We are currently developing and evaluating this course ...
Things You Do Model of Mental Health
Background
Our research has shown that regularly doing five types of actions can improve mental health. These actions involve:
-
Healthy Thinking
-
Meaningful Activities
-
Setting Goals
-
Good Routines
-
Socialising
We have tested this model with more than 15,000 Australians. The results show that regularly doing these activities is strongly linked to good mental health.
We now want to test the opposite...
This project aims to answer two key questions:
-
Does restricting how often we do these activities trigger poor mental health?
-
Following a period of restriction, does increasing how often people do these activities subsequently trigger a recovery in mental health?
These questions may seem obvious, but they have never been tested. The results of this project could help:
-
Support people to better self-manage their mental health by demonstrating how our actions affect our mental health
-
Help health professionals, such as general practitioners, recommend effective actions that people can take before they are referred to a mental health professional or start taking medication.
Who is the study suitable for?
The study is suitable for:
-
Adults aged 18 and older.
-
Who are living in Australia
-
With good mental health (none to mild symptoms of depression or anxiety)
We have tested this model with more than 15,000 Australians. The results show that regularly doing these activities is strongly linked to good mental health.
We also cannot include people who are currently receiving psychological treatment, do not have access to the Internet, are unable to read or understand English, or who are not living in Australia.
What does the study involve?
The study involves two four-week phases:
-
Phase 1 (Restriction Phase): You will be asked to restrict how often you do the actions listed in the questionnaire. We will ask you to fill in some questionnaires every Monday.
-
Phase 2 (Recovery Phase): You will be asked to increase how often you do the actions listed in the questionnaire. You will also receive daily (Mon-Fri) text message reminders to do those things, and we will ask you to continue to fill in the questionnaires every Monday.
The total time of this study is 9 weeks, but we will contact you again 3 months later to ask you to complete a final set of questionnaires.
What are the risks to participating in this study?
During Phase 1 (Restriction), we expect that people will experience a reduction in their mental health. It is possible that you will experience an increase in symptoms of anxiety and depression. However, in Phase 2 (Recovery), we expect that people will experience an improvement in their mental health and will make a full recovery.
We will monitor everyone’s mental health according to the answers they give on the weekly questionnaires. This is why it is very important that everyone who participates completes the questionnaires as early in the week as possible.
You are welcome to contact us at any time with questions or concerns, and we will contact people if we notice any problems with their mental health.
What is the current trial or study looking at?
This is the first time we have tried asking people to restrict how often they do helpful actions. Although we expect people will experience a slight reduction in their mental health, we also expect will recover quickly during Phase 2.
You can read more about the current study by reading the Participant Information and Consent Form Statement.
When is the next course being offered?
We have now completed our most research Things You Do research.
We are not sure when we will run our next trial or study at the moment. However, you can register your interest below, and we will email you when it becomes available.
You might want to also consider registered for our Single Session Course.