Internet-delivered treatment: its potential as a low-intensity community intervention for adults with symptoms of depression: protocol for a randomized controlled trial

BMC Psychiatry

Study Protocol

Claire Hayes¹  John Sharry²  Gavin Doherty³  Ladislav Timulak⁴  Amy Colla⁵  Ciara Joyce⁵  Derek Richards⁶ 

[1] Aware Charity Ireland, 72 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2, Ireland;Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland;School of Computer Science and Statistics, University of Dublin, Trintiy College, Dublin, Ireland;School of Psychology, University of Dublin, Trintiy College, Dublin, Ireland;SilverCloud Health Ltd, Dublin, Ireland;SilverCloud Health Ltd, Dublin, Ireland;School of Psychology, Trintiy College, Dublin, Ireland;

关键词: Depression;    Online interventions;    Treatment;    CBT;    Randomized trial;    Symptoms;    Internet-delivered;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-244X-14-147

 received in 2013-12-04, accepted in 2014-05-14,  发布年份 2014

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundDepression is a high prevalence disorder, displaying high rates of lifetime incidence, early age onset, high chronicity, and role impairment. In Ireland 12-month prevalence of depression has been reported to be 10.3%. A large percentage of affected individuals have no medical diagnosis nor seek treatment. Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) has established itself as an option for the treatment of depression. Many Irish adults with depression find it difficult to access evidence-based CBT, this is due to several factors, like stigma and costs. However, systematic factors including the shortage of trained professionals and the relative underdevelopment of services also make access difficult.Stepped-care can increase access to evidence-based CBT. One option is tailored internet-delivered treatment programs. Preliminary research from Ireland needs now to include large-scale studies on effectiveness. Thus the current study seeks to examine the potential of an internet-delivered low-intensity treatment for symptoms of depression in an Irish adult community sample.Method/DesignThe study is a randomized controlled trial of an online CBT (iCBT) program for the treatment of adults with depressive symptoms. The trial will include an active treatment group and a waiting-list control group. The active condition will consist of 8 weekly modules of iCBT, with post-session feedback support. Participants in the waiting list will receive access to the treatment at week 8. Participants will complete the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) and eligibility criteria will also apply. Primary outcomes are depressive symptoms. Secondary outcomes include quality of life indicators, significant events and satisfaction with online treatment. Data will be collected at baseline and at post-treatment, week 8, and at follow-up week 20 (3-months) and week 32 (6-months). Analysis will be conducted on the intention-to-treat basis.DiscussionThe study seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of an online delivered treatment for depression in a community sample of Irish adults with symptoms of depression. The study will be a first contribution and depending on the sample recruited the results may be generalizable to people with similar difficulties in Ireland and may therefore give insight into the potential of low-intensity interventions for Irish people with depressive symptoms.Trial registration numberCurrent Controlled Trials ISRCTN03704676. DOI: 10.1186/ISRCTN03704676

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Richards et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014