None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
The purpose of the study is to examine the effectiveness of an internet-based treatment program for depression. This will be achieved by comparing the Depression Online (DO) fully automated self help treatment program to a person who monitors their mood (‘self monitoring’ or waitlist control) over a 12 week period. The aim of this comparison is to will determine how effective the DO program is in the treatment of depression. The importance of the treatment of depression has become a focus for many researchers because the World Health Organisation has predicted that depression would be the world’s second biggest cause of death by 2020. A recent survey (The Australian National Mental Health Survey) found that only a third of respondents who reported experiencing a depressive or anxiety disorder sought professional assistance and only 10 percent consulted a psychologist or psychiatrist for specialised face-to-face treatments. Given the high prevalence of the disorder, the online environment provides an elegant solution to meet the largely unmet needs of depressed (and anxious) people by providing them with relatively easy access to efficacious treatments. Internet-based psychological treatments (‘eTherapies’) have been vigorously evaluated over the past decade and many have been shown to be effective, safe and acceptable forms of mental health treatment. As eTherapies have a broad reach capacity, they enable the delivery of specialist psychological support far beyond the capability of traditional face-to-face services. Depression Online is one of the programs that aims to do this.
Interventions
This project will evaluate the effectiveness of Depression Online (DO) an
internet-based treatment program for consumers who experience depressive symptoms or receive a diagnosis of a depressive disorder by implementing a randomised controlled trial (RCT). Consumers of Depression Online will complete 12 CBT-based modules that provide
information and strategies for the treatment of depression. Consumers who participate in the trial will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions: (1) Fully Aut
This project will evaluate the effectiveness of Depression Online (DO) an internet-based treatment program for consumers who experience depressive symptoms or receive a diagnosis of a depressive disorder by implementing a randomised controlled trial (RCT). Consumers of Depression Online will complete 12 CBT-based modules that provide information and strategies for the treatment of depression. Consumers who participate in the trial will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions: (1) Fully Automated - DO (FA-DO) or (2) Self-monitoring waitlist control (SMWLC). A brief description of each condition follows. The DO Program is an automated, self-help program that consists of 12 evidence-based modules. Each participant will be required to complete one module per week over a 12-week period. The program will provide participants with information about Depression and strategies on how to address thoughts, feelings and behaviours that contribute to or maintain Depressive Disorders. Participants who are allocated to the Self Monitoring Waiting List control are required to monitor their mood for a 12 week period before they are given access to the Depression Online program. A therapist will monitor a participant to determine whether there is any deterioration in mood that requires action. Participants who monitor their mood over a 12 week period are then invited to participate in the DO program. A participant's involvement in the study depends on which condition they have been allocated to. For participants allocated to the Depression Online (DO) program, participation is required for a 12 week period. During this time, the DO program involves approximately 1 hour of online reading and approximately 1 hour of offline activities per week. Questionnaires at each of the time points (baseline, week 4, week 8 and week 12 ) will take approximately 30 to 60 minutes to complete. Six (6) moths after completing the DO program (follow-up), participants are invited back to complete a number of questionnaires that should take approximately 60 minutes. For participants allocated to the Self-Monitoring (Waiting List Control), they are required to monitor their mood for a 12 week period (on a weekly basis). The Self-Monitoring task should take no more than 5 minutes to complete. Once the 12 week period has lapsed, participants commence the DO program and follow the same protocol described above.
Sponsors
Swinburne University of Technology
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Blinded (masking used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Participants are eligible to participate in the study if they experience depressive symptoms or a depressive disorder. In this sense mental illness is strictly defined as those participants identified by the e-PASS assment tool as experiencing depressive phenomenon. The e-PASS assessment tool will provide participants with details as to the type and severity of their psychological symptoms or disorders and provide appropriate recommendations for addressing their problem/s. It will also help determine whether participants meet eligibility for the Depression Online (DO) program.
Exclusion criteria
Participants will be excluded if the e-PASS program finds that they do not experience depressive symptoms (no depression diagnosis – clinical or subclinical) or they experience any of the following disorders as primary or conditions: (a) a concurrent medical condition that is contributing to their depression (b) an organic or psychotic problem (c) a primary substance abuse disorder (d) an eating disorder or (e) a bipolar disorder. If consumers are unable to complete the required online depression-specific assessment measures and/or are unable consent to the treatment protocol they will also be excluded.
Outcome results
None listed