{"doi":"10.2196/33473","title":"Web-Based Single Session Intervention for Perceived Control Over Anxiety During COVID-19: Randomized Controlled Trial","abstract":"BACKGROUND: Anxiety is rising across the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic, and social distancing mandates preclude in-person mental health care. Greater perceived control over anxiety has predicted decreased anxiety pathology, including adaptive responses to uncontrollable stressors. Evidence suggests that no-therapist, single-session interventions can strengthen perceived control over emotions like anxiety; similar programs, if designed for the COVID-19 context, could hold substantial public health value. OBJECTIVE: Our registered report evaluated a no-therapist, single-session, online intervention targeting perceived control over anxiety in the COVID-19 context against a placebo intervention encouraging handwashing. We tested whether the intervention could (1) decrease generalized anxiety and increase perceived control over anxiety and (2) achieve this without decreasing social-distancing intentions. METHODS: We tested these questions using a between-subjects design in a weighted-probability sample of US adults recruited via a closed online platform (ie, Prolific). All outcomes were indexed via online self-report questionnaires. RESULTS: Of 522 randomized individuals, 500 (95.8%) completed the baseline survey and intervention. Intent-to-treat analyses using all randomized participants (N=522) found no support for therapeutic or iatrogenic effects; effects on generalized anxiety were d=-0.06 (95% CI -0.27 to 0.15; P=.48), effects on perceived control were d=0.04 (95% CI -0.08 to 0.16; P=.48), and effects on social-distancing intentions were d=-0.02 (95% CI -0.23 to 0.19; P=.83). CONCLUSIONS: Strengths of this study included a large, nationally representative sample and adherence to open science practices. Implications for scalable interventions, including the challenge of targeting perceived control over anxiety, are discussed. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04459455; https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT04459455.","journal":"JMIR Mental Health","year":2022,"id":258397,"datarank":0.6935326102424052,"base_score":2.8903717578961645,"endowment":2.8903717578961645,"self_citation_contribution":0.4335557636844247,"citation_network_contribution":0.2599768465579805,"self_endowment_contribution":0.4335557636844247,"citer_contribution":0.2599768465579805,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":17,"citer_count":14,"citers_with_citation_signal":10,"citers_with_endowment":10,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9494,"is_data_producer":true,"deposit_databanks":{"ClinicalTrials.gov":["NCT04459455"]},"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2022-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":250869,"name":"Mallory Dobias","orcid":"0000-0001-6814-3006","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":250870,"name":"Jenna Sung","orcid":"0000-0003-1232-7433","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":498964,"name":"Isaac Ahuvia","orcid":"0000-0003-4558-2123","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":774650,"name":"Jason Shumake","orcid":"0000-0003-4655-436X","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":6145,"name":"Christopher G. Beevers","orcid":"0000-0002-4480-0902","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":250868,"name":"Jessica L. Schleider","orcid":"0000-0003-2426-1953","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":558621,"name":"Michael C Mullarkey","orcid":"0000-0002-2267-2532","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":67,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T00:25:38.634785Z","pmid":"35230962","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}