‘When do the effects of single-session interventions persist? Testing the mindset + supportive context hypothesis in a longitudinal randomized trial’
Open Access paper from JCPP Advances
Single-session interventions have the potential to address young people’s mental health needs at scale, but their effects are heterogeneous. We tested whether the mindset + supportive context hypothesis could help explain when intervention effects persist or fade over time. The hypothesis posits that interventions are more effective in environments that support the intervention message. We tested this hypothesis using the synergistic mindsets intervention, a preventative treatment for stress-related mental health symptoms that helps students appraise stress as a potential asset in the classroom (e.g., increasing oxygenated blood flow) rather than debilitating. In an introductory college course, we examined whether intervention-consistent messages from instructors sustained changes in appraisals over time, as well as impacts on students’ predisposition to try demanding academic tasks that could enhance learning.
Authors: Cameron A. Hecht, Samuel D. Gosling, Christopher J. Bryan, Jeremy P. Jamieson, Jared S. Murray, David S. Yeager
First published: 10 August 2023
https://doi.org/10.1002/jcv2.12191
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Discussion
This important study demonstrates that supportive cues in local contexts can ensure that the effects of single session interventions are maintained or amplified; whereas without these messages, intervention effects shrank somewhat over time.
Although this study in a university setting needs replication, it appears to provide useful clues which can be used to enhance the effectiveness of all brief interventions:
Brief interventions are more likely to be effective if the environment/ context is carefully considered, the key therapeutic message(s) are not just repeated but elaborated, and appropriate feedback loops are created to reinforce the newly developed behaviours.