STUDY
Psychological stress during studies
In a cohort study, we are investigating the effect of elona therapy as an accompaniment to outpatient online psychotherapy.
research partners
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Robert Enke Foundation
participants
Students under increased mental stress
runtime
November 2021 to April 2022
population size
110 test subjects
note
Please note that due to high demand, we unfortunately have to keep a waiting list at the moment. We hope to be able to provide more capacity again in the short term.
WHY NOW?
The pandemic has particularly affected students
Have you recently had the feeling that you are enjoying your usual activities much less than before, that your mood is worse, or that you are less active? Do you often ask yourself how things should continue? You are afraid of the future or have recently noticed that certain thoughts or places within you are restlessness, tension
or trigger anxiety? You're not alone in that.
In the course of the pandemic, students were faced with many challenges — fewer social contacts, lack of daily structure, online lectures lasting several hours can be a burden and have an impact on mental health, even if you were not psychologically burdened before.
If you recognize yourself in this, then take part in our free, 6-week treatment program now and do something good for your mental health with Elona! By participating in our study, you can strengthen your mental health with the help of our psychologists and our innovative psychotherapy app while supporting our research — to improve psychotherapeutic care throughout Germany.
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Try out integrated psychotherapy
As a university-related spin-off of HHU, we have developed Elona therapy. elony therapy is a smartphone app that is used in parallel with outpatient behavioral therapy and is intended to help process therapy content between therapy sessions and thus support the learning process. In doing so, we want to intensify treatment and promote the relationship between patients and therapists.
To test elona therapy, we offer students with subclinical depressive or anxiety symptoms both free six-week online talk therapy by psychologists and access to our app. This study is being carried out in collaboration with the Department of Clinical Psychology (Prof.
Dr. Pietrowsky) from HHU Düsseldorf and the Robert Enke Foundation.
Study participation requirements
You are eligible to participate if:
- You feel that you are enjoying your usual activities much less than before
- Your self-esteem and self-confidence have been lower recently
- Your mood is often bad or you are often sad
- You sleep poorly and get out of bed
- You are less active or hopeless
- You are often tense, e.g. on the train, on an airplane, or among people
- Are you worried about the future or are worried about becoming ill
- You are studying at a university (students from Düsseldorf universities are accepted preferentially)
You are not eligible to participate if:
- You are not yet of legal age
- You have signs of bipolar mood or psychotic disorder
- you have a substance use disorder (particularly alcohol or substance abuse, or medication abuse)
- You are already undergoing psychotherapeutic or medicamental (psychotropic) treatment
- you are suicidal (If you have acute suicidal thoughts or suicidal intentions, please contact the emergency services on 112 (nationwide) or a psychiatric facility near you)
You should also bring the following with you:
Willingness to attend therapy sessions
You have the time and desire to attend a personal, 25-minute therapy session online once a week.
Willingness to use the elona guide app
You can imagine working in the Elona Therapy app for about 5-10 minutes a day between therapy sessions.
Smartphone and language skills
You have sufficient German language skills and a smartphone (Android or iOS).
How does the study work?
01
screening
As a first step, we want to get to know you briefly in a virtual conversation and see whether the program is suitable for you.
02
Access to the app & questionnaires
You choose an appointment online with one of our therapists, get access to the elona therapy app and some small questionnaires within the app.
03
Online talk therapy
For six weeks, you will receive psychological support once a week.
04
Elona between sessions
With elona therapy, you have the opportunity to repeat and deepen the content of psychological conversations in your everyday life.
05
Elona between sessions
In a final conversation, you can document your successes and share them with us.
Are you interested in participating?
Our study is currently ongoing. We are looking forward to your registration.
These benefits await you
- Online talk therapy
Access to free, six-week online talk therapy from highly qualified psycho-loggers. - Elona Therapy
Access elona therapy with our mental health strengthening program. - Multimedia exercises
Exciting psychotherapeutic exercises that you can easily do on the go or at home with the help of the app. - psychoeducation
You have the chance to learn about mental illnesses and their treatment free of charge. - Independent participation
You don't need a doctor's referral. We'll check whether you can be included in the program.
Frequently asked questions
If you meet the inclusion or exclusion criteria, you can easily contact us via this website. You will then go through a small screening, i.e. a preliminary investigation, during which we will also check again, for your own safety, whether you are suitable for the study. If this is the case, we will give you access to our elona therapy app after your consent and arrange a weekly appointment for your personal online session with one of our psychologists.
If you have recently experienced symptoms such as depression or sadness, listlessness, loss of interests, fatigue, irritability, difficulty concentrating, sleep disorders, or the like, you can sign up for our study. Even if you have noticed that fears about the future are bothering you or that certain thoughts, situations or places trigger restlessness, tension or anxiety, you can sign up. After you register, we will arrange a short initial consultation with you and send you a few more questions. We will then know whether the study is right for you.
This study is not intended to replace standard outpatient psychotherapeutic care. If you have been diagnosed with depression, anxiety or another mental disorder, you should contact your family doctor and discuss further steps with him/her or attend consultations with a psychological psychotherapist. On the service hotline of the German Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians 116 117 Can you make an appointment with local psychotherapists nationwide.
The weekly talk therapy takes place online and usually lasts 25 minutes. In addition, you should work on your exercises and interventions with elona therapy for about 30 to 60 minutes a week. Feel free to break that down to 5 to 10 minute slots per day. Whether at home or in another safe place is up to you. In total, you should set aside 60 to 90 minutes per week for your mental health.
No We and our research partner the Robert Enke Foundation cover the costs of elona therapy and psychological sessions.
The study as well as the psychological discussions take place online (video conference). To do this, we use separately approved tools for psychologists for a data-secure online session.
Only a technical study assistant and your assigned psychologist will know about your participation in the study. All data is pseudonymized for further use so that it no longer allows conclusions to be drawn. In addition, we comply with the applicable data protection regulations. The study concept as well as our data protection concept were reviewed by the Ethics Committee of the University of Mannheim.
Research manager
Ece Atik
Your contact person
You have further questions about the study, participation
or about the process? Feel free to contact us at any time via
Email our director of studies, Ece, at research (at) elona.eu.