None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
This study seeks to explore the health-related beliefs, motivations, skills and support needs of people who access online psychological treatment for depression and/or anxiety, and how these influence whether and how people engage with and respond to treatment. There is already a lot of research to support the safety, acceptability, and effectiveness of online psychological treatments for adults with depression and/or anxiety. Now, we wish to build our understanding about how different people may engage with and respond to treatment differently, so that we can develop practical strategies and supports to help people engage in way that best suits their needs and priorities. To do this, we will recruit adults both in Australia and overseas with depression and/or anxiety and if eligible, randomly allocate them to receive treatment either straightaway or after an 8-week delay (waitlist control). We will ask participants to complete questionnaires when they apply for treatment, before starting treatment, mid-way through treatment, and after finishing treatment. Australian participants who enrol in treatment will also be asked to participate in an optional interview asking about their views and experience of deciding to take-up online psychological treatment. It is expected that participants reporting lower health literacy levels in their application will have higher levels of depression and anxiety at all time-points (before, during, and after treatment), and will be less likely to take-up and complete treatment.
Interventions
The Wellbeing Course is a self-guided internet-delivered psychological treatment, based on cognitive behaviour therapy principles. It consists of:
(a) 5 online lessons provided over 8 weeks.
(b) A homework summary with assignments for each lesson
(c) Additional written resources that can be downloaded and which include information about other important skills, such as assertiveness and communication skills and techniques for managing sleep difficulties.
(d) Case Stories based on previous partici
The Wellbeing Course is a self-guided internet-delivered psychological treatment, based on cognitive behaviour therapy principles. It consists of: (a) 5 online lessons provided over 8 weeks. (b) A homework summary with assignments for each lesson (c) Additional written resources that can be downloaded and which include information about other important skills, such as assertiveness and communication skills and techniques for managing sleep difficulties. (d) Case Stories based on previous participants, which they can follow throughout the Course. The online course and additional written resources have been developed and previously evaluated by the eCentre Clinic for their efficacy and safety. In terms of time commitment, each lesson is expected to take approximately 15 minutes with a further 20 minutes to read accompanying case stories and other supplementary materials. All the lesson materials are in a written, slide deck-style format using a combination of text and visuals (images/diagrams etc). It will be at the discretion of participants how long they spend on each lesson, and they can access multiple times. Website analytics (e.g., login frequency, time spent per login) is also available to monitor adherence to the intervention. In terms of lesson content, it comprises the following: Lesson 1 - Education about the prevalence, symptoms and treatment of depression and anxiety including an explanation of the functional relationship between symptoms. Vignettes describing impact of symptoms. Normalising difficulties during recovery. Assertive communication skills. Lesson 2 - Basic principles of cognitive therapy, including strategies for monitoring and challenging thoughts. Strategies for shifting attention. Worry time. Lesson 3 - Instructions about controlling physical symptoms including de-arousal strategies and scheduling activities. The importance of lifestyle factors. Managing symptoms of panic. Maintaining healthy interpersonal boundaries. Lesson 4 - Education and guidelines about behavioural activation. Education about guidelines about practising graded exposure. Education and guidelines for acting “as if”. Structured problem solving. Lesson 5 - Information about relapse prevention and constructing relapse prevention plans.
Sponsors
eCentre Clinic, Macquarie University
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
(a) Aged 18 years and older (b) Internet and computer access for the duration of the study (c) Current self-reported difficulties with anxiety and/or depression
Exclusion criteria
(a) Significant self-reported suicidal risk (b) Unable to read and understand English
Outcome results
None listed