Clinical trials

The goal of this clinical trial is to test the effectiveness of conducting a support group in the Metaverse designed to develop and/or improve resilience in gender diverse people. By exploring the impact of different social challenges in a virtual environment, the main question it aims to answer is whether this approach on conducting support group sessions with gender diverse people will strengthen their resilience and associated abilities (self-compassion) compared to a control group and a waitlist.

The goal of this randomized controlled trial is to test the effectiveness of an educational tool, based on virtual reality (VR), for preventing and combating bullying and for improving the emotional well-being of pre-adolescent students. Participants will be allocated to one of two conditions: * (1) intervention group: Embrace your power intervention for combating bullying; * (2) waitlist (inactive control): the control group receives intervention after the study ends. The intervention group will be compared to the control group in terms of peer aggression and victimization (bullying behaviors) and emotional symptoms.

Attrition and user engagement are two challenges that eHealth interventions struggle with. Attempts to address this have been previously made through gamification, instructional design and using different types of incentives. Overall, any type of reward, be it non-financial or monetary is better than the controls, but the latter usually produce a greater effect. It is also worth mentioning that having an affective value attached to the reward itself is also important to user retention and engagement. Given the ever-increasing interest in cryptocurrency and its current relevance, the present study - a randomized clinical trial with three arms - aims to compare cryptocurrency to non-monetary rewards regarding their effectiveness in reducing attrition and increasing engagement. In order to do this, a mental-health computerized intervention will be developed, in which the users will have to complete several modules, during which time they will be rewarded either with cryptocurrency, sweepstake rewards (e.g., vouchers), or nothing.

The goal of this clinical trial is to test the efficacy of support groups held in the Metaverse, designed to promote mental health and well-being in Ukrainian refugees. Participants: * will be allocated to one of three conditions: (1) Metaverse support group (intervention); (2) In-Person support group (intervention); or (3) Waitlist. * will be asked to participate in 5 support group sessions, once per week, for each intervention condition. The Metaverse support groups will be compared with the In-Person support groups and with the Waitlist, to test: * the efficacy of the Metaverse condition compared to the In-Person condition. * the efficacy of the intervention conditions compared to the waitlist.

The goal of this clinical trial is to test the effectiveness of an intervention designed to improve wellness through aromatherapy. The main question it aims to answer is whether this intervention can deliver beneficial psychological effects on stress, anxiety and mood, as well as overall well-being. Participants will receive a bottle with a no/neutral odor or an essential oil (or a blend of essential oils) for home administration and will be asked to complete a series of scales pre and post self-administration twice one week apart.

The goal of this clinical trial is to test the effectiveness of an intervention designed to promote mental health literacy in adolescents. The main questions it aims to answer are: 1. Whether this intervention can have an impact on mental health 2. Whether this intervention can have an impact on fostering academic performance, particularly in disadvantaged students (i.e., academic resilience) 3. Whether this intervention will have differential effectiveness as a function of the delivery format (psychoeducational materials only versus blended) Participants will receive either an online, automated intervention consisting of psychoeducational materials delivered at predetermined intervals (automated), or the same but with the addition of synchronous or asynchronous psychoeducational sessions held by a licensed psychologist (i.e., blended). These two conditions will also be compared to a Waitlist, to test if the interventions perform better than no treatment.