A Pragmatic Superiority Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Brief Cognitive Behavioral Telepsychotherapy, Brief Interpersonal Telepsychotherapy and Telepsychoeducation for the Reduction of Emotional Distress During COVID-19 Outbreak in Professionals and Students From Essential Services With a High Level of Emotional Distress in Brazil in the Context of COVID-19
Trial Snapshot
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Enrollment
- 999
- Locations
- 2
- Primary Endpoint
- Symptom Reduction at 1-month
Study Overview
Brief Summary
The study consists in a pragmatic superiority randomized controlled trial comparing different strategies of psychotherapy for professionals and students from essential services with high levels of emotional distress during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. Therapeutic strategies to be evaluated are Brief Cognitive Behavioral Telepsychotherapy, Brief Interpersonal Telepsychotherapy and Telepsychoeducation, as an active control.
Note: This study was approved by the Ethics and Research Committee of the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre and is originally registered at Plataforma Brasil, a Brazilian study registration platform (under CAAE: 30608420.5.0000.5327). Recruitment began in May 28th 2020.
Detailed Description
PRAGMATIC TREATMENT TRIAL
TITLE: "A pragmatic superiority randomized controlled trial comparing Brief Cognitive Behavioral Telepsychotherapy, Brief Interpersonal Telepsychotherapy and Telepsychoeducation for the reduction of emotional distress during COVID-19 outbreak in professionals and students from essential services with a high level of emotional distress in Brazil".
IMPORTANCE: COVID-19 outbreak is associated with increased emotional distress (depression, anxiety, and irritability) all over the world. Currently, there are no large randomized trials testing interventions to reduce the burden caused by mental disorders during a pandemic outbreak of these proportions.
OBJECTIVE: To test the effectiveness of two modalities of Brief-Telepsychotherapy (Cognitive Behavioral and Interpersonal) to the reduction of symptoms of emotional distress (anxiety, depression, and irritability) in professionals and students from essential services with a high level of those symptoms in Brazil during the COVID-19 outbreak.
DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Thee-arm randomized clinical trial. Participants were recruited in Brazil from the national service of telehealth provided by the ministry of health. Participants included professional and students from essential services suffering from high levels of anxiety, depression, and irritability symptoms during the COVID-19 outbreak. High levels of symptoms were defined by either of the following: (1) T score higher than 70 on the PROMIS Anxiety Scale; (2) T score higher than 70 on the PROMIS Depression Scale; (3) T score higher than 70 on the PROMIS Anger Scale.
Study Design
- Study Type
- Interventional
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Intervention Model
- Parallel
- Primary Purpose
- Treatment
- Masking
- None
Eligibility Criteria
- Sex
- All
- Accepts Healthy Volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria
- •Professionals and students from essential services suffering from high levels of emotional distress
- •T score higher than 70 on the PROMIS Anxiety Scale
- •T score higher than 70 on the PROMIS Depression Scale
- •T score higher than 70 on the PROMIS Anger Scale
Exclusion Criteria
- •Moderate to severe suicide risk assessed by a psychiatrist
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Symptom Reduction at 1-month
Time Frame: 1-month
Proportion of participants with a 50% reduction in T-scores at 1-month in the scales Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) of Depression, Anxiety and Anger that were scored above 70 at baseline.
Secondary Outcomes
- Symptom Reduction at 3 and 6-months follow-up(3 and 6-month)
- Remission Levels in distress scales(1, 3 and 6-months)
- Service Satisfaction(1-month)
- Improvement in Quality of Life(1, 3 and 6-months)
Investigators
Giovanni Abrahao Salum Junior
Principal Investigator
Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre