Abstract
Background: Subclinical depression is a prevalent mental health problem and increases the incidence of the onset of major mood disorders, such as major depressive disorder (MDD). Psychological interventions have been proved to be effective for reducing depressive symptoms for people with subclinical depression and can prevent the onset of MDD. However, people have limited access to face-to-face psychotherapy. Internet-based psychological intervention is an alternative treatment option. The aim of the study is to evaluate the efficacy of MoodBox, an online psychological intervention program, for subclinical depression.Methods: This study is a multicenter, randomized, controlled, non-blinded superiority study with three parallel groups. A total of 435 first-year university students with subclinical depression will be recruited. Eligible participants will be randomly assigned to the MoodBox group, the online psychoeducation group, and the naturalistic observation group at a ratio of 1:1:1. The intervention period is 8 weeks, and participants will be continuously followed up for 1 year. The primary outcome of the study is the efficacy of the intervention, defined as measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9).Discussion: This is the first study to innovatively develop and test an intervention to improve psychological well-being and decrease the incidence of MDD in a subclinical depression population in China. Once proven effective and acceptable, MoodBox could be potentially integrated into the routine clinical service to facilitate the management for people with subclinical depression.Clinical Trial Registration: The trial is registered with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry on 21 July 2020 (No. ChiCTR2000034826).
Highlights
Subclinical depression, known as subthreshold depression, subsyndromal depression, or minor depression, is considered to be a condition that does not meet the diagnostic criteria for depression but present with at least two and no more than four depressive symptoms, which must include one of the core symptoms of major depressive disorder (MDD) and last a duration for at least 2 weeks [1,2,3]
Once proven effective and acceptable, MoodBox could be potentially integrated into the routine clinical service to facilitate the management for people with subclinical depression
To address the gap, informed by evidence-based psychological interventions for subclinical depression (e.g., Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT)), we developed an internet-based psychological intervention program, named MoodBox, for people with subclinical depression, and we carried out a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to test the efficacy of the program
Summary
Subclinical depression, known as subthreshold depression, subsyndromal depression, or minor depression, is considered to be a condition that does not meet the diagnostic criteria for depression but present with at least two and no more than four depressive symptoms, which must include one of the core symptoms of major depressive disorder (MDD) (i.e., depressed mood or anhedonia) and last a duration for at least 2 weeks [1,2,3]. Depressive disorders are the most frequent consequence of subclinical depression, it can lead to other mood disorders. From the clinical staging approach, subclinical depression could be the prodromal stage for a variety of mental health problems [7]. Studies on subclinical depression mostly focus on preventing the onset of depression, and other mood disorders are commonly overlooked [8, 9]. Subclinical depression is a prevalent mental health problem and increases the incidence of the onset of major mood disorders, such as major depressive disorder (MDD). Psychological interventions have been proved to be effective for reducing depressive symptoms for people with subclinical depression and can prevent the onset of MDD. The aim of the study is to evaluate the efficacy of MoodBox, an online psychological intervention program, for subclinical depression
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