Anxiety Disorder of Adolescence

The goal of this study is to culturally and contextually adapt Wysa, an evidence-based AI-powered digital mental health intervention (DMHI), for adolescent girls (ages 13-18) with symptoms of anxiety and/or depression in rural Uttar Pradesh, India. More specifically, the aims of this study are to (i) explore key barriers and facilitators to adoption, engagement, and usability of a digital mental health intervention (Wysa) in this setting, and to (ii) co-design contextually appropriate app adaptations and implementation strategies in collaboration with adolescent girls, their parents/guardians, and community stakeholders. At the end of this study, we would have co-developed a roadmap of potential adaptations to Wysa with implementation strategies to iteratively test and develop during the next phases of the study.

This study aims to test the efficacy of a parent-only approach to treating anxiety disorders in adolescents: SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions). The comparator is another parent-based approach, PES (Parent Education and Support). The study design is a randomized controlled trial with 2 treatment arms and 3 assessment points (pre, post, and follow-up) using questionnaire data and clinical interviews.