A CBT-based micro-intervention to reduce the negative impact of Instagram use on well-being – A randomised controlled trial.

INTERVENTION: The proposed study aims to examine the effectiveness of the Social Media Aware (SMA) program in improving mental health outcomes via a randomised controlled trial (RCT). The SMA program based on cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) designed to help reduce the negative impact of social media use on well‐being outcomes. It is an interactive video written and narrated by the primary author, a Clinical Psychologist with 19 years clinical experience and 4.5 years of experience as a Research Psychologist. Participants will be informed that the study is assessing the outcomes of two social media psychoeducation videos and that they will be randomly allocated to view one of the videos, in addition to undertaking other survey‐related tasks. When accessing the survey via the link provided, participants will be randomly allocated to either the experiment group (EG) or the control group (CG) via the Qualtrics online survey platform. Participants in the EG will be requested to complete baseline data (T1) before watching the 13‐minute SMA micro‐intervention video, which will include brief interactive tasks. Participants will also be provided with a record form containing key points from the video and will be requested to record their answers to interactive tasks, which they will keep for their future reference (see below for video summary). They will then be requested to passively view the platform Instagram for 10 minutes before completing further surveys (T2; and further surveys 3 days later T3). Overview of intervention video content: Psychoeducation ‐ Why highly visual social networking site (HVSNS) exposure can be harmful for well‐being (passive use and social comparison). Why people tend to post more positive information then negative, leading to ina CONDITION: Mental Health ‐ Studies of normal psychology, cognitive function and behaviour Well‐being; ; Well‐being PRIMARY OUTCOME: Cognitive well‐being (life satisfaction). Cognitive well‐being will be measured by the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; (Diener et al., 1985). [All outcomes will be assessed prior to intervention (T1), immediately post intervention/ Instagram task ‐ (T2) and again 3 days later (T3). ] Emotional well‐being (positive and negative affect). Emotional well‐being will be measured by the short form of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson et al., 1988). [All outcomes will be assessed prior to intervention (T1), immediately post intervention/ Instagram task ‐ (T2) and again 3 days later (T3). ] State body satisfaction. This will be measured by three visual analogue scales (VAS), as was done in previous media and social media exposure studies (Heinberg & Thompson, 1995, Slater, 2019, Gordon et al., 2021; Durkin & Paxton, 2002). Participants will be asked to rate how they are feeling in the moment by moving a vertical marker to the appropriate place on a horizontal line, ranging from 0 (not at all) to 100 (extremely). Three items were used to measure state body satisfaction: “satisfied with my overall appearance”, “satisfied with my weight,” and “satisfied with my body shape.” Responses will be averaged with higher scores will indicating higher body satisfaction. [All outcomes will be assessed prior to intervention (T1), immediately post intervention/ Instagram task ‐ (T2) and again 3 days later (T3). ] SECONDARY OUTCOME: Negative automatic thoughts (frequency and believability). The Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire – Believability (ATQ‐B‐15; Netemeyer et al., 2002) will be used to assess the degree of believability of negative automatic thoughts about the self. The frequency of negative automatic thoughts was measured by the ATQ‐N. (ATQ‐N‐15; Hollon & Kendall, 1980; Netemeyer et al., 2002). [All outcomes will be assessed prior to intervention (T1), immediately post intervention/ Instagram task ‐ (T2) and again 3 days later (T3). ] INCLUSION CRITERIA: Participants will be required to have an Instagram account for at least 1 week and own a smartphone with access to this Instagram account on the day of intervention. Participants must also have access to a laptop/another piece of technology on the day of the initial experiment, be fluent in English, and be at least 16 years of age.