Abstract
BackgroundLow mood is a common mental health problem affecting up to 121 million people worldwide and is common in students, particularly international students. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is known to be effective as a treatment for low mood and anxiety when delivered one to one by an expert practitioner, however this can be expensive and many services have waiting lists and delayed access. A range of additional ways of increasing access to services includes the offer of online courses such as computerised CBT as a possible additional pathway for care. This project aims to test the feasibility of a pilot randomised controlled trial of an online CBT-based life skills course with Chinese-speaking international students experiencing low mood and anxiety.Methods/designChinese-speaking international students with symptoms of low mood and/or anxiety will be recruited from the University of Glasgow, Scotland. Participants will be remotely randomised to receive either immediate access (IA) or delayed access (DA) to a guided/supported online CBT-based life skills package, the “Living Life” package (Chinese version). Participants will be randomly assigned to IA or DA to the intervention. The primary end point will be at 3 months when the delayed group will be offered the intervention. Levels of depression, anxiety, social functioning and satisfaction will be assessed.DiscussionThis pilot study will test the trial design, ability to recruit, gather completed questionnaires, test drop-out rates and investigate completion and acceptability of the package. The study aims to reduce uncertainties about the delivery of a future substantive study and will also inform a sample size calculation for that subsequent substantive randomised controlled trial (RCT) which will be carried out to determine the effectiveness of the online package in improving low mood and anxiety in the Chinese-speaking student population.Trial registrationCurrent Controlled Trials ISRCTN30816908
Highlights
Low mood is a common mental health problem affecting up to 121 million people worldwide and is common in students, international students
The study aims to reduce uncertainties about the delivery of a future substantive study and will inform a sample size calculation for that subsequent substantive randomised controlled trial (RCT) which will be carried out to determine the effectiveness of the online package in improving low mood and anxiety in the Chinese-speaking student population
This found no previous evaluations of such computerised CBT (cCBT) treatments aimed at Chinese-speaking international students
Summary
Importance of the project We have recently completed a systematic review of the use of low-intensity CBT interventions (online or bookbased) with Chinese-speaking populations (manuscript in preparation) This found no previous evaluations of such cCBT treatments aimed at Chinese-speaking international students. The current pilot study will help inform whether an online low-intensity CBT approach that would increase access to treatment can be evaluated in this population and help define the sample size required to answer the question of clinical effectiveness. Ethical considerations There are a number of ethical considerations that have been taken into account in the preparation of this protocol These are as follows: Recruitment Recruitment into the study will involve self-referral via web links from established websites, through a projectspecific recruitment site, via email, posters and via advertisements. Her past research has included a qualitative study in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh and the University of the West of Scotland, exploring first generation Chinese migrants’ perceptions of type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease
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