Study of Adolescence and Depression (STAND)

January 30, 2014 updated by: Kaiser Permanente

Brief, Primary Care Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Unmedicated Youth

STAND is a research study testing a way to help teens between 12-18 years of age who have symptoms of sadness or depression. The study hopes to learn if teens do better if they get five to nine counseling sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy coordinated with the support of their doctor. All teens who join the study will keep seeing their doctor as usual.

Teens and a parent are interviewed briefly over the phone to see if they are appropriate for the study. If they qualify for the study, there is an hour-long interview with teen over the telephone and a 30 minute interview with the parent. The interview will include questions about the teen's mood, feelings, behavior, and how they get along with friends and family members. The parent is also asked about his or her own feelings and mood. If the teen and parent join the study, they will be interviewed six more times in the next two years.

Half the teens in the study will also meet with a research counselor for five to nine individual, weekly sessions that last about 50 minutes each. Whether a teen attends the weekly counseling sessions is decided by chance, like flipping a coin. If teens are assigned to these sessions, they will learn ways to deal with stress and feel better. If teens take part in the counseling sessions, the study counselor will also talk to the teen's doctor from time to time to help plan for the best possible care.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

Substantial numbers of depressed adolescents either decline antidepressant medication or quickly discontinue such medications before benefits are expected. Recent controversies regarding the safety of SSRI anti-depressants are likely to increase medication refusal. More than half of depressed adolescents identified in primary care prefer psychosocial treatments, compared to 20% who prefer medication. Among the psychotherapy alternatives to medication, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has the strongest research support.

The STAND study is a two-arm, randomized, efficacy-effectiveness trial in primarily a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO), comparing a treatment as usual (TAU) control condition to TAU plus brief, individual, collaborative care CBT delivered in primary care. We will enroll 240 youth ages 12 to 18 who, during this depressive episode, have either declined anti-depressant medication or who received a single dispense of anti-depressant medication but quickly discontinued. All enrolled cases will be reassessed periodically throughout a 24-month follow-up period. The primary clinical outcome is recovery from the index episode of major depression, assessed via research diagnosis. Secondary outcomes include continuous depression symptomatology; depression response; rates of new, recurrent episodes of major depression in the follow-up period; improvements in psychosocial function; clinical improvement; reduction in depression-related dysfunction; parent/youth attitudes regarding treatment. We will also examine incremental cost-effectiveness of CBT compared to TAU from the HMO, family, and societal perspectives. We will conduct exploratory analyses of mediation and moderation of depression treatment outcomes, and employ data from the TAU control condition to estimate the usual outcomes for depressed youth who refuse/discontinue antidepressant medication. Finally, we will examine how provider, parent and youth barriers, attitudes and beliefs moderate outcomes, as well as possibly change over time as a function of participation in this program.

The validation of a primary care model for brief CBT may prove to be a significant benefit to the sizeable numbers of depressed youth identified in primary care, and who elect not to try anti-depressant medication or quickly discontinue an initial trial.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

212

Phase

  • Phase 3

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

    • Oregon
      • Portland, Oregon, United States, 97227
        • Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research

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

12 years to 18 years (Child, Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age 12-18
  • Current diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Psychosis
  • Bipolar
  • Taking anti-depressant medication
  • Significant intellectual impairment
  • Recent treatment with cognitive behavioral therapy

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

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Active Control
Teens in the active control arm will keep seeing their doctor as usual. Teens and a parent are interviewed briefly over the phone to see if they are appropriate for the study. If they qualify for the study, there is an hour-long interview with teen over the telephone and a 30 minute interview with the parent. They will be interviewed six more times in the next two years.
Experimental: Experimental
Teens in the experimental group will meet with a research counselor for five to nine individual, 50-minute weekly sessions. They will learn ways to deal with stress and feel better. The study counselor will also talk to the teen's doctor from time to time to help plan for the best possible care.
Half the teens in the study will also meet with a research counselor for five to nine individual, weekly sessions that last about 50 minutes each. Whether a teen attends the weekly counseling sessions is decided by chance, like flipping a coin. If teens are assigned to these sessions, they will learn ways to deal with stress and feel better. If teens take part in the counseling sessions, the study counselor will also talk to the teen's doctor from time to time to help plan for the best possible care.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
The two Primary outcomes are (a) recovery of response from the index episode of major depression and (b) improvements in continuous depression symptomatology .
Time Frame: Assessment at 1 3, 6,12, 18 and 24 months,
Assessment at 1 3, 6,12, 18 and 24 months,

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Secondary outcomes include depression response; rates of new, recurrent episodes of MDD during follow-up; improvement in psychosocial function; clinical improvements; and reduction in depression-related dysfunction.
Time Frame: Assessment at 1 3, 6,12, 18 and 24 months,
Assessment at 1 3, 6,12, 18 and 24 months,

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Greg N Clarke, PhD, Kaiser Permanente

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.

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

October 1, 2006

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 1, 2012

Study Completion (Actual)

January 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 29, 2007

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 29, 2007

First Posted (Estimate)

August 30, 2007

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

February 3, 2014

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 30, 2014

Last Verified

July 1, 2012

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • R01MH073918-01A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

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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