Erasmus University

App for supporting students' mental health

Challenge

Research shows that many students are stressed and lonely. Erasmus University Rotterdam wants to investigate whether an app can improve students' mental well-being. The interesting aspect of this question is that students actually experience their phones as a source of stress. So, an app, but not (too much) on your phone. How?

I don’t want to look on my phone that much

Student

By recording their emotions in the app every day, students can build an emotion profile and gain better insight into their emotions over time.

Solution

On behalf of Erasmus University Rotterdam, IJsfontein developed an app featuring emotion regulation exercises derived from positive psychology, ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Mindfulness. The app is part of the Erasmus Mental Well-being program.

Based on the design principle: "It feels like home," we created a homey atmosphere with friendly illustrations and ‘satisfying’ animations in a room (ROOM) that students can personalize.

Students are encouraged to try out different exercises and discover what works for them. After completing an exercise, they receive the object representing that specific exercise, which they can add to their digital room. In this way, students build a personal collection of exercises that work for them.

Students mentioned that their phones put them in a fleeting and superficial mode. However, for the exercises to be effective, they need to calm down for a moment. We designed the app to create such moments by not having too much happening in the app and by adding transfer elements that remind and support the student to perform the exercises themselves, without the app, and applied to their own situation.

It feels like a big institute in which I am a number

Student

The cat is one of the objects you can add to your room.

Impact

A Micro Randomized Trial (MRT) was conducted to investigate whether the app results in a significant improvement in students' emotion regulation skills.

Approximately 60 students used the app for 42 days. The students were randomly divided into two groups: the intervention group and the control group. Both groups used the app, but with different content.

The MRT results show a significant improvement in students' emotion regulation skills. This MRT study provided insight into which exercises are effective, guiding us on which exercises to include in the final version of the app.