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Online Support Groups for Depression and Anxiety

University College London (UCL) logo

University College London (UCL)

Status and phase

Unknown
Phase 2
Phase 1

Conditions

Depression
Anxiety

Treatments

Behavioral: Online support group
Behavioral: Expressive writing

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT01149265
UCL1376/001

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of online support groups for anxiety and depression.

Full description

In recent years the number of online support groups for conditions like depression and anxiety has grown rapidly. Millions of people are thought to be using them around the world. This research aims to help find out whether the use of online support groups is beneficial and to learn more about what happens in these groups.

This research will compare online support groups with expressive writing. Expressive writing involves people writing about their thoughts and feelings, often upsetting ones, for a short period of time. In online support groups giving and receiving support from others can be helpful while expressive writing about emotional issues can be cathartic.

1,000 participants will be recruited online from the UK, USA and Canada and randomly assigned to either an existing online support group or to an expressive writing condition.

Enrollment

1,000 estimated patients

Sex

All

Ages

18+ years old

Volunteers

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

  • Self-defined depression & anxiety
  • Resident in the UK, US or Canada
  • Access to the internet

Exclusion criteria

Trial design

Primary purpose

Treatment

Allocation

Randomized

Interventional model

Parallel Assignment

Masking

None (Open label)

1,000 participants in 2 patient groups

Online support group
Experimental group
Treatment:
Behavioral: Online support group
Expressive writing
Active Comparator group
Treatment:
Behavioral: Expressive writing

Trial contacts and locations

1

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Data sourced from clinicaltrials.gov

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