A Pilot Investigation of Clinician-guided Internet-Delivered Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Depressed Patients (iCBT)

Institute of Mental Health, Singapore

Status: Completed

Conditions: Depressive Symptoms

Treatments: Behavioral: Internet-delivered Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04100785

2015/00404

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study aims to explore the efficacy and acceptability of a clinician-guided internet-based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (iCBT) programme for patients with depression, in Singapore.

Full description

All outpatients, from the Institute of Mental Health, Singapore, who are diagnosed with a primary diagosis of mild to moderate depression and were referred to the Psychology Department for therapy were invited to take part in this research. Participants were randomised into two groups: iCBT Intervention Group and Delayed Waitlist-Control Group. The four-week iCBT programme comprised of three face to face 30-minute sessions with a clinician and six online modules).The treatment group is hypothesised to exhibit pre-post improvements in depressive symptoms, compared to the control group.

Enrollment: 55 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 21 to 65 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• 21 to 65 years old
• Not currently seeing a therapist for any form of invidual or group therapy
• Diagnosed with a primary diagnosis of depression by IMH psychiatrist
• A total score of above 9 on the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9; Kroenke et al., 2001), indicating at least mild symptoms
• If using medication for depression then on a stable dose for at least 1 month,
• Provides informed consent
• Able to read and speak at least Primary 6 level English
• Adequate IT skills to operate iCBT programme

Exclusion criteria

• Severe depression (i.e. score = 23 on PHQ-9)
• Strong suicidal ideation (i.e. score > 2 on Question 9 of the PHQ-9)
• Current active suicidal intention or plan
• Presenting problem is not depression
• Does not meet the minimum English language requirements stated above
• Participants who are concurrently attending other forms of group/individual psychotherapy

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Crossover Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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55 participants in 2 patient groups

Internet-delivered Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (iCBT)

Experimental group

Description:

The iCBT programme comprised of 6 online modules, delivered over 4 weeks, with 3 face-to-face sessions provided by a clinician.The face-to-face sessions were conducted at week 1, 3 and 4. The objectives of the face-to-face sessions was for participants to discuss with the clinician about the application of the content of the modules and the active therapeutic interventions were all found in the online modules.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Internet-delivered Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Delayed Wait-list control

No Intervention group

Description:

The delayed wait-list control did not receive any therapy interventions for 4 weeks from the pre-treatment assessment and from the fifth week onwards, they received the same intervention as the iCBT experimental group.