Facilitating the Adoption of Evidence-Based Depression Management in Substance Use Treatment Programs

April 6, 2015 updated by: US Department of Veterans Affairs

Translating Depression Guidelines Into Substance Abuse Treatment

Comorbid depression has been consistently linked to worse outcomes for patients in substance abuse treatment programs. Practice guidelines recommend pharmacotherapy for comorbid depression if symptoms persist after a 4-week "wash-out" period for detoxification (e.g., Veterans Health Administration; American Psychiatric Association). Medications may be considered earlier if a patient has current symptoms and a history of major depressive disorder (MDD) during periods of sobriety. Current efficacy data suggest that antidepressant medication can improve both depression and substance use outcomes among comorbid patients Guideline-concordant use of antidepressant medication for persons with comorbid substance use and depressive disorders, however, is not routine in many VA substance abuse treatment settings.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Background:

Comorbid depression has been consistently linked to worse outcomes for patients in substance abuse treatment programs. Practice guidelines recommend pharmacotherapy for comorbid depression if symptoms persist after a 4-week "wash-out" period for detoxification (e.g., Veterans Health Administration; American Psychiatric Association). Medications may be considered earlier if a patient has current symptoms and a history of major depressive disorder (MDD) during periods of sobriety. Current efficacy data suggest that antidepressant medication can improve both depression and substance use outcomes among comorbid patients Guideline-concordant use of antidepressant medication for persons with comorbid substance use and depressive disorders, however, is not routine in many VA substance abuse treatment settings.

Objectives:

This study seeks to develop, implement, and test an organizational intervention in VA substance abuse treatment settings to establish guideline-concordant treatment of comorbid depression. The intervention will assist "intervention" programs in their own implementation of a guidelines-based treatment algorithm to improve the recognition of depression and initiation of pharmacotherapy.

Methods:

Substance abuse treatment programs in the South Central VISN were matched on program characteristics and current depression management practices (n = 4), and "intervention" sites were randomly chosen from each pair. Phase 1 (now completed) of the study analyzed the barriers and facilitators to translation of depression management in participating facilities, and used these data to inform the development of the translation intervention, its implementation tools, and the depression algorithm. The translation intervention adopted in this plan was based on the PRECEDE model of organizational behavior change and included provider education, use of local champions, feedback of screening data, and patient education/activation. The depression management algorithm and intervention was developed with input from programs staff and an Advisory Panel of depression management and translation experts. Phase 2 of the study implemented and tested the intervention. The evaluation in examining program- and provider-level outcomes. Program-level outcomes include feasibility, extent of adoption of the algorithm, and provider/organizational attitudes and beliefs about the intervention's design and effectiveness. Patient-level outcomes include depressive symptoms, substance use outcomes, medication adherence, quality of life, and services use.

Status:

Phase 1 of the study is complete. Phase 2 is near complete.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

300

Phase

  • Phase 4

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Arkansas
      • No. Little Rock, Arkansas, United States, 72114-1706
        • Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System Eugene J. Towbin Healthcare Center, Little Rock, AR
    • Louisiana
      • New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 70112
        • Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System, New Orleans, LA
    • Mississippi
      • Biloxi, Mississippi, United States, 39531
        • VA Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System
      • Jackson, Mississippi, United States, 39216
        • G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA Medical Center, Jackson, MS
    • Oklahoma
      • Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, 73104
        • Oklahoma City, OK

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Programs: VA's offering residential or intensive outpatient treatment for substance-related disorders in VISN 16 Patients: Veterans in residential or intensive outpatient treatment for substance-related disorders; positive screen for non-substance-induced depressive disorder

Exclusion Criteria:

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Other: Arm 1
Procedure: Facilitate evidence-based treatment for depression

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Program: extent, quality of adoption of protocolPatient: scores on-depression, substance use, and functioning scales

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Programs: Staff satisfaction with protocol/intervention Patients: medication adherence

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

US Department of Veterans Affairs

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Geoffrey M. Curran, PhD, Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System Eugene J. Towbin Healthcare Center, Little Rock, AR

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

January 1, 2004

Primary Completion (Actual)

October 1, 2006

Study Completion (Actual)

October 1, 2006

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 25, 2005

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 25, 2005

First Posted (Estimate)

August 29, 2005

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

April 7, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 6, 2015

Last Verified

February 1, 2007

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • SUT 02-211

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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