The Study

The JoyPop app is designed to promote resilience through the development and enhancement of healthy stress management skills. The app includes activities to increase awareness of emotions and changes in mood, focus attention, engage in self-reflection, and connect with social support. The app activities are designed to promote healthy management of current stressors, informed by neuroscience research on brain plasticity and stress responsivity. The app was developed at McMaster University by Christine Wekerle to support youth resilience through finding healthy solutions to problems, de-stressing, believing in themselves, navigating supports, and developing safe and healthy relationships.

We have piloted the JoyPop app with social work students. Practicing the set of skills in the app may be useful for managing stress while in school or when entering a new profession. Development of healthy stress management skills can lead to the promotion of well-being, positive quality of life, and workforce longevity for social work practitioners. In turn, social workers can share healthy stress management skills with the people whom they support in their practice to enhance well-being. This study contributes to our knowledge of the effectiveness of using an app to enhance resilience and well-being.

Preliminary report and publications are forthcoming.

Principal Investigator: Katherine Maurer

Recent Publication

Maurer, K., Kimyaci, M., Konyk, K., & Wekerle, C. (2023). Building resilience through daily smartphone app use: Results of a pilot study of the JoyPop app with social work students. Frontiers in Digital Health, 5, 1265120. https://doi.org/10.3389/fdgth.2023.1265120

Recent publications by our collaborators:

Mushquash, A. R., Pearson, E. S., Waddington, K., MacIsaac, A., Mohammed, S., Grassia, E., Smith, S., & Wekerle, C. (2021). User Perspectives on a Resilience-Building App (JoyPop): Qualitative Study. JMIR MHealth and UHealth, 9(7), e28677. https://doi.org/10.2196/28677

MacIsaac, A., Mushquash, A. R., Mohammed, S., Grassia, E., Smith, S., & Wekerle, C. (2021). Adverse Childhood Experiences and Building Resilience With the JoyPop App: Evaluation Study. JMIR MHealth and UHealth, 9(1), e25087. https://doi.org/10.2196/25087

JoyPop eBook:

Maurer, K. (2021). Promoting brain health and resilience in social work students: Implementation and evaluation of a smartphone application. In JoyPopTM: A resilience intervention for youth mental health. Open Access Government (pp. 44-45). https://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&edid=b43e8d51-b6f4-48ca-9e31-d7936ed7a950

McGill REB# 40-0619

Research Collaborators: Christine Wekerle, Co-Principal Investigator, McMaster University; Aislin Musquash, Lakehead University; Paul Frewen, Western University; Michael MacKenzie, McGill University; Delphine Collin-Vézina, McGill University; Anna Weinberg, McGill University; Marjorie Rabiau, McGill University; Naomi Nichols, Trent University

Funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research Team Grant-Advancing Boys' and Men's Health Research (Principal Investigator: Christine Wekerle, Ph.D., McMaster University), McGill University Healthy Brains for Healthy Lives Knowledge Mobilization Program, and McGill University Arts Research Internship Awards