Mental HealthNCT07531290
PeerScreen Trial - Reducing Screen Media Use in Peer-groups of Young People
A study testing Screen media reduction in people with Mental Health and Social Interaction, run by University of Southern Denmark at 1 site in Denmark.
Trial summary
The purpose of the PeerScreen trial is to investigate whether reducing screen media use affects mental health, social interaction, sleep, physical activity, heart rate variability, and behavioral patterns in young people aged 13 to 24 years. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 13 to 24 yearsHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Mental Health, Social Interaction, Sleep
- What is being tested?
- Screen media reduction
- Type of treatment
- Pill or oral medicine, Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 240 participants
- Where
- 1 siteDenmark
- Study dates
- 4 May 2026to 31 Dec 2027
- Phase
- Interventional
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 13 to 24 years
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Child, Adult
Who may be able to join
- Participants must have at least 2 hours/day of self-reported smartphone use during leisure time (data from the survey study)
- Members of each participant's household must be willing to support the participant in adhering to the prescribed intervention (data from recruitment interview)
- Participants must have enough discretionary leisure time for possible in-person activities on a weekly basis throughout the study period (verified at the information meeting)
Who cannot join
- Participants with no smartphone will be excluded (data from recruitment interview)
- Participants with no social media profiles will be excluded (data from recruitment interview)
- Participants who currently participate in other experimental studies will be excluded (data from recruitment interview)
- Participants who have been hospitalized or prescribed sick leave within the past 3 months due to a mental illness will be excluded (data from recruitment interview)
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
Denmark1 site, 1 recruiting
- Recruiting
University of Southern Denmark
Odense, Denmark, 5230
Jesper Schmidt-Persson, PhD, +4565502054, jespedersen@health.sdu.dk
Anne K Gejl, PhD, +4565507908, akgejl@health.sdu.dk
About this study
Official title: Effects of Reducing Screen Media Use on Mental Health, Sleep, Physical Activity, Heart Rate Variability, and Behavioral Patterns in Peer-groups of Young People: A Study Protocol for a Cluster-randomized Controlled Trial
The purpose of the PeerScreen trial is to investigate whether reducing screen media use affects mental health, social interaction, sleep, physical activity, heart rate variability, and behavioral patterns in young people aged 13 to 24 years. The primary question the trial aims to answer is:
Does reducing screen media use over a 4-week period improve mental health among young people?
Read more
Researchers will compare a screen media reduction intervention with a control condition in which participants continue their usual screen media use to determine whether reducing screen media use leads to improvements in mental health.
Participants will:
- be allocated to either a 4-week screen media reduction intervention or a control condition
- complete a study protocol including questionnaire-based assessments, daily self-reports, and objective monitoring of screen media use, sleep, physical activity, heart rate variability, social interactions, and geolocation
Read the detailed description
The PeerScreen trial is a parallel-group cluster-randomized controlled trial in which peer groups of adolescents and young adults aged 13-24 years are randomized to either a four-week screen media reduction intervention or a control condition. Random allocation of each peer group will occur after completion of a 14-day baseline assessment protocol. Randomization will be conducted using computer-generated block randomization (block sizes 2-6), stratified by mean peer group age (<18 vs. ≥18 years). In practice, a researcher will log in to an online platform and click "randomize," thereby ensuring allocation concealment.
Participants in the intervention group will be instructed to reduce smartphone use to one hour per day, limit television, computer, and tablet use to 14 hours per week, and keep screen media devices outside the bedroom.
The target sample is 80 peer groups (2-6 peers per group) of adolescents (13-17 years) and young adults (18-24 years), to be recruited via a separate survey study. This survey will be conducted in classes across secondary and higher educational institutions (e.g., secondary schools, high schools, vocational schools, university colleges, and universities) and will describe screen media behaviors among Danish youth. Before administration of the survey, the research team will introduce the PeerScreen trial in each class. At the end of the survey, students will be asked whether they are interested in participating in an experimental study and whether the research team may contact them for follow-up. Written information about the experiment will be provided to interested students during classroom visits and distributed via the school and its online platforms, along with a registration link, after the visits. This procedure will allow students to express interest at a later stage if preferred.
Data collection will combine questionnaires on mental health and well-being, daily reports of mood, sleepiness, and social interactions, and objective monitoring of screen media use, sleep, physical activity, and heart rate variability using a custom application and a wearable device. Bluetooth beacon data will be used to assess social interactions objectively, and geolocation data will be used to provide contextual information about these interactions.
