Publication
Direct to Public Peer Support and e-Therapy Program Versus Information to Aid Self-Management of Depression and Anxiety: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)
Publisher:
JMIR Publications Inc.
Date:
19-05-2017
DOI:
10.2196/PREPRINTS.8061
Abstract: egardless of geography or income, effective help for depression and anxiety only reaches a small proportion of those who might benefit from it. The scale of the problem suggests a role for effective, safe, anonymized public health–driven Web-based services such as Big White Wall (BWW), which offer immediate peer support at low cost. sing Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation and Maintenance (RE-AIM) methodology, the aim of this study was to determine the population reach, effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and barriers and drivers to implementation of BWW compared with Web-based information compiled by UK’s National Health Service (NHS, NHS Choices Moodzone) in people with probable mild to moderate depression and anxiety disorder. pragmatic, parallel-group, single-blind randomized controlled trial (RCT) is being conducted using a fully automated trial website in which eligible participants are randomized to receive either 6 months access to BWW or signposted to the NHS Moodzone site. The recruitment of 2200 people to the study will be facilitated by a public health engagement c aign involving general marketing and social media, primary care clinical ch ions, health care staff, large employers, and third sector groups. People will refer themselves to the study and will be eligible if they are older than 16 years, have probable mild to moderate depression or anxiety disorders, and have access to the Internet. he primary outcome will be the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale at 6 weeks. We will also explore the reach, maintenance, cost-effectiveness, and barriers and drivers to implementation and possible mechanisms of actions using a range of qualitative and quantitative methods. his will be the first fully digital trial of a direct to public online peer support program for common mental disorders. The potential advantages of adding this to current NHS mental health services and the challenges of designing a public health c aign and RCT of two digital interventions using a fully automated digital enrollment and data collection process are considered for people with depression and anxiety. nternational Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN): 12673428 www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN12673428/12673428 (Archived by WebCite at uw6ZJk5a)