Brief Internet Intervention for Hazardous Alcohol Use to People Seeking Online Help for Depression

Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Depression; Problem Drinking

Treatments: Behavioral: Check Your Drinking; Behavioral: MoodGYM

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03421080

064/2017

Details and patient eligibility

About

Hazardous alcohol consumption is common among people suffering from depression. There are effective Internet interventions that target hazardous alcohol consumption or depression separately but none that combine these online interventions without the involvement of a therapist. This study aims to evaluate the effects of combining an Internet intervention targeting hazardous alcohol consumption with one for depression on drinking and depressive symptoms.

Full description

A double-blinded, parallel group randomized controlled trial will be used. Participants with current depression who also drink in a hazardous fashion (N=986) will be recruited for a study to 'help improve an online intervention for depression.' Participants will be assigned, by chance, to receive MoodGYM or to receive MoodGYM plus a brief Internet intervention for hazardous alcohol consumption - Check Your Drinking (CYD). Participants will be contacted 3- and 6-months after receiving the interventions to assess changes in drinking and depression status. It is predicted that participants receiving the CYD intervention in addition to MoodGYM will reduce their alcohol consumption to a greater extent than those who just received MoodGYM. Further predictions include the impact of receiving Check Your Drinking on improvements in depressive symptoms.

Enrollment: 988 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• 18 years of age or over
• score 10 or more on the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9)
• score 8 or more on the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT)

Exclusion criteria

• current suicidal ideation on the PHQ-9

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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988 participants in 2 patient groups

MoodGYM Only

Active Comparator group

Description:

The MoodGYM only Internet intervention will consist of a popular, automated, self-help cognitive behavioral therapy program for depression comprising five modules to be completed over five weeks and an online workbook incorporating 29 exercises. A series of published research trials has shown MoodGYM to be effective in reducing depressive symptoms in users in a range of settings (e.g., schools, universities, Lifeline suicide prevention, U.K. NHS Choices online), for different aspects of the mental health service spectrum (e.g., prevention vs treatment), and different age groups (adults, adolescents).

Treatment:

Behavioral: MoodGYM

MoodGYM + CYD

Experimental group

Description:

The MoodGYM + CYD intervention condition will consist of the MoodGYM only intervention and an online intervention providing feedback on quantity and frequency of drinking, severity of hazardous drinking, and provides recommendations for safe levels of alcohol consumption (Check Your Drinking - CYD). The CYD Final Report will be provided as part of the participant's MoodDYM dashboard.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Check Your Drinking

Behavioral: MoodGYM