The Oh Happy Day Class - Digital Connections (OHDC-DC): A Pilot Study (OHDC-DC)

May 28, 2026 updated by: University of Wisconsin, Madison

The Oh Happy Day Class - Digital Connections (OHDC-DC): an Exploratory Pilot Study

The goal of this clinical trial is to see if a mobile phone app can deliver depression treatment to African Americans who are depressed. The main question it aims to answer is if this treatment is effective in reducing symptoms of depression.

Participants will attend six 90-minute weekly classes via an app on their phone, and will be asked to complete surveys every week. Participants can expect to be in the study for four months.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The Oh Happy Day Class-Digital Connections (OHDC-DC) is designed for African American adults experiencing clinical depression (CD). OHDC originally comprised of 13 treatment modules focused on culturally relevant strategies to increase knowledge of depression and healthy coping behaviors aimed at reducing symptoms of clinical depression and improving health outcomes.

The Oh Happy Day Class-Digital Connections (OHDC-DC) comprise of 5 core elements of the OHDC-DC:

  1. 90-minute-weekly cognitive behavioral psycho-education classes over a 6-week period.
  2. Six classes will be offered and facilitated online in the computerized OHDC-DC.
  3. Participants will be encouraged to stay engaged between classes by digitally connecting on the app with the class content. On the app they will receive reminders and messages from staff and participants to stay digitally connected and engaged.
  4. Embedded in the classes and content is psychoeducation with an emphasis on educating participants about depression, raising awareness of mental illness with the goal of normalizing it and reducing stigma, and increasing healthy coping behaviors, and.
  5. The intervention will be delivered by a licensed mental health clinician.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

8

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 Contact

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Wisconsin
      • Madison, Wisconsin, United States, 53705
        • University of Wisconsin
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Earlise Ward, PhD
        • Contact:

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • African-American
  • Age 18 and older
  • Experiencing depression (as evidenced by a score of 5 or higher on the PHQ-9)
  • Own a mobile phone

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Individuals who are currently receiving psychotherapy
  • Individuals who are presently experiencing suicidal ideation
  • Individuals who started psychotropic medication less than three months prior to the start of the OHDC will be excluded from the study
  • Participants scoring 25 or higher on the PHQ-9 will be screened out

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: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Oh Happy Day Class-Digital Connections (OHDC-DC)
Behavioral: OHDC-DC
90-minute-weekly cognitive behavioral psycho-education classes using a mobile phone app over a 6-week period

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Personal Health Questionnaire Depression Scale score
Time Frame: Baseline to one month post-intervention (approximately 12 weeks)
Using the 8 item Personal Health Questionnaire Depression Scale (PHQ-8), participants will rate how much they have been bothered by symptoms on a scale of 0-3 with a possible range of 0 to 24. Higher scores indicate greater degree of depression.
Baseline to one month post-intervention (approximately 12 weeks)
Change in Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) score
Time Frame: Baseline to one month post-intervention (approximately 12 weeks)
Using the GAD-7 score, participants will rate how much they have been bothered by symptoms on a scale of 0-3 with a possible range of 0 to 24. Higher scores indicate greater degree of anxiety.
Baseline to one month post-intervention (approximately 12 weeks)
Change in Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (QIDS)
Time Frame: Baseline to one month post-intervention (approximately 12 weeks)
Using the 16-item QIDS, participants will rate how much they have been bothered by symptoms on a scale of 0-3 with a possible range of 0 to 27. Higher scores indicate greater degree of depression.
Baseline to one month post-intervention (approximately 12 weeks)
Satisfaction with intervention
Time Frame: 12 weeks
Participants will rate their satisfaction with the intervention by answering a 9-item questionnaire with a scale of 1-7 (1= none of the time, 7= all of the time). Higher scores indicate greater satisfaction with the intervention.
12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Earlise Ward, PhD, University of Wisconsin, Madison

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 (Estimated)

June 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

February 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

February 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 4, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 4, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

January 16, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 29, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 28, 2026

Last Verified

March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2023-1437
  • A532007 (Other Identifier: UW- Madison)
  • SMPH/FAMILY MED/RES GRANTS (Other Identifier: UW- Madison)
  • Protocol Version 11/16/23 (Other Identifier: UW- Madison)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

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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