Low Intensity Versus Self-guided Internet-delivered Psychotherapy for Major Depression

August 8, 2017 updated by: Javier Garcia Campayo

Low Intensity Versus Self-guided Internet-delivered Psychotherapy for Major Depression: a Multicenter, Controlled, Randomised Study

BACKGROUND: Major depression will become the second most important cause of disability in 2020. Computerised cognitive-behaviour therapy could be an efficacious and cost-effective option for its treatment. No studies on cost-effectiveness of low intensity vs self-guided psychotherapy have been carried out.

AIM: To assess the efficacy of low intensity vs self-guided psychotherapy for major depression in the Spanish health system.

METHODS: The study is made up of 3 phases: 1.- Development of a computerised cognitive-behaviour therapy for depression tailored to Spanish health system. 2.- Multicenter controlled, randomized study: A sample (N=450 patients) with mild/moderate depression recruited in primary care. They should have internet availability at home, not receive any previous psychological treatment, and not suffer from any other severe somatic or psychological disorder. They will be allocated to one of 3 treatments: a) Low intensity Internet-delivered psychotherapy + improved treatment as usual (ITAU) by GP, b) Self-guided Internet-delivered psychotherapy + ITAU or c) ITAU. Patients will be diagnosed with MINI psychiatric interview. Main outcome variable will be Beck Depression Inventory. It will be also administered EuroQol 5D (quality of life) and Client Service Receipt Inventory (consume of health and social services). Patients will be assessed at baseline, 3 and 12 months. An intention to treat and a per protocol analysis will be performed.

Study Overview

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

300

Phase

  • Not Applicable

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

      • Barcelona, Spain, 08035
        • Psychiatric Service. Hospital Vall D'Hebrón
      • Málaga, Spain, 29010
        • Psychiatric Service. University Hospital Carlos Haya
      • Valencia, Spain
        • Valencia University and CIBER Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition. Carlos III Health Institute
      • Zaragoza, Spain, 50009
        • Department of Psychiatry. Miguel Servet University Hospital
    • Barcelona
      • Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain, 08830
        • Hospital Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Deu
    • Mallorca
      • Palma de Mallorca, Mallorca, Spain
        • Health Science Research Institute, University Balearic Islands

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

18 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Diagnosis of major depression. It will be carried out with MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview + scoring of moderate or mild depression using Beck Depression Inventory II. Cut-off point for this questionnaire is: 0-13: minimal depression; 14-19: mild depression; 20-28: moderate depression; 29-63: severe depression [34, 35].
  • Aged 18-65 years
  • Able to understand and read Spanish
  • Moderate or mild major depression
  • Duration of symptoms longer than 2 weeks
  • Access to Internet at home and having an email address.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Any psychological treatment during last year
  • Severe psychiatric disorder in Axis I (alcohol/substances abuse or dependence, psychotic disorders or dementia)patients with severe depression (indicated by a Beck-II score of 29 or higher) who will be advised to consult their GP Receiving pharmacological treatment with antidepressants is not an exclusion criteria meanwhile, during the study period, treatment will not be modified or increased (decrease of pharmacological treatment is accepted).

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
Other: Low intensity Internet-delivered psychotherapy
Low intensity Internet-delivered psychotherapy + improved treatment as usual by GP.
Patients will be contacted by a researcher trained in psychotherapy. Patients can ask for questions or advice to psychotherapists during the study
Other: Self-guided Internet-delivered psychotherapy
Self-guided Internet-delivered psychotherapy + improved treatment as usual
No contact with the therapists over the treatment period will be done.
Other: Improved treatment as usual by GP
Any kind of treatment administered by the GP to the patient with depression

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Severity of depressive symptomatology measured by Beck Depression Inventory II
Time Frame: At baseline
This is one of the most widely questionnaires used to evaluate severity of depression in pharmacological and psychotherapy trials. This questionnaire has been used because it is recommended to assess depression in primary care patients in which comorbidity with medical disorders is frequent. The Spanish validated version of the questionnaire will be used.
At baseline
Severity of depressive symptomatology measured by Beck Depression Inventory II
Time Frame: After the Internet-delivered psychotherapy program has been finished. We estimate 3 months on average to complete the program.
This is one of the most widely questionnaires used to evaluate severity of depression in pharmacological and psychotherapy trials. This questionnaire has been used because it is recommended to assess depression in primary care patients in which comorbidity with medical disorders is frequent. The Spanish validated version of the questionnaire will be used.
After the Internet-delivered psychotherapy program has been finished. We estimate 3 months on average to complete the program.
Severity of depressive symptomatology measured by Beck Depression Inventory II
Time Frame: 3 months after completing the psychotherapy program
This is one of the most widely questionnaires used to evaluate severity of depression in pharmacological and psychotherapy trials. This questionnaire has been used because it is recommended to assess depression in primary care patients in which comorbidity with medical disorders is frequent. The Spanish validated version of the questionnaire will be used.
3 months after completing the psychotherapy program
Severity of depressive symptomatology measured by Beck Depression Inventory II
Time Frame: 12 months after completing the psychotherapy program
This is one of the most widely questionnaires used to evaluate severity of depression in pharmacological and psychotherapy trials. This questionnaire has been used because it is recommended to assess depression in primary care patients in which comorbidity with medical disorders is frequent. The Spanish validated version of the questionnaire will be used.
12 months after completing the psychotherapy program

