Promotion of Self-help Strategies for Depression

Phase 1

Completed

• Conditions: Depression; Depressive Disorder
• Interventions: Behavioral: Mood Memo emails

• Registration Number: NCT01399502
• Lead Sponsor: Orygen

Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of health promotion emails for depression. It is hypothesised that emails containing self-help advice will improve depression symptoms more than emails containing information about depression.

Detailed Description

Depression symptoms are commonly experienced and disrupt day-to-day life. Increasing depression literacy and the use of effective self-help methods could improve depression across the community. The internet is an ideal promotional medium for health messages, because it is often used to search for information about mental health issues, and health messages can be widely disseminated at little cost. An email campaign could be a low-cost approach to improving self-help behavior and knowledge about depression in adults with depression symptoms.

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2011-07-19
• Study First Submitted QC: 2011-07-20
• Study First Posted: 2011-07-21
• Study Start: 2011-11
• Primary Completion: 2012-12
• Study Completion: 2012-12
• Status Verified: 2013-12
• Last Update Submitted: 2013-12-09
• Last Update Posted: 2013-12-11

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 1736

Inclusion Criteria

• Access to the internet at least once per week
• Resident of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom, USA

Exclusion Criteria

Not provided

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Self-help advice	Mood Memo emails	Each email will contain a self-help strategy for coping with depressive symptoms. The email will contain information about why the strategy will be effective, tips for implementing the strategy and overcoming barriers, and how to set a goal to implement the strategy. Strategies are based on previous research published by the trial co-ordinators.
Depression information	Mood Memo emails	Each email will contain different information about depression, such as symptoms, risk factors, prevalence.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Depression symptom score on PHQ-9 at post-intervention	6-weeks post baseline
Depression symptom score on PHQ-9 at 6-month follow-up	6-months post end-of-intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Psychological functioning on Work and Social Adjustment Scale at post-intervention	6-weeks post baseline
Psychological distress on K10 at post-intervention	6-weeks post baseline
Psychological functioning on Work and Social Adjustment Scale at 6-month follow-up	6-months post end-of-intervention
Psychological distress on K10 at 6-month follow-up	6-months post end-of-intervention

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Orygen Youth Health Research Centre; 🇦🇺 Parkville, Victoria, Australia