outcomes in Young People: A Systematic Review. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review. Preprint
Sung, J., Kacmarek, C., & Schleider, J. L. (2021). Economic Evaluations of Mental Health Programs for Children and Adolescents in the United States. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 24, 1-19. Preprint
Schleider, J. L., Mullarkey, M., & Chacko, A. (2020). Harnessing wise interventions to advance the potency and reach of youth mental health services. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 23, 70-101. Preprint
Schleider, J. L., Dobias, M. L., Sung, J. Y., & Mullarkey, M. C. (2020). Future directions in single-session youth mental health interventions. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 2, 264-278. Preprint
Single-Session Intervention for Comorbid Internalizing Symptoms in Autism Spectrum Disorder
PI: Matthew Lerner, PhD
Co-PI: Jessica Schleider, PhD
In collaboration with the Social Competence and Treatment Lab, directed by Matthew Lerner, Ph.D.
Supported by the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, APA Div. 53, & the Autism Research Institute
PI: Matthew Lerner, PhD
Co-PI: Jessica Schleider, PhD
In collaboration with the Social Competence and Treatment Lab, directed by Matthew Lerner, Ph.D.
Supported by the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, APA Div. 53, & the Autism Research Institute
PROJECT SUMMARY: Internalizing symptoms (anxiety and depression) are highly prevalent among adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and are among the leading risk factors for functional impairment, self-injury, and suicide in this population. Existing interventions for these symptoms are resource-intensive, with variable effects; it is thus often intractably hard to scale and disseminate them. This pilot randomized-controlled trial will test whether a single-session growth mindset intervention (GM SSI), which emphasizes cognitive flexibility, may help reduce depression and anxiety among teens with ASD, providing the first-ever test of a GM SSI in this high-risk population.
As of March 2022, participant recruitment for is complete. Data analyses are underway.
Trial preregistration: Open Science Framework; ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04208425
As of March 2022, participant recruitment for is complete. Data analyses are underway.
Trial preregistration: Open Science Framework; ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04208425