E-Mental Health Adolescent Depression Program (LEAP)

Summary

The purpose of this project is to explore the potential value and practicality of an innovative depression intervention for young people. More specifically, the objectives of this project are:

1. to pilot the Internet-based Spirituality Program with depressed young people (age 13-24) in Calgary by:

1. obtaining preliminary estimates on the impact of the program on the primary outcome of depression severity, and secondary outcomes of spiritual well-being and self-concept.
2. obtaining preliminary estimates on response rates and remission rates to guide sample size estimations for a full size randomized trial.
3. evaluating if the suggested research methodology is feasible with respect to recruitment rate, patient burden and clinical implementation to guide design of a full size randomized trial.
2. to gather feedback from depressed young people, their families and referral sources in the community (schools, family physicians, mental health outpatient services) on the perceived value of the program and on ways to eventually make it available as a community resource for others dealing with depression.

Conditions

• Depression

Interventions

OTHER

LEAP Project

In collaboration with experts from Alberta Health Services, the University of Calgary, and Mount Royal University, the Canadian Institute of Natural and Integrative Medicine (CINIM) has created the LEAP Project, a spirituality informed e-mental health intervention, for young people with major depressive disorders (see Appendix for sample materials). It is an online, eight module, multimedia intervention delivered over eight weeks, requiring a weekly commitment of 2-3 hours. The intervention is non-denominational and avoids a focus on any religious traditions. The program aims to treat depression by guiding depressed young people through an exploration of spiritual concepts and principles.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Alberta Centre for Child, Family & Community Research

  collaborator OTHER

• Alberta Health Services, Calgary

  collaborator OTHER

• Mount Royal University

  collaborator