Improving Access to Depression Care in Parkinson's Disease: A Telehealth Approach

All study procedures, including the initial evaluation, study treatment sessions, and follow-up study assessments, take place over the phone and no travel is required. All PWP across the USA may participate.

All participants will continue to receive their routine medical treatment under the supervision of their personal doctors (e.g., neurologists, psychiatrists, primary care physicians, therapists) while participating in the study. In addition to usual care, half of the participants in the study will receive the experimental telehealth treatment (TH-CBT; intervention group), immediately after enrolling in the research program. The other half will only receive usual care (control group) and will have the option to receive TH-CBT, after completing all study related assessments (9 months after the initial evaluation). Group assignment will be decided randomly (i.e., by chance).

Study eligibility will be determined by a qualified professional. Those who qualify for participation will be randomly assigned (e.g., flip of a coin) to either the intervention (TH-CBT) or the control group (enhanced usual care).

Participants assigned to the TH-CBT group will receive a 10-chapter CBT self-help treatment workbook, tailored to the unique needs of people with PD, immediately following enrollment. Participants will read and complete one treatment module per week (approximately 60 minutes per module plus practice exercises throughout the week). The treatment materials will review different coping skills for the effective management of depression. Study therapists will call participants to review the treatment material over the phone every week (after every chapter) or every other week (after ever 2 chapters), based on participant needs. These telephone-based counseling sessions will last 60 minutes. It will take approximately 10 weeks to complete the study treatment materials.

A family member or friend (carepartner) will also be asked to participate in 3-4 separate educational sessions (30-60 minutes each), evenly dispersed throughout the 10 week TH-CBT treatment period. The study treatment provided to the care-partner will teach the care-partner how to best support the participant with PD as he/she tries to incorporate the information learned during the study treatment, in day-to-day life.