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Treatment of Depression and/or Anxiety - the Tree Theme Method® (TTM) as an Intervention

Not Applicable
Active, not recruiting
Conditions
Anxiety
Depression
Interventions
Other: Tree Theme Method ® (TTM)
Registration Number
NCT01980381
Lead Sponsor
Kronoberg County Council
Brief Summary

Depression and anxiety are among our most common diseases and the prevalence is increasing. When suffering from depression or anxiety, the individual's ability to cope with everyday life occupations is decreased, as well as the ability to relate to others. The Tree Theme Method® (TTM) is a treatment method. The purpose is to enhance the ability to develop strategies for occupations in everyday life and relationships with others. The method involves using creative activities to create a life story focusing on everyday occupations and to create an imagination of future possibilities/goals. The TTM is a short-term therapy with five sessions. The treatment also implies that the patient is asked to identify various homework tasks to perform between the sessions.

The aim of the project is to investigate the effects of the TTM compared to a control group for people with depression and anxiety diagnosis. The intention is to examine the effect on outcome measures regarding psychological symptoms, everyday occupations and health. The study has been approved by the Regional Ethical Review Board.

The project is a randomized multicenter study with an intervention group and a control group. A total of 130 patients will be included. Inclusion criteria are patients with depression and/or anxiety in the age of 18-65 years and who have problems with their everyday occupations. Exclusion criteria are individuals with a severe somatic illness or psychosis and/or who have difficulties to understand and fill out self-rating questionnaires.

The project implies that doctors will refer appropriate patients to the occupational therapist. After informed consent each patient will be drawn to the TTM or control. Before and after the treatment, as well as 3 and 12 months after finished treatment the patient will meet a project assistant in order to respond to questionnaires regarding psychological symptoms, everyday occupations and health.

The study is a collaborative project involving the Region Skåne, Kronoberg County Council, and Jönköping County Council. Doctors will recruit patients and occupational therapists will perform the treatment. The research team comprise of researchers from Kronoberg County Council (B Gunnarsson and K Hedin), Lund University (C Håkansson) and School of Health Sciences in Jönköping (P Wagman).

Detailed Description

Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
121
Inclusion Criteria
  • Depression and/or anxiety in age of 18-65 years and problems with everyday occupations.
Exclusion Criteria
  • Severe somatic illness or psychosis and/or difficulties to understand and fill out self-rating questionnaires

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Tree Theme Method ® (TTM) interventionTree Theme Method ® (TTM)The TTM involves storytelling and story making, in which the patient draws tree maps representing certain periods of his/her life.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Psychological symptomsChange from baseline to after treatment (6-9 weeks), 3 and 12 months

Psychological symptoms measured by the SCL-90-R(Derogatis, 1992) Depression measured by the MADRS-S(Montgomery \& Åsberg, 1979) Anxiety/depression measured by the HAD(Zigmond \& Snaith, 1983)

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Everyday occupationsChange from baseline, after treatment (6-9 weeks), and 3 and 12 months

Everyday occupations measured by the Occupational performance and satisfaction with occupational performance measured (COPM)(Law et al., 1998), the Satisfaction with Daily occupations (SDO)(Eklund, 2004)and the Occupational balance (Wagman, Håkansson \& Björklund, 2011).

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Kronoberg County Council

🇸🇪

Växjö, Kronoberg, Sweden

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