The role of income and emotional engagement in the efficacy of a brief help-seeking video intervention for essential workers

Doron Amsalem; Chana T Fisch; Melanie Wall; Jun Liu; Amit Lazarov; John C Markowitz; Mariah LeBeau; Melissa Hinds; Kip Thompson; Thomas E Smith; Roberto Lewis-Fernández; Lisa B Dixon; Yuval Neria

doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2024.03.027

The role of income and emotional engagement in the efficacy of a brief help-seeking video intervention for essential workers

J Psychiatr Res. 2024 May:173:232-238. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2024.03.027. Epub 2024 Mar 27.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ New York State Psychiatric Institute and Department of Psychiatry, New York, NY, USA; Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, New York, NY, USA. Electronic address: doron.amsalem@nyspi.columbia.edu.
² New York State Psychiatric Institute and Department of Psychiatry, New York, NY, USA.
³ New York State Psychiatric Institute and Department of Psychiatry, New York, NY, USA; Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, New York, NY, USA.
⁴ School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Israel.
⁵ Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons, New York, NY, USA; New York State Office of Mental Health, USA.

PMID: 38554618
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2024.03.027

Abstract

Background: Recently we showed that a brief video-based intervention can improve openness to help-seeking and decrease treatment-related stigma among essential workers, particularly for female and Black individuals viewing demographically matched protagonists. The current randomized controlled trial explored two additional factors which may enhance the efficacy of this intervention: income level, known to be associated with help-seeking, and emotional engagement, which may enhance a person's ability to engage with the intervention. We hypothesized that income level and emotional engagement would correlate with changes in openness to help-seeking ("openness") and stigma.

Methods: Essential workers (N = 1405) randomly viewed a control video or a brief video of an actor portraying an essential worker describing COVID-19-related anxiety and depression and treatment benefits. Openness and stigma were assessed at baseline, post-intervention, and 30-day follow-up, with emotional engagement assessed post-intervention.

Results: The brief video intervention demonstrated immediate increases in openness (p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.39) and decreases in stigma (p < 0.001, d = 0.14) compared to the control. Reported income level affected neither dependent variable. Participants who scored higher on the emotional engagement scale reported greater change in openness and stigma.

Limitations: Use of a crowdsourcing platform may limit generalizability.

Conclusions: The 3-min video showed modest effect sizes for immediate increased openness and reduced stigma, with greater emotional engagement heightening the effect, suggesting a possible mediator to the intervention. Income level did not affect intervention outcomes. Research should explore the role of income by adding income-related content to the brief-video interventions and assessing whether links to referrals could foster immediate behavioral change.

Trial registration: NCT04964570.

Keywords: COVID-19; Emotional engagement; Essential workers; Help-seeking; Income; Stigma.

Publication types

Randomized Controlled Trial

MeSH terms

Depression* / psychology
Depression* / therapy
Emotions*
Female
Humans
Social Stigma

Associated data

ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT04964570