Counselling Service for Low-income EM in Hong Kong

The University of Hong Kong (HKU)

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Depression, Anxiety

Treatments: Other: Counselling

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04811170

EM RCT

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study will recruit 120 ethnic minorities in Hong Kong from the Zubin Foundation (TZF) at the Ethnic Minority Well-being Centre (EMWBC), which is a service provider of EM mental health support in Hong Kong. This service provides counselling service and referrals to HA via the Integrated Community Centre for Mental Wellness (ICCMW) to psychiatrists. The service covers the South Asians population of approximately eighty-four thousands people in Hong Kong. Participants will be recruited by the Zubin Foundation through outreach activities screening and counselling will be conducted in partnering schools and NGOs (e.g., Yan Oi Tong in Tuen Mun and Yew Chung College of Early Childhood Education in Aberdeen).

The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of counselling service for improving mood symptoms in EM, also to assess the effectiveness of counselling service in improving psychological functioning (i.e. resilience and rumination, self-compassion, self-efficacy and life satisfaction), social functioning and quality of life and to assess whether the counselling service is cost-effective and offers good value for money.

The study is a wait-list RCT. Participants will be randomly assigned into either the intervention group (n = 60) or the wait-list control group (n = 60) in a 1:1 ratio. Each participant in the intervention group will be paired up with a participant from the control group, the number of sessions and duration of waiting period varies depending on the severity of mood symptoms. Participants with mild to moderate mood symptoms will receive a maximum of 6 counselling sessions and will be assessed at baseline (T0, W1), at post

-treatment for counselling group (T1, W8), and after 2 booster sessions. Participants in the waiting list control group will receive the same counselling service after the counselling group completed the intervention. Participants with severe mood symptoms will receive a maximum of 10 counselling sessions and will be assessed at baseline (T0, W1), at post-treatment for counselling group (T1, W12), and after 2 booster sessions. Participants in the waiting list control group will receive the same counselling service after the counselling group completed the intervention.

This evaluation study will provide data to inform the government in mental health policy review and development.

Enrollment: 120 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 15 to 64 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• South Asian ethnic minorities (except domestic helper) in Hong Kong;
• 15 - 64 years
• reach at least the mild level of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales - 21 Items in at least one of the following scores: the Depression Score (DASS-D), Anxiety Score (DASS-A) or Stress Score (DASS-S), or low Quality of Life score
• have sufficient proficiency in English, Hindi or Urdu to understand verbal instructions and give informed consent.

Exclusion criteria

• from high-income family (cut off ranges from HK$15K for single person family to HK$45K of 6 or more people family)
• mental conditions that require other treatment priorities (e.g., suicidal risk, substance abuse, current or past episodes of psychotic disorder, personality disorders)
• medical conditions that severely limit participation, comprehension, or adherence to treatment (e.g., epilepsy, dementia, terminal medical illness) and,
• current usage of antidepressant or mood stabilizers.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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120 participants in 2 patient groups

Counselling group

Experimental group

Description:

Counselling sessions will be conducted at the designated centers operated by the Zubin foundation. According to the level of the DASS score, 6 to 10 sessions (based on the algorithm) of counselling service will be provided to the participants by three registered counsellors. A lead counsellor will oversee all cases and services. The counselling program consists of 6-10 60-minute sessions, and the sessions can be flexibly delivered over 1 to 2 weeks, ranging from one 60-minute session biweekly or weekly.

Treatment:

Other: Counselling

Waiting group

Other group

Description:

For participants in the waiting list control group, they will receive monitoring service over phone calls during the 8-12 weeks wait period. Counselling service will be offered after the post-treatment assessment.

Treatment:

Other: Counselling