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Things You Do Model (Big 5) of Mental Health
Background
Our research with more than 20,000 people shows that regularly doing five types of actions can improve mental health. We call these actions The Things You Do (or The Big 5). They include:
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Healthy Thinking
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Meaningful Activities
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Setting Goals
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Good Routines
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Socialising
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Our studies also show that 'nudging' these actions with daily SMS messages can lead to an improvement in mental health. We want to compare the benefits of The Things You Do with other actions. Our overall aim is to develop mental health interventions which are effective, easy to access and easy to use.
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Our new study aims to find out whether encouraging people to 'practice gratitude' results in the same benefits as nudging the Things You Do actions.​
We are recruiting Australian health professionals (who are practicing or in training) for this trial. We have selected health professionals because we know that working as a health professional is both rewarding and challenging.
Participants will receive a gift voucher valued at a total of $80 for completing the questionnaires associated with this trial.
Who is the study suitable for?
The study is suitable for:
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Adults aged 18 and older.
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Who are living in Australia
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Practicing or training as a healthcare professional
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Experiencing symptoms of depression or anxiety
We are targeting healthcare professionals as participants because this professional group often experience challenges which affect their mental health, but they also often experience significant barriers to accessing care including stigma and difficulty taking time off work.
We cannot include people who are currently experiencing severe mental health difficulties, 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 randomly allocating participants into one of three groups:
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The "Gratitude" Group​
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They will then receive one SMS message each weekday for four weeks. Each message will encourage them to practice gratitude.
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They will be asked to fill in some questionnaires on four occasions (beginning of the trial, at the mid-point, at the end, and 3-mths afterwards).
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People in this group will read about how gratitude can affect our mental health.
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The "Things You Do " Group
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People in this group will read about the Things You Do/Big 5 model of mental health.
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They will then receive one SMS message each weekday for four weeks. Each message will encourage them to do one of the Big 5 actions.
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They will be asked to fill in some questionnaires on four occasions (beginning of the trial, at the mid-point, at the end, and 3-mths afterwards).
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The "Control" Group
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People in this group will wait for four weeks before starting the trial, and will then receive the same protocol as the Things You Do Group, but without having to complete questionnaires at the 3-month timepoint.
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The total duration of this study is 19 weeks.
What are the risks to participating in this study?
We do not know of any risks associated with receiving daily SMS messages that promote good mental health. However, if you become concerned about your mental health, please contact us and we will assist you.
What have we found so far?
We have found that regularly doing the actions we call the Things You Do (Big 5) is associated with better mental health and lower levels of anxiety and depression symptoms. We have also found that simple interventions that prompt people to increase how often they do the Big 5 also significantly improves their mental health and reduces symptoms of anxiety and depression.
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Some of the key papers we have published on this course are:
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​Titov N, Dear BF, Nielssen O, Barrett V, Kayrouz R, Staples LG. (2024). A pilot study examining whether restricting and resuming specific actions systematically changes symptoms of depression and anxiety. A series of N-of-1 trials. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 177, 104536.
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Bisby MA, Barrett V, Staples LG, Nielssen O, Dear BF, Titov N. (2024). Things You Do: A randomized controlled trial of an unguided ultra-brief intervention to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 105, 102882.
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Bisby MA, Dear BF, Karin E, Fogliati R, Dudeney J, Ryan K, Fararoui A, Nielssen O, Staples LG, Kayrouz R, Cross S, Titov N. (2023). An open trial of the Things You Do Questionnaire: Changes in daily actions during internet-delivered treatment for depressive and anxiety symptoms. Journal of Affective Disorders, 329, 483-492.
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What is the current trial or study looking at?
​ We want to understand the relative benefits of receiving daily SMS nudges targeting gratitude vs. daily SMS nudges targeting the Things You Do actions. We believe both can be helpful – we want to understand if one type of messaging is more important and if so, for whom?
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You can read more about the current study by reading the Participant Information and Consent Form Statement.
When is the next course being offered?
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We are now taking applications to participate in the next Things You Do Trial.
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The trial will commence on the 29th of September 2025.
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If you are interested, please click the 'Apply Now' button below and follow the prompts
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