Testing e-Mental Health in Lebanon
Study Details
Study Description
Brief Summary
The study objective is to test a guided e-mental health intervention called Step-by-Step for people living in Lebanon. Step-by-Step is a self-help programme delivered through an app or website and aims to treat symptoms of depression and other symptoms of psychological distress. First, a small study will be conducted to test the research procedure. Second, a large study will be conducted to test the effectiveness of Step-by-Step.
People residing in Lebanon (i.e. Lebanese, Palestinians and Syrian displaced people), above the age of 18 with symptoms of depression will be recruited through social media, posters, radio and television adverts, etc. Minors (under the age of 18) and people who have plans to end their life will be excluded from the study.
To test whether the use of Step-by-Step improves symptoms of depression, two groups will be compared. Participants in the intervention group will receive Step-by-Step, while those in the control group will receive basic information about depression and a list of health centres where they can get face-to-face help that is based on evidence. In addition, participants in the intervention group will receive weekly phone or chat support (up to 15 minutes) provided through lay helpers who were trained and work under the supervision of a trained clinical psychologist. The study hypothesises that participants who receive Step-by-Step will have a higher symptom improvement than participants who receive basic information.
In order to assess symptoms of depression and other symptoms of psychological distress, participants in this study will complete several questionnaires three times: At the beginning of the study, after 8 weeks, and then three months later (i.e. 5 months after the beginning of the study).
| Condition or Disease | Intervention/Treatment | Phase |
|---|---|---|
|
N/A |
Study Design
Arms and Interventions
| Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
|---|---|
| Experimental: Step-by-Step
|
Behavioral: Step-by-Step
Guided self-help programme delivered through an app/website for the treatment of depression
|
| Active Comparator: Enhanced care as usual
|
Behavioral: Enhanced care as usual
Psychoeducation and information about where to get help (i.e., mhGAP trained primary health care centres)
|
Outcome Measures
Primary Outcome Measures
- Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) [8 weeks]
Self-administered instrument for depression screening (intention-to-treat analysis)
- WHO Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0) [8 weeks]
Generic assessment instrument for health and disability (intention-to-treat analysis)
Secondary Outcome Measures
- WHO-5 Well-Being Index [8 weeks]
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder - 7 Questionnaire (GAD-7) [8 weeks]
- PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-6) [8 weeks]
- Self-defined psychosocial problems (PSYCHLOPS) [8 weeks]
- (Adapted) Client Service Receipt Inventory (CSRI) [8 weeks]
Other Outcome Measures
- Client Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ-3) [only at post-assessment (8 weeks after baseline)]
Eligibility Criteria
Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
-
Age 18 or above
-
PHQ-9 sum score above 9
-
WHODAS 2.0 sum score above 16
Exclusion Criteria:
- Serious thoughts or plans to end one's life
Contacts and Locations
Locations
| Site | City | State | Country | Postal Code | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ministry of Public Health | Beirut | Lebanon |
Sponsors and Collaborators
- VU University of Amsterdam
- World Health Organization
- Ministry of Public Health, Lebanon
- Freie Universität Berlin
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: Pim Cuijpers, Professor, VU Amsterdam
Study Documents (Full-Text)
None provided.More Information
Publications
None provided.- ERC.0002797