Prevention of ANxiety and Depression Over Risk Assessment

The Mediterranean Institute for the Advance of Biotechnology and Health Research

Status: Begins enrollment this month

Conditions: m-Health; Prevention; Depression; Anxiety

Treatments: Other: Pandora-2 app with low levels of personalization, interaction, monitoring and feedback; Behavioral: Pandora-1 app with high levels of personalization, interaction, monitoring and feedback

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07185867

PI21/01695

Details and patient eligibility

About

The general goal is to design, develop and evaluate a personalized, self-guided and trans-diagnostic internet-based intervention to prevent anxiety and depression, based on predictive risk algorithms and decision support systems (DSS), in Spanish and Chilean adult population.

Methods: We will conduct a three-arm parallel randomized controlled trial with one year of follow-up. A total of 2,595 depression- or/and anxiety-free participants (865 per group), aged 18-65, will be recruited and randomly assigned to one of two intervention groups or to the usual-care group (in a 1:1:1 ratio). Both interventions, Pandora-1 and Pandora-2, will be implemented via a smartphone application, the Pandora App. Pandora-1 is a self-guided and transdiagnostic intervention that includes 4 interactive intervention modules (move more, sleep better, improve relationships and emotional well-being), as well as predictive risk algorithms, decision support systems, and monitoring and feedback to implement personalized plans for the prevention of anxiety and depression. Pandora-2 is a psycho-educative intervention with predictive risk algorithms, minimally interactive and without personalization. The primary outcome is the combined rate of the onset of anxiety or depression (DSM-V diagnoses as measured by the CIDI interview) at 6 and 12 months. The secondary outcomes are the reduction of depressive (PHQ-9) and anxious (GAD-7) symptoms, risk of depression and anxiety (predictD and predictA risk algorithms), and the improvement of mental & physical quality of life (SF-12), as well as acceptation and satisfaction with Pandora apps (u-MARS) and adverse effects (ad hoc questionnaire), which will be assessed at 1, 6 and 12 months. As mediators will be measured social support (Duke-UNC-2 items), physical activity (BPAQ-2), sleep (AIS-5), and repetitive negative thinking (PTQ-9) evaluated at 1, 6 and 12 months. We will use ActiGraph-GT3X accelerometers to assess physical activity and sleep at 1 and 6 months, in a subsample of 404 sedentary study participants.

Full description

The specific goals are: 1) to adapt the epD-Work App (an App developed to prevent depression in the workplace with predictive risk algorithms, decision support system, monitoring and feedback, repositories, communication systems and intervention modules) in a new App, the Pandora App, for the personalized anxiety and depression prevention in Spanish and Chilean adult population; 2) to evaluate the usability and adherence of the participants to the Pandora interventions; 3) to evaluate the acceptability and satisfaction of the participants regarding the Pandora interventions; 4) to evaluate the effectiveness of the Pandora interventions to reduce the onset of episodes of major depression and anxiety disorders; 5) to evaluate the effectiveness of the Pandora interventions in reducing depressive and anxious symptoms and the probability of developing depression and anxiety in the next 12 months (predict-D and predict-A risk algorithm); 6) to evaluate the effectiveness of the Pandora interventions to improve physical and mental quality of life; 7) to perform a causal analysis on the anxiety and depression preventive effect of the Pandora intervention taking into account several mediators and moderators; and 8) to evaluate the appearance of undesirable effects associated with the use of the Pandora interventions.

Enrollment: 2,595 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 65 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Informed consent acceptance
• Having a valid telephone number
• Ownership of an Apple-Android-operating smartphone with an internet connection
• 18-65 years old
• Habitually reside (> 6 months/year) in Spain or Chile

Exclusion criteria

• Difficulty reading and/or understanding Spanish
• Suffer from disabling neurological conditions (dementia, blindness, etc.) that makes it difficult to use smartphone, terminal illness with a life expectancy < 12 months, a history of severe mental disorders confirmed by a healthcare professional (schizophrenia or psychosis, bipolar, anoxeria, bulimia or personality disorders), having alcohol or substance use disorder within the past year
• Currently receiving face to face or via internet psychological treatment (currently taking antidepressants or anxiolytics is not an exclusion criterion, but their use will be taken into account throughout the follow-up)
• Presence of clinically relevant anxiouys (GAD-7 score ≥ 10 points) or depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 score ≥ 10 points).

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Triple Blind

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2,595 participants in 3 patient groups

Pandora-1 app intervention

Experimental group

Description:

In this arm, participants will use an internet-based, self-guided and personalized intervention to prevent depression and anxiety, which also includes risk predictive algorithms, personalized prevention plans, decision support systems, monitoring and feedback.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Pandora-1 app with high levels of personalization, interaction, monitoring and feedback

Pandora-2 app intervention

Experimental group

Description:

In this arm, participants will use an internet-based and self-guided intervention that includes psychoeducational brochures for the prevention of anxiety and depression that can be used when they want.

Treatment:

Other: Pandora-2 app with low levels of personalization, interaction, monitoring and feedback

Control Condition (usual care)

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants in this arm, as is also the case with participants in the Pandora-1 and -2 arms, will continue to receive usual care from their health providers and will fill out the same questionnaires and reminders. However, they will not receive information about their responses or suggestions related to them, except those included in the security protocol on suicide risk and potential clinical diagnosis of anxiety disorders or depression.