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Technology

A one-time digital intervention for values-based and SMART behavioral health goals: A pilot study on feasibility and efficacy.

(PS7-A22) A One-time Digital Intervention for Values-based and SMART Behavioral Health Goals: A Pilot Study on Feasibility and Efficacy

Saturday, November 19, 2022

10:30 AM – 11:30 AM EST

Location: Westside Ballroom, 5th Floor

Author(s)

Joanne Raptis, M.A.

PhD Student
St. John’s University
Whitestone, New York

Co-Author(s)

CC

Cory A. Crane, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester, New York
CB

Cassandra Berbary, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor/Psychologist
Rochester Institute of Technology
Lancaster, New York
CE

Caroline Easton, Ph.D.

Professor and Clinical Psychologist
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester, New York

Healthy habits, such as regular exercise, maintaining proper nutrition, and limiting substance use, have been repeatedly linked to improved physical and psychological wellbeing. Despite these widely recognized benefits, many struggle to consistently practice such behaviors. There is an overwhelming need to develop cost and time-effective tools for increasing health-related goal attainment and behaviors. Evidence suggests that behavioral change can be enhanced through effective goal setting techniques, including the SMART goal framework and setting values-based goals informed by acceptance and commitment therapy. Additionally, digital tools can disseminate evidence-based techniques to those who would benefit but who have traditionally lacked access due to cost, geography, and lack of awareness. The present project sought to examine the feasibility and efficacy of a brief values-identification and SMART goal setting module on improving health behavior frequency as well as psychological wellbeing. Individuals presenting at a behavioral health clinic for psychological assessment completed a series of online questionnaires as part of the intake process. This included an online module in which they either wrote a self-generated behavioral goal or a self-generated behavioral goal informed by their values and in the SMART goal framework after engaging with the values-based and SMART goal setting module. Data were collected at intake (Time 1) and four weeks later (Time 2) on client goal health behavior frequency and psychological wellbeing across multiple measures. Clients were also sent weekly email reminders of their personal health goal. Data collection is ongoing, but preliminary data from 20 clients suggest a statistically significant increase in wellbeing scores from intake to protocol completion and trends in the expected direction on other measures of goal behavior frequency and mental health. The findings from this project will contribute to the growing literature of several relevant and timely topics. It will provide data on the feasibility of brief, cost-effective digital behavioral health modules by examining the uptake of such an intervention when incorporated into a clinic’s standard intake process. It will also provide data on the efficacy of value-based and SMART goal setting techniques in both promoting health behaviors and improving psychological wellbeing. Ultimately, the results will inform future directions and interventions in the realm of digital behavioral health in a time in which such tools are of increasing interest as components in an integrated, stepped model of healthcare.