Depression, Depressive Disorder, Depressive Symptoms
Conditions
Keywords
Depression, Acupressure, Randomized Controlled Trial
Brief summary
The goal of this clinical trial is to examine the effects of self-administered acupressure intervention for alleviating depressive symptoms among people with depression. It is hypothesized that the self-administered acupressure group would have a great improvement in depressive symptoms as measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire compared with the mental health education group across the 12-week intervention period. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Is the self-administered acupressure intervention more effective for alleviating depression and other related outcomes compared to the mental health education group among depressed individuals? * Is the self-administered acupressure intervention acceptable and feasible for depressed individuals to alleviate depression? Participants will be randomized into self-administered acupressure group or mental health education group based on the group allocation with a 1:1 ratio. Participants will attend two weekly 120-min self-administered acupressure training or mental health education, respectively.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALSelf-administered acupressure group
Self-administered acupressure treatment group was developed on the basis of previous systematic reviews and clinical studies of acupuncture and acupressure for depression. It has robust theoretical basis of TCM. The acupoints selected are commonly used for depression according to a recent systematic review and recommended by other clinical practice guidelines.
BEHAVIORALMental health education group
Mental health education training group was developed based on the materials regarding depression and mental health from the Centre of Health Protection, Department of Health, the Government of Hong Kong SAR and reviewed by a clinical psychologist.
Sponsors
Health and Medical Research Fund
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)
Masking description
The researchers who perform the assessment and analysis will be blinded to group allocation.
Intervention model description
Two-arm parallel assignment involves two groups of participants. In this study, one group will receive self-administered acupressure, and the other group will receive the mental health education. So during the trial, participants in one group receive self-administered acupressure in parallel to participants in the other group, who receive the mental health education.
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 65 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
1. Hong Kong residents aged 18 to 65 2. Can communicate in Cantonese and comprehend written Chinese 3. Have moderate or above-level depression as measured by the PHQ-9 with a score of 10 or above 4. Willing to give informed consent and comply with the trial protocol.
Exclusion criteria
1. Have the PHQ score of 20 or above (referral information to community psychological services will be provided) 2. New onset or change of antidepressant medication or dosage in the last 3 months 3. Previous or current diagnosis of schizophrenia, other psychotic disorders, or bipolar disorder as screened using the Chinese version of the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 4. Have cognitive impairment diagnosed by the Hong Kong Montreal Cognitive Assessment with a score \< 22 5. Skin lesions or infections at the treatment sites 6. Significant suicidal risk as rated by the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale item on suicide (score ≥3) 7. Pregnant or childbearing potential but not using adequate contraception 8. With any major medical condition that causes depression based on the judgement of a psychiatrist.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) | It will be measured at baseline | The PHQ-9, a self-rated questionnaire to assess depressive symptoms over the last 2 weeks on a scale of 0 (not at all) to 3 (nearly every day), with a total score ranging from 0 to 27. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) | It will be measured at baseline | The HDRS is used to assess the severity of depressive symptoms based on the 17-item scale. Eight items are scored on a 5-point scale, ranging from 0 to 4 and nine items are scored from 0 to 2. The total score varies from 0 (the minimum value) to 52 (the maximum value), with a higher total score indicating more severe depression. |
| The Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21) - Stress | It will be measured at baseline | The DASS-21 Stress subscale will be used to measure the emotional states of stress using a 4-point scale ranging from 0 (never) to 3 (almost always). |
| The Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21) - Anxiety | It will be measured at baseline | The DASS-21 Anxiety subscale will be used to measure the emotional states of anxiety using a 4-point scale ranging from 0 (never) to 3 (almost always). |
| The Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) | It will be measured at baseline | The ISI is a seven-item self-rating scale to assess the severity of insomnia, distress, and functional impairment associated with insomnia on a 5-point Likert scale. |
| The Short-Form (six-dimension) Health Survey (SF-6D) | It will be measured at baseline | The SF-6D covers six domains using a scale of 1 to 6 to evaluate participants' general health and quality of life. |
Countries
Hong Kong
Contacts
Primary ContactWing Fai Yeung, PhD
Outcome results
None listed