None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
A simple randomised controlled trial (RCT) design will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of a online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) program for decreasing the symptoms of panic and anxiety (called Panic eHealth). The Panic eHealth program is placed within the Federation eHealth Platform, which is a platform containing multiple eHealth programs. People who visit the website, either directly or through seeing the program advertised, will be invited to take part in the Panic eHealth evaluation study. Those that consent will be randomly allocated to one of 3 groups: 1) Panic eHealth program (with immediate access to all of the program modules) group, 2) Panic eHealth program (with weekly, sequential release of the program modules) group or to 3) a wait control group (delayed access to the Panic eHealth program with weekly, sequential release of modules). The delayed access group will receive the intervention following a 10-week waiting period. Panic eHealth contains six modules, delivered over six weeks. It is designed to provide people with strategies to address their panic and anxiety. Each module will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. In addition, in order to reinforce the module-based information there are 20-30 minutes of offline activities each week. Participants will also receive automated emails (e.g., to remind them to log on, when to complete post/follow-up questionnaires) and will be asked several questions at the beginning of each week, to monitor their progress. Participants randomised to the Panic eHealth program groups will complete a pre-intervention assessment (Week 0), during intervention (Week 1-6) assessment, post-intervention assessment (Week 7) and a 1 and 3 month follow-up assessment (Week 11 & Week 19 respectively). Participants randomised to the delayed access program group will complete the same assessment phases, except for the 3 month follow-up assessment, as they will be given access to Panic eHealth program following the 1 month follow-up assessment (Week 11). However the delayed access group will be asked to complete the post intervention assessment after they complete the Panic eHealth program (Week 17).
Interventions
A simple randomised controlled trial (RCT) design will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of a online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) program for decreasing the symptoms of panic and anxiety (called Panic eHealth).
Those that consent will be randomly allocated to one of 3 groups: 1) Panic eHealth program (with immediate access to all of the program modules) group, 2) Panic eHealth program (with weekly, sequential release of the program modules) group or to 3) a wait control group (delaye
A simple randomised controlled trial (RCT) design will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of a online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) program for decreasing the symptoms of panic and anxiety (called Panic eHealth). Those that consent will be randomly allocated to one of 3 groups: 1) Panic eHealth program (with immediate access to all of the program modules) group, 2) Panic eHealth program (with weekly, sequential release of the program modules) group or to 3) a wait control group (delayed access to the Panic eHealth program with weekly, sequential release of modules). Panic eHealth has six modules: 1. Psycho-education and self monitoring instruction of panic and anxiety 2. Physiological Control and Relaxation (e.g., controlled breathing to reduce symptoms) 3. Cognitive restructuring to reduce unhelpful thinking (catastrophising and probability over estimations) and cognitive flexibility strategies 4. Exposure and biofeedback – gradual exposure to panic symptoms and to feared/avoided places (situational) 5. Relapse prevention and increasing wellness It should take approximately 20 minutes to complete each module, with the addition of 20-30 minutes to engage in recommended offline activities that serve to reinforce the information contained within each specific module. Participants will also receive automated emails when they need to complete the questionnaires (and additional reminders when they fail to do so in a timely manner) as well as when they do not log on for a period of time, while they are undertaking the Panic eHealth program. There will also be a booster session delivered two weeks following the post intervention assessment. This module will reinforce the key messages from the Panic eHealth modules and should take about 15 minutes to complete. An automated email will inform participants when the Booster module is available/released. The two immediate access condition groups will continue to have access to the Panic eHealth program for the duration of the study (i.e., 19 weeks). Given the 10 week delay for the participants in the the wait list control, they will receive access to Panic eHealth for 9 weeks.
Sponsors
Federation Unversity
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Participants must be 18 years or older, experience panic, have access to the internet, and be able to register online using an email address. Panic will be assessed via the Panic Disorder Severity Scale (PDSS) (1) as part of the baseline assessments. Those participants scoring below sub-clinical cut-offs for panic will be advised that this program would not have any benefit for them and they will be referred to MindHealthConnect (an online government funded e-mental health portal that provides information about various Australian mental health and wellbeing online services).
Exclusion criteria
Participants with no panic symptoms.
Outcome results
None listed