(PS8-A13) Effects of a Brief App-based Intervention on Stress, Emotion Regulation, Gratitude, and Mindfulness Among Parents of Young Children

Introduction: Parents have been under extreme stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Brief, app-based mindfulness- and gratitude-based interventions may be ideally suited to improve stress and emotion-regulation among parents.

Methods: Caregivers of young (<10 years) children were recruited online September 2021–May 2022 and randomly assigned to use one of three apps 10 minutes/day for 2 weeks: Mindfulness Coach (MC), Gratitude (GR), or Day-One (CTR; food journaling active control). At baseline (T1; n = 122; 57% Black/African American, 58% male), immediately post-intervention (T2; n = 105), and 1-month follow-up (T3; n = 90), participants completed the Parental Stress Scale (PSS), Emotion Regulation Questionnaire – Cognitive Reappraisal (CR), Gratitude Resentment and Appreciation Scale (GRAT) and Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). Participants also completed the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ) at T2 to assess their satisfaction with their assigned app. Mixed modeling was used to examine the group, time, and group x time effect on each outcome. The PROCESS Macro for SPSS was used to examine group x CSQ differences in outcomes at T2 and T3. All analyses covaried for race, gender, and the baseline level of the outcome variable.

Results: There was a trend for a group effect on CSQ (F_{(2, 111)} = 2.01, p = .14 (partial η²= .04), such that participants in MC reported higher satisfaction with their app compared to those in CTR (Cohen’s d = .48, 95% CI: .03, .93) and slightly higher satisfaction than participants in GR (Cohen’s d = .26, 95% CI: -.22, .74), though this was non-significant.

There were no significant group main effects on any outcome (p’s >.2). There was a trend for a group x time interaction on cognitive reappraisal, such that MC reported higher cognitive reappraisal than GR at T2 (33.90 vs. 31.26, p = .04). There was a trend for a group x time interaction on FFMQ (p = .19), such that MC reported higher FFMQ at T2 than GR (60.77 vs. 54.97; p = .20). There were no significant group x time effects on PSS or GRAT.

There was a trend for a group x CSQ effect on parenting stress at T2 (F_(2,91) =  1.86, p = .16), such that app satisfaction was more positively associated with parenting stress for participants in GR (b = .31) than MC (b = -.36, p = .06). There was also a trend for a group x CSQ effect on GRAT at T2 (F_{(2, 90)} = 1.72, p = .19), such that app satisfaction was more positively associated with GRAT for participants in GR (b = 1.37) compared to participants in MC (b = .31; p = .08).

Conclusions: This small pilot study among predominantly male, Black/African American parents of young children were willing to participate in a 2-week long app-based intervention. A mindfulness-based app may be more appealing to parents, and may lead to greater cognitive reappraisal compared to a gratitude app, though this trend was not sustained at the 1 month follow up. A gratitude app may be associated with increased gratitude, but only among parents highly satisfied with the app.