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Counselling Service for Low-income EM in Hong Kong

The Effectiveness of Counselling on Mood Symptoms of Low-income Ethnic Minorities in Hong Kong: a Wait-list Randomised Controlled Trial

Status
UNKNOWN
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT04811170
Enrollment
120
Registered
2021-03-23
Start date
2021-03-22
Completion date
2023-07-31
Last updated
2022-05-26

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Depression, Anxiety

Brief summary

This study will recruit 120 ethnic minorities in Hong Kong from the Zubin Foundation (TZF) at the Ethnic Minority Well-being Centre (EMWBC), which is a service provider of EM mental health support in Hong Kong. This service provides counselling service and referrals to HA via the Integrated Community Centre for Mental Wellness (ICCMW) to psychiatrists. The service covers the South Asians population of approximately eighty-four thousands people in Hong Kong. Participants will be recruited by the Zubin Foundation through outreach activities screening and counselling will be conducted in partnering schools and NGOs (e.g., Yan Oi Tong in Tuen Mun and Yew Chung College of Early Childhood Education in Aberdeen). The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of counselling service for improving mood symptoms in EM, also to assess the effectiveness of counselling service in improving psychological functioning (i.e. resilience and rumination, self-compassion, self-efficacy and life satisfaction), social functioning and quality of life and to assess whether the counselling service is cost-effective and offers good value for money. The study is a wait-list RCT. Participants will be randomly assigned into either the intervention group (n = 60) or the wait-list control group (n = 60) in a 1:1 ratio. Each participant in the intervention group will be paired up with a participant from the control group, the number of sessions and duration of waiting period varies depending on the severity of mood symptoms. Participants with mild to moderate mood symptoms will receive a maximum of 6 counselling sessions and will be assessed at baseline (T0, W1), at post -treatment for counselling group (T1, W8), and after 2 booster sessions. Participants in the waiting list control group will receive the same counselling service after the counselling group completed the intervention. Participants with severe mood symptoms will receive a maximum of 10 counselling sessions and will be assessed at baseline (T0, W1), at post-treatment for counselling group (T1, W12), and after 2 booster sessions. Participants in the waiting list control group will receive the same counselling service after the counselling group completed the intervention. This evaluation study will provide data to inform the government in mental health policy review and development.

Interventions

OTHERCounselling

Participants with mild to moderate mood symptoms will receive a maximum of 6 counselling sessions and will be assessed at baseline (T0, W1), at post-treatment for counselling group (T1, W8), and after 2 booster sessions. Participants in the waiting list control group will receive the same counselling service after the counselling group completed the intervention. Participants with severe mood symptoms will receive a maximum of 10 counselling sessions and will be assessed at baseline (T0, W1), at post-treatment for counselling group (T1, W12), and after 2 booster sessions. Participants in the waiting list control group will receive the same counselling service after the counselling group completed the intervention.

Sponsors

The Zubin Foundation
CollaboratorUNKNOWN
The University of Hong Kong
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
15 Years to 64 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* South Asian ethnic minorities (except domestic helper) in Hong Kong; * 15 - 64 years * reach at least the mild level of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales - 21 Items in at least one of the following scores: the Depression Score (DASS-D), Anxiety Score (DASS-A) or Stress Score (DASS-S), or low Quality of Life score * have sufficient proficiency in English, Hindi or Urdu to understand verbal instructions and give informed consent.

Exclusion criteria

* from high-income family (cut off ranges from HK$15K for single person family to HK$45K of 6 or more people family) * mental conditions that require other treatment priorities (e.g., suicidal risk, substance abuse, current or past episodes of psychotic disorder, personality disorders) * medical conditions that severely limit participation, comprehension, or adherence to treatment (e.g., epilepsy, dementia, terminal medical illness) and, * current usage of antidepressant or mood stabilizers.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
The change of the level of depressive symptomsFrom Time 0 (baseline) to Time 1 (at week 8 or 12)Measured by the Depression sub-scale of Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale 21-item version. The subscale has 7 items, each rated from 0 to 3, the total score will be doubled for interpretation of its severity. The higher score indicates the more severe depressive symptoms.
The change of the level of anxiety symptomsFrom Time 0 (baseline) to Time 1 (at week 8 or 12)Measured by the Anxiety sub-scale of Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale 21-item version. The subscale has 7 items, each rated from 0 to 3, the total score will be doubled for interpretation of its severity. The higher score indicates the more severe depressive symptoms.
The change of the level of stress symptomsFrom Time 0 (baseline) to Time 1 (at week 8 or 12)Measured by the Stress sub-scale of Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale 21-item version. The subscale has 7 items, each rated from 0 to 3, the total score will be doubled for interpretation of its severity. The higher score indicates the more severe depressive symptoms.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
The change of subjective quality of lifeFrom Time 0 (baseline) to Time 1 (at week 8 or 12)Measured by the Mental Component Summary (MCS) of Short Form 12 version 2. Min: 0, max:100. The higher score indicates better mental health related subjective quality of life.

Countries

Hong Kong

Contacts

Primary ContactYI Nam Suen, PhD
suenyn@hku.hk39179579

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 8, 2026