Abstract
BackgroundAlthough major depression is a frequent disorder in non-professional caregivers and there are effective psychological interventions to prevent it, caregivers have difficulty accessing them. Interventions for depression applied through an app could improve accessibility; yet, to date, adherence to such interventions has been low. The objectives of this study are to (1) evaluate the efficacy of a cognitive behavioral depression prevention intervention administered through a smartphone app with and without telephone conference calls, (2) analyze the mediators of the change in the incidence of depression and depressive symptoms, and (3) assess adherence and satisfaction with the interventions.MethodsA randomized controlled clinical trial will be conducted. Caregivers with elevated symptoms will be randomly assigned to a cognitive behavioral intervention administered by a smartphone app (CBIA) group, a CBIA plus telephone conference calls (TCCs) group (CBIA + TCC), or an attention control group. Each condition will consist of approximately 58 participants. Both interventions will be administered in five modules through a smartphone app and the CBIA + TCC group will receive additional TCCs in group format (four sessions of 30 min each). Trained blind assessors will conduct pre-treatment, post-treatment and follow-up assessments at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months.DiscussionThis study will provide evidence of the efficacy of a cognitive behavioral intervention to prevent depression in caregivers with elevated depressive symptoms administered through a smartphone app and the impact of feedback applied through conference calls to increase program adherence and efficacy. If the results were favorable, it would mean that we have developed a more effective, accessible, and clinically useful preventive depression intervention than the currently available ones for many present and future caregivers.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03110991. Registered 5 April 2017.
Highlights
Major depression is a frequent disorder in non-professional caregivers and there are effective psychological interventions to prevent it, caregivers have difficulty accessing them
Design A randomized controlled clinical trial will be conducted to study the efficacy of a cognitive behavioral intervention for non-professional caregivers with elevated depressive symptoms administered through a smartphone app with and without telephone conference call (TCC)
This study will evaluate the efficacy of a brief cognitive behavioral intervention of indicated prevention of depression administered through a smartphone app with and without TCCs
Summary
Major depression is a frequent disorder in non-professional caregivers and there are effective psychological interventions to prevent it, caregivers have difficulty accessing them. Prevention interventions aimed at caregivers with high depressive symptoms but who have not yet developed clinical depression (i.e., indicated prevention) have the greatest empirical evidence to date [6,7,8,9]. One of these interventions, evaluated by Vázquez et al [8, 9], was developed based on Lewinsohn et al.’s [10] multifactorial integrator model of depression. Many caregivers find it difficult to attend interventions due to lack of time, displacement problems, not having a caregiver substitute for their dependent during their absence, lack of mental health services, or stigmatization
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