- Conditions
- Mental Health, Social Interaction, Sleep, Physical Activity, Stress
- Being tested
- Screen media reduction
- Keywords
- digital media use, screen time, adolescent, youth, young adult, mental health, social interaction, behavioral pattern, screen media use, heart rate variability, sleep, physical activity, well being, peer group, interpersonal synchrony
- Medical subject headings
- Psychological Well-Being, Motor Activity
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Screen media reductionBehavioural
Participants will reduce their recreational screen media use across devices. For smartphone use, participants will be asked to reduce their use to a maximum of 1 hour/day. Because social media use will not be permitted on computers or tablets during the intervention, this limit will also encompass participants' social media use. Research staff will help each participant set up smartphone app limits for the ten most used social media and gaming applications, add a widget to their home screen showing the current amount of time they have spent on their phone, and turn off non-essential notifications.
For television, computer and tablet use, participants will reduce their use to 14 hours/week (with no specific daily limit), but social media use is not allowed on these devices. We will recommend participants to particularly reduce their solitary screen media use. Participants will be asked to keep their devices outside the bedroom, and they will be provided with a free alarm clock.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Screen media reduction | Experimental | Peer groups randomized to the intervention will undergo a four-week screen media reduction. Receives: Behavioral: Screen media reduction |
| Usual screen media use (control) | No intervention | Participants allocated to the control group will be asked not to change their use of screen media devices and continue with their usual screen media behaviors. At the randomization meeting, if a peer group is allocated to the control condition, a researcher will explain the importance of the control group for ensuring the validity of the trial, with the aim of keeping these groups motivated and engaged. Participants in the control group will be offered the screen media reduction intervention after completing the long-term follow-up. Accordingly, they will function as a waitlist control group, although no outcome data will be collected during their subsequent intervention period. |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Change in mental wellbeing on the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS)
Self-reported mental well-being assessed as change in total score on the 14-item Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS). Total scores range from 14 to 70 points. Higher scores indicate better mental well-being.
Measured: From baseline (day 1) to post-intervention (day 42).
Secondary outcomes (4)
Change in total weekly duration of face-to-face social interaction with peer-group members measured by Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacon proximity events
Face-to-face social interaction with peer-group members will be assessed as the total duration of proximity events, expressed in minutes per week, using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacon data collected via the SDU Connect application. The application logs the frequency and duration of proximity events between participants within a predefined distance threshold. The outcome measure is the change in weekly minutes of peer-group proximity from the 14-day baseline period before randomization to the final 21 days of the intervention period.
Measured: From the 14-day baseline period before randomization to the final 21 days of the 4-week intervention period
Change in average weekly frequency of self-reported face-to-face social interactions with non-household, non-peer individuals
Face-to-face social interactions with individuals outside the participant's household and peer group will be assessed using daily self-report collected via the SDU Connect application. These interactions include, for example, family members not living in the household, other friends, and other relations. The outcome measure is the change in the average weekly frequency of self-reported face-to-face social interactions from the 14-day baseline period before randomization to the final 21 days of the intervention period.
Measured: From the 14-day baseline period before randomization to the final 21 days of the 4-week intervention period
Change in average nightly total sleep time measured by Garmin Venu 4
Total sleep time will be assessed using continuous monitoring with the Garmin Venu 4 wearable device. Total sleep time will be derived using the device's sleep algorithm and expressed as average minutes of sleep per night. The outcome measure is the change in average nightly total sleep time from the 14-day baseline period before randomization to the final 21 days of the 4-week intervention period.
Measured: From the 14-day baseline period before randomization to the final 21 days of the 4-week intervention period.
Change in average daily step count measured by Garmin Venu 4
Physical activity will be assessed using continuous monitoring with the Garmin Venu 4 wearable device. Physical activity will be expressed as average number of steps per day derived from the device. The outcome measure is the change in average daily step count from the 14-day baseline period before randomization to the final 21 days of the 4-week intervention period.
Measured: From the 14-day baseline period before randomization to the final 21 days of the 4-week intervention period
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted15 Apr 2026
- Study start4 May 2026
- Primary completion31 Dec 2027 (estimated)
- Study completion31 Dec 2027 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Publications (1)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for Mental HealthStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Basic science
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 240 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- University of Southern Denmark
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, Anders Groentved, University of Southern Denmark
- Investigators
- Anders Grøntved, PhD, Principal investigator, University of Southern Denmark
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07531290
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- S-20250078
- Status last verified
- Oct 2026
- First submitted
- 26 Mar 2026
- Last updated
- 13 Oct 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- Yes: Access to anonymized individual participant data will be shared with other researchers for research purposes only and only upon reasonable request.
Publications
Schmidt-Persson J, Gejl AK, Philipsen KB, Johansen MS, Mathiesen J, Taylor R, Flensborg-Madsen T, Kristensen PL, Grontved A. Effects of reducing screen media use on mental health, sleep, physical activity, heart rate variability, and behavioral patterns in peergroups of young people: a study protocol for a cluster-randomized controlled trial. BMC Psychol. 2026 May 28;14(1):1098. doi: 10.1186/s40359-026-04827-5.
PubMed 42204593