Self-help Booklets for Depression in Adults With Pulmonary Hypertension.

Cardiff University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Depression; Pulmonary Hypertension

Treatments: Other: Self-help materials for depression

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05726669

PHDEP2023

Details and patient eligibility

About

The investigators have developed self-help booklets specifically for adults with PH who are experiencing difficulties with depression. The self-help booklets are based on a type of psychological treatment called Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or CBT for short.

• CBT looks at the way people think and what they do, and how this affects their mood.
• It involves making changes to thoughts and behaviours.
• CBT can help people develop more helpful ways of coping with depression.
• CBT is one of the most effective therapies for depression, this means it works well.

There are four booklets that participants will work though weekly in their own time and at home. The aim of this study is to test whether the self-help booklets are helpful in reducing depression in people with pulmonary hypertension.

Those taking part will be asked to complete a series of questions asking about themselves including whether they are experiencing any difficulties such as depression and anxiety.

They will then be allocated at random to one of two groups. Group one will receive the self-help booklets, called the intervention group. Group two, or the wait list group, will receive the intervention at a later date if it is found to be helpful. Having two groups is very important as it will allow us to see whether benefits associated with taking part in the project was because of the self-help booklets or something else.

Participants in group one will also be contacted partway through the intervention to ask about their experiences of taking part.

Both groups will be asked to complete a series of questionnaires four weeks later and then again in one month. Participants in group one will be contacted again to find out more about their experiences of the project.

Full description

Previous research has demonstrated high rates of depression in people with pulmonary hypertension (PH). The psychological interventions that support people with depression are not made specific to people with PH and may not be relevant for them, and there is limited evidence examining psychological treatments for depression in people with PH. The aim of this study is to develop and test a self-help psychological intervention for depression based on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), which has been developed specifically for individuals with PH. When participants have agreed to take part, they will be allocated at random into an intervention or wait-list group. The self-help materials will be provided online (for people outside of the UK) or posted in paper form (for those living in the UK) and will take four weeks to complete at home. Both groups will complete questionnaires at the same time points (before starting the study, after four weeks and after eight weeks (pre-, post-intervention and one-month follow up). In addition, the intervention group will be contacted after two weeks of their participation and asked about their experiences of the intervention and participation in the study - measuring acceptability of the intervention. The intervention group will also be asked to complete a feedback questionnaire after completing the intervention to further examine acceptability. Analysis will be conducted by the researcher to examine whether the self-help intervention reduced depression in individuals with PH, compared to those with PH who did not receive the intervention. The potential benefit of the study includes a new intervention for depression in people with PH. When the study is completed, if the intervention is found to be helpful and safe, then the people who took part in the study and did not receive the intervention will be offered the intervention.

Enrollment: 68 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension
• Over the age of 18 years
• Able to complete questionnaires without help from others
• Can understand English
• They will read all study documents in detail and ask the researcher any questions they have. Based on this, they could provide informed consent to take part if they are eligible.
• Feels like they have difficulties with depression, low mood or negative thoughts.
• Not currently experiencing thoughts of self-harm or suicide. This means that they have not had thoughts of self-harm or suicide within the last month.

Exclusion criteria

• Current thoughts of self-harm or suicide.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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68 participants in 2 patient groups

Intervention group

Experimental group

Description:

Self-help intervention based on cognitive behavioural therapy for depression in pulmonary hypertension. There will be four booklets which will take four weeks for participants to work through in their own time at home.

Treatment:

Other: Self-help materials for depression

Wait list control group

No Intervention group

Description:

The wait list control group will not receive the self-help intervention, and will be compared to the intervention group on the outcome measures. The wait-list control group will receive the intervention after study completion if it is found to be helpful (June 2024).