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Augmentation of Depression Treatment by Gamified Network Retraining

Not Applicable
Completed
Conditions
Depressive Disorder
Depression Mild
Cognitive Dysfunction
Depression
Cognitive Impairment
Interventions
Behavioral: Usability of the CCT
Behavioral: Changes in regards to the depressive disorder
Registration Number
NCT04400162
Lead Sponsor
University Hospital Tuebingen
Brief Summary

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a highly prevalent and debilitating mental disorder with a high lifetime prevalence of 16-20%. Particularly for people with low socio-economic status, the existing and effective treatment options are hard to reach and show weaker effectivities. There is a potential to ameliorate depressive symptoms and improve quality of life in persons with mild-to-moderate depression by providing access to stimulating computerized trainings. Single computerized trainings that target depressive symptoms have been tested in laboratory and clinical settings so far. To date, innovative market access and confirmatory studies are missing for a large-scale implementation of such trainings. Thereby, the present work will foster a digitalized training paradigm (Paced-Auditory Serial Addition Task; PASAT) which was previously shown to reduce depressive symptoms, but in a novel innovative and gamified form on a tablet-PC handed out to participants. Different versions of the same training paradigm that comprise additional game elements will be compared. The feasibility study will gather data on effect size estimates of symptom severity reduction, user experience and usage in an ecological valid setting.

Detailed Description

Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
32
Inclusion Criteria
  • Full age (> 18 years old)
  • Consent
  • German mother tongue
  • Presence of mild-to-moderate depressive symptoms (MADRS > 10 and < 34 and confirmation of depressive symptoms in M.I.N.I. diagnostic interview)
  • Stable or no medication with antidepressant drugs or other psychoactive agents (at least for 6 weeks)
  • No or current psychotherapy
Exclusion Criteria
  • Presence of schizophrenia / psychotic disorder (according to M.I.N.I. diagnostic interview)
  • Cognitive impairment
  • Epilepsy

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
CCT (game)Usability of the CCTThis arm consists of the same CCT as the standard version, however pre-defined gaming elements that are thought to increase usability as well as interest in the intervention have been added.
CCT (standard)Changes in regards to the depressive disorderThis arm consists of the CCT in a standard variant that provides the basic training experience without any added gaming elements.
CCT (game)Changes in regards to the depressive disorderThis arm consists of the same CCT as the standard version, however pre-defined gaming elements that are thought to increase usability as well as interest in the intervention have been added.
CCT (standard)Usability of the CCTThis arm consists of the CCT in a standard variant that provides the basic training experience without any added gaming elements.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Usability and feasibility on the UsExQ [User Experience Questionnaire]2-4 weeks

Usage frequency, performed calculations during each session and over the course of the participation. Feedback on perceived quality of the device and software. Acceptance of training and willingness to continue (open text questionnaires; usability ranging from -- to ++ on a 5 point scale with negative responses corresponding to a more negative user experience).

MADRS [Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale]18-20 weeks

Evaluation of depressive symptoms over the course of the intervention on the MADRS (lower numberes show decrease in depressive symptoms; range from 0-60).

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
IDS-SR [Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology - Self Report] (depression)18-20 weeks

Changes of the score over the course of the experiment (lower numbers showing decrease of symptoms; range from 0-84).

RSES [Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale] (self esteem)18-20 weeks

Changes of the score over the course of the experiment (higher scores showing increase of self-esteem; range from 0-30).

WHO-5 [WHO-Five Well-Being Index] (overall wellbeing)18-20 weeks

Changes of the score over the course of the experiment (lower numbers showing decrease of perceived wellbeing; range from 0-25).

SRQ [State Rumination Questionnaire] (rumination)18-20 weeks

Changes of the score over the course of the experiment (lower scores showing decrease of ruminating thoughts; range from 10-50).

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen

🇩🇪

Tübingen, Germany

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