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Socio-demographic variables.
Time Frame: At Baseline
The following socio-demographic data will be collected: gender, age, marital status (single, married/relationship, separated/divorced, and widowed), education (years of education), occupation, economical level (in relation with Spanish minimum monthly salary that at the moment of the study was 640€).
At Baseline
Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI).
Time Frame: At Baseline
This is a short structured diagnostic psychiatric interview that yields key DSM-IV and ICD-10 diagnoses. MINI can be administered in a short period of time and clinical interviewers need only a brief training. The MINI has been translated and validated in Spanish.
At Baseline
EuroQoL-5D questionnaire (EQ-5D - Spanish version)
Time Frame: At Baseline
Generic instrument of health-related quality of life. It has two parts: part 1 records self-reported problems in each of five domains: mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression. Each domain is divided into three levels of severity corresponding to no problems, some problems, and extreme problems. Values range from 1 (best health state) to 0 (death). Part 2 records the subject's self-assessed health on a VAS, a 10 cm vertical line on which the best and worst imaginable health states score 100 and 0, respectively.
At Baseline
Client Service Receipt Inventory - adapted (CSRI - Spanish version)
Time Frame: At baseline
Questionnaire for collecting information about use of healthcare and social care services and other economic impacts (such as time off work due to illness). The variant used in this study was designed to collect retrospective data on service utilization during the previous months after the last assessment. Data on baseline assess the previous three months before inclusion.
At baseline
Overall Depression Severity and Impairment Scale
Time Frame: At baseline
OASIS consists of 5 items that measure the frequency and severity of anxiety, as well as level of avoidance, work/ school/home interference, and social interference associated with anxiety. The instructions orient the respondent to considerate wide range of anxiety symptoms (e.g., panic attacks, worries, flashbacks) when answering the questions, and the time frame is "over the past week". Respondents select among five different response options for each item, which are coded 0-4 and summed to obtain a total score.
At baseline
Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS)
Time Frame: At Baseline
PANAS consists of 20 items that evaluate two independent dimensions: positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA). The range for each scale (10 items on each) is 10 to 50. The instrument's psychometric properties are quite satisfactory. It has a validated Spanish version.
At Baseline
Credibility/expectancy questionnaire
Time Frame: At Baseline
It is a quick and easy-to-administer scale for assessing treatment expectancy and rationale credibility. Credibility has been defined as how believable, convincing, and logical the treatment is, whereas expectancy refers to improvements that clients believe will be achieved. The aspects that address these two scales relate to: 1) treatment rationale, 2) treatment satisfaction, 3) degree to which I would recommend to a friend who had the same problem, 4) extent to which is considered to be useful in the same case, 6) extent to which the intervention would be considered aversive.
At Baseline
EuroQoL-5D questionnaire (EQ-5D - Spanish version)
Time Frame: After the Internet-delivered psychotherapy program has been finished. We estimate 3 months on average to complete the program.
Generic instrument of health-related quality of life. It has two parts: part 1 records self-reported problems in each of five domains: mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression. Each domain is divided into three levels of severity corresponding to no problems, some problems, and extreme problems. Values range from 1 (best health state) to 0 (death). Part 2 records the subject's self-assessed health on a VAS, a 10 cm vertical line on which the best and worst imaginable health states score 100 and 0, respectively.
After the Internet-delivered psychotherapy program has been finished. We estimate 3 months on average to complete the program.
EuroQoL-5D questionnaire (EQ-5D - Spanish version)
Time Frame: 3 months after completing the psychotherapy program
Generic instrument of health-related quality of life. It has two parts: part 1 records self-reported problems in each of five domains: mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression. Each domain is divided into three levels of severity corresponding to no problems, some problems, and extreme problems. Values range from 1 (best health state) to 0 (death). Part 2 records the subject's self-assessed health on a VAS, a 10 cm vertical line on which the best and worst imaginable health states score 100 and 0, respectively.
3 months after completing the psychotherapy program
EuroQoL-5D questionnaire (EQ-5D - Spanish version)
Time Frame: 12 months after completing the psychotherapy program
Generic instrument of health-related quality of life. It has two parts: part 1 records self-reported problems in each of five domains: mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression. Each domain is divided into three levels of severity corresponding to no problems, some problems, and extreme problems. Values range from 1 (best health state) to 0 (death). Part 2 records the subject's self-assessed health on a VAS, a 10 cm vertical line on which the best and worst imaginable health states score 100 and 0, respectively.
12 months after completing the psychotherapy program
Client Service Receipt Inventory - adapted (CSRI - Spanish version)
Time Frame: After the Internet-delivered psychotherapy program has been finished. We estimate 3 months on average to complete the program
