Targeting Emotion Intolerance Beliefs in Young Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial of An Online Single-Session Intervention
Abstract
Objective: Traditional psychological interventions pose various access barriers related to time, geography, provider availability, and cost. Online, self-directed single-session interventions (SSIs) can mitigate such access barriers. However, SSI effect sizes are highly heterogenous. Targeting core transdiagnostic processes may improve SSI consistency. This randomized controlled trial (registration NCT07034027 via clinicaltrials.gov) evaluated a novel SSI targeting the transdiagnostic construct of emotion intolerance beliefs. Method: Participants aged 18-29 reporting deficits in emotional nonreactivity abilities (N = 550) were randomized to the SSI condition or the control and completed questionnaires assessing emotion intolerance beliefs and related constructs at baseline, post-activity, and two-week follow-up. Multilevel modeling was used to assess differential proximal and distal change in emotion intolerance beliefs. Participants in the SSI condition also provided ratings of perceived intervention teaching effectiveness. Results: The first hypothesis — that proximal reductions in emotional intolerance beliefs would be greater for SSI participants than for control participants — was supported at p < 0.001, with a near-medium Cohen’s d effect size derived from a standard regression. This differential benefit was not sustained at follow-up. The second hypothesis — that participants would self-report the activity “somewhat” helped them learn to be nonreactive — was not sufficiently supported, as the mean rating was slightly below the preregistered cutoff. However, participants provided positive views of the intervention. Conclusions: The SSI is a strong candidate for future testing as an on-demand intervention during states of acute distress. Future efforts should examine the conditions under which acute benefits might be sustained.
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BibTeX
@misc{mcdanal2026targeting,
title = {{Targeting Emotion Intolerance Beliefs in Young Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial of An Online Single-Session Intervention}},
author = {Riley McDanal and Hein Kim and Pau Ortells-Faci and Nicholas R. Eaton and Jessica L. Schleider},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/dqr63_v2},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/dqr63_v2/},
note = {CC0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Targeting Emotion Intolerance Beliefs in Young Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial of An Online Single-Session Intervention
AU - Riley McDanal
AU - Hein Kim
AU - Pau Ortells-Faci
AU - Nicholas R. Eaton
AU - Jessica L. Schleider
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/22
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/dqr63_v2
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/dqr63_v2/
AB - Objective: Traditional psychological interventions pose various access barriers related to time, geography, provider availability, and cost. Online, self-directed single-session interventions (SSIs) can mitigate such access barriers. However, SSI effect sizes are highly heterogenous. Targeting core transdiagnostic processes may improve SSI consistency. This randomized controlled trial (registration NCT07034027 via clinicaltrials.gov) evaluated a novel SSI targeting the transdiagnostic construct of emotion intolerance beliefs. Method: Participants aged 18-29 reporting deficits in emotional nonreactivity abilities (N = 550) were randomized to the SSI condition or the control and completed questionnaires assessing emotion intolerance beliefs and related constructs at baseline, post-activity, and two-week follow-up. Multilevel modeling was used to assess differential proximal and distal change in emotion intolerance beliefs. Participants in the SSI condition also provided ratings of perceived intervention teaching effectiveness. Results: The first hypothesis — that proximal reductions in emotional intolerance beliefs would be greater for SSI participants than for control participants — was supported at p < 0.001, with a near-medium Cohen’s d effect size derived from a standard regression. This differential benefit was not sustained at follow-up. The second hypothesis — that participants would self-report the activity “somewhat” helped them learn to be nonreactive — was not sufficiently supported, as the mean rating was slightly below the preregistered cutoff. However, participants provided positive views of the intervention. Conclusions: The SSI is a strong candidate for future testing as an on-demand intervention during states of acute distress. Future efforts should examine the conditions under which acute benefits might be sustained.
ER -