The Effect of Increasing Physical Activity or Reducing Mobile Phone Use on Mental Health in Young People in Austria

Introduction: Data show adolescent mental health has declined in recent years, possibly due to increased uncertainty and loss of opportunities. The SPARKY study aims to test an at-home intervention which aims to promote autonomous healthy levels of physical activity and smartphone use, in turn reducing clinical mental illness symptoms and increasing wellbeing. Methods and analysis: Adolescents (14-19 years) in Austria and Germany will be recruited and randomised into one of three groups (physical activity, smartphone, control). The physical activity (PA) and smartphone time (ST) groups will be guided over 12-weeks to increase PA or decrease ST respectively. All groups will objectively measure PA using wrist-worn trackers and ST using an app and will regularly self-report on standardised mental health scales. Analyses will be run to assess the pre-post changes in mental health in the intervention groups compared to the control. Ethics and dissemination: The conduct of the trial was approved by the institutional research ethics board and written informed consent will be obtained from participants and the parents of those under 18. Data will be stored open access. Findings will be disseminated through conferences, media interviews and publications to peer-reviewed journals. Overall, mental health interventions are sorely needed in adolescents to counteract the effects of the pandemic and other uncertainties. The at-home nature of the intervention will promote autonomous healthy habit formation in youth.