Questionnaire for collecting information about use of healthcare and social care services and other economic impacts (such as time off work due to illness). The variant used in this study was designed to collect retrospective data on service utilization during the previous months after the last assessment. Data on baseline assess the previous three months before inclusion.
After the Internet-delivered psychotherapy program has been finished. We estimate 3 months on average to complete the program
Client Service Receipt Inventory - adapted (CSRI - Spanish version)
Time Frame: 3 months after completing the psychotherapy program
Questionnaire for collecting information about use of healthcare and social care services and other economic impacts (such as time off work due to illness). The variant used in this study was designed to collect retrospective data on service utilization during the previous months after the last assessment. Data on baseline assess the previous three months before inclusion.
3 months after completing the psychotherapy program
Client Service Receipt Inventory - adapted (CSRI - Spanish version)
Time Frame: 12 months after completing the psychotherapy program
Questionnaire for collecting information about use of healthcare and social care services and other economic impacts (such as time off work due to illness). The variant used in this study was designed to collect retrospective data on service utilization during the previous months after the last assessment. Data on baseline assess the previous three months before inclusion.
12 months after completing the psychotherapy program
Overall Depression Severity and Impairment Scale
Time Frame: After the Internet-delivered psychotherapy program has been finished. We estimate 3 months on average to complete the program.
OASIS consists of 5 items that measure the frequency and severity of anxiety, as well as level of avoidance, work/ school/home interference, and social interference associated with anxiety. The instructions orient the respondent to considerate wide range of anxiety symptoms (e.g., panic attacks, worries, flashbacks) when answering the questions, and the time frame is "over the past week". Respondents select among five different response options for each item, which are coded 0-4 and summed to obtain a total score.
After the Internet-delivered psychotherapy program has been finished. We estimate 3 months on average to complete the program.
Overall Depression Severity and Impairment Scale
Time Frame: 3 months after completing the psychotherapy program
OASIS consists of 5 items that measure the frequency and severity of anxiety, as well as level of avoidance, work/ school/home interference, and social interference associated with anxiety. The instructions orient the respondent to considerate wide range of anxiety symptoms (e.g., panic attacks, worries, flashbacks) when answering the questions, and the time frame is "over the past week". Respondents select among five different response options for each item, which are coded 0-4 and summed to obtain a total score.
3 months after completing the psychotherapy program
Overall Depression Severity and Impairment Scale
Time Frame: 12 months after completing the psychotherapy program
OASIS consists of 5 items that measure the frequency and severity of anxiety, as well as level of avoidance, work/ school/home interference, and social interference associated with anxiety. The instructions orient the respondent to considerate wide range of anxiety symptoms (e.g., panic attacks, worries, flashbacks) when answering the questions, and the time frame is "over the past week". Respondents select among five different response options for each item, which are coded 0-4 and summed to obtain a total score.
12 months after completing the psychotherapy program
Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS)
Time Frame: After the Internet-delivered psychotherapy program has been finished. We estimate 3 months on average to complete the program.
PANAS consists of 20 items that evaluate two independent dimensions: positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA). The range for each scale (10 items on each) is 10 to 50. The instrument's psychometric properties are quite satisfactory. It has a validated Spanish version.
After the Internet-delivered psychotherapy program has been finished. We estimate 3 months on average to complete the program.
Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS)
Time Frame: 3 months after completing the psychotherapy program
PANAS consists of 20 items that evaluate two independent dimensions: positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA). The range for each scale (10 items on each) is 10 to 50. The instrument's psychometric properties are quite satisfactory. It has a validated Spanish version.
3 months after completing the psychotherapy program
Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS)
Time Frame: 12 months after completing the psychotherapy program
PANAS consists of 20 items that evaluate two independent dimensions: positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA). The range for each scale (10 items on each) is 10 to 50. The instrument's psychometric properties are quite satisfactory. It has a validated Spanish version.
12 months after completing the psychotherapy program

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Javier García Campayo, PhD, Miguel Servet Hospital & University of Zaragoza, Spain

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

September 1, 2012

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2014

Study Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2016

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 23, 2012

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 31, 2012

First Posted (Estimate)

June 5, 2012

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 10, 2017

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 8, 2017

Last Verified

August 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

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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