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Enhancing emotion regulation with an in situ socially assistive robot among LGBTQ+ youth with self-harm ideation: protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Williams, A Jess; Cleare, Seonaid; Borschmann, Rohan; Tench, Christopher R; Gross, James; Hollis, Chris; Chapman-Nisar, Amelia; Naeche, Nkem; Townsend, Ellen; Slovak, Petr

Enhancing emotion regulation with an in situ socially assistive robot among LGBTQ+ youth with self-harm ideation: protocol for a randomised controlled trial Thumbnail


Authors

A Jess Williams

Seonaid Cleare

Rohan Borschmann

James Gross

CHRIS HOLLIS chris.hollis@nottingham.ac.uk
Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Digital Mental Health

Amelia Chapman-Nisar

Nkem Naeche

Petr Slovak



Abstract

Introduction: Purrble, a socially assistive robot, was codesigned with children to support in situ emotion regulation. Preliminary evidence has found that LGBTQ+ youth are receptive to Purrble and find it to be an acceptable intervention to assist with emotion dysregulation and their experiences of self-harm. The present study is designed to evaluate the impact of access to Purrble among LGBTQ+ youth who have self-harmful thoughts, when compared with waitlist controls.

Methods and analysis: The study is a single-blind, randomised control trial comparing access to the Purrble robot with waitlist control. A total of 168 LGBTQ+ youth aged 16–25 years with current self-harmful ideation will be recruited, all based within the UK. The primary outcome is emotion dysregulation (Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale-8) measured weekly across a 13-week period, including three pre-deployment timepoints. Secondary outcomes include self-harm (Self-Harm Questionnaire), anxiety (Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7) and depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9). We will conduct analyses using linear mixed models to assess primary and secondary hypotheses. Intervention participants will have unlimited access to Purrble over the deployment period, which can be used as much or as little as they like. After all assessments, control participants will receive their Purrble, with all participants keeping the robot after the end of the study. After the study has ended, a subset of participants will be invited to participate in semistructured interviews to explore engagement and appropriation of Purrble, considering the young people’s own views of Purrble as an intervention device.

Ethics and dissemination: Ethical approval was received from King’s College London (RESCM-22/23-34570). Findings will be disseminated in peer review open access journals and at academic conferences.

Trial registration number NCT06025942.

Citation

Williams, A. J., Cleare, S., Borschmann, R., Tench, C. R., Gross, J., Hollis, C., …Slovak, P. (2024). Enhancing emotion regulation with an in situ socially assistive robot among LGBTQ+ youth with self-harm ideation: protocol for a randomised controlled trial. BMJ Open, 14(1), Article e079801. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-079801

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Dec 8, 2023
Online Publication Date Jan 9, 2024
Publication Date 2024-01
Deposit Date Jan 18, 2024
Publicly Available Date Jan 18, 2024
Journal BMJ Open
Electronic ISSN 2044-6055
Publisher BMJ Publishing Group
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 14
Issue 1
Article Number e079801
DOI https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-079801
Keywords General Medicine
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/29556795
Publisher URL https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/14/1/e079801

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