# Evaluation of an Asynchronous Remote Communities Approach to Behavioral Activation for Depressed Adolescents

> **NIH NIH R34** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 2022 · $250,133

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Approximately 3.1 million adolescents are diagnosed with depression each year with over 60% not receiving or
engaging in mental health care. In an effort to address the significant challenges in access to and engagement
with evidence-based psychosocial interventions (EBPIs) for adolescent depression, investigators in the
University of Washington’s Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (MPI Jenness) and Human
Centered Design and Engineering (MPI Kientz) partnered to conduct pilot work addressing these challenges
through the use of Asynchronous Remote Communities (ARC) supported behavioral activation (BA+ARC). ARCs
are technology-mediated groups that use private online platforms (e.g., Slack, Microsoft Teams) to deliver weekly
tasks to participants and includes features such as asynchronous therapist and chatbot coaching, ecological
momentary assessment (EMA) of mood, activity, and skill-use tracking, and peer communities that aim to
improve support and motivation to engage in therapy and behavior change. Pilot work included successful design
and development of a preliminary BA+ARC prototype (ActivaTeen) that was found to be acceptable, usable, and
engaging to clinician and patient target users. The present proposal responds to PAR-21-131 “Pilot
Effectiveness Trials for Treatment, Preventive and Services Interventions” and aims to advance this pilot
work by conducting a mixed-methods study that 1) builds and conducts usability testing on a functional, usable,
and robust BA+ARC platform that will satisfy the needs of mental health clinicians and adolescent patients
identified through our pilot study (e.g., data security, HIPAA compliance, clinician workflow integration), and 2)
tests the feasibility, usability, and change in proposed target mechanisms and outcomes of BA+ARC compared
to BA treatment only (BA-Only) within a moderately-sized randomized control trial conducted within our partner
site’s outpatient psychiatry clinic. We hypothesize 1) BA+ARC target users will report increased acceptability,
feasibility, usability, and less burden than users of BA-Only; 2) BA+ARC adolescents will demonstrate
improvements on hypothesized treatment mechanisms including therapist alliance, timeliness of intervention,
social belongingness, and greater engagement in care compared to BA-Only adolescents; 3) Adolescents
treated by BA+ARC versus BA+Only will have improved outcomes in depression symptoms and diagnoses and
functional impairments. This research addresses the broader NIMH Strategic Plan Goal 4.3: Develop
innovative service delivery models to dramatically improve the outcomes of mental health services
received in diverse communities and populations by investigating a novel, technology-mediated service
model that has the potential to improve access to and effectiveness of EBPIs for adolescent depression.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10505818
- **Project number:** 1R34MH128387-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Jessica Lynne Jenness
- **Activity code:** R34 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $250,133
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-08-01 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10505818

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10505818, Evaluation of an Asynchronous Remote Communities Approach to Behavioral Activation for Depressed Adolescents (1R34MH128387-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10505818. Licensed CC0.

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