Opp - a universal mental health promoting mobile application for adolescents
Opp is a universal mental health-promoting mobile application for all adolescents between 13 to 19 years. The mobile app is developed and will be evaluated before it is made available.
The development of Opp was funded by the Dam Foundation through the Norwegian Council for Mental Health.
The aims of Opp
The aim of the project is firstly, to develop an app-based mental health intervention for adolescents. Secondly, to evaluate the effect of this app. The overarching goal is to offer a low-threshold intervention that is easily accessible and free to use for all adolescents in Norway.
The overall goals of Opp are to 1) increase well-being and mental well-being, 2) increase knowledge about mental health, 3) increase coping skills to deal with stress, 4) increase help-seeking behavior, 5) increase self-esteem, 6) increase sleep quality and 7) reduce mental health problems.
The content of the mobile application consists of two modules: Module 1 is psychoeducational with information about mental health, feelings, and information where they can seek help. Module 2 is a resources module that provides information, exercises, and techniques on how to cope with stress and difficult emotions. These exercises include breathing exercises (visual breathing animation), sleep hygiene advices that are sound recorded, mindfulness and mentalizing exercises (sound recorded), and exercises inspired by cognitive behavioral therapy (recognizing and challenging negative thoughts).
Evaluation
To evaluate the mobile application two studies will be conducted: A user survey and an effectiveness study that will be conducted as a randomized controlled trial with an intervention group and a waiting-list control group.
Young people's assessment of Opp's usability and quality is described in Høgsdal et al. (2023).
Opp and the cluster randomized controlled trial that will be conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of Opp is described in detail in Kaiser et al. (2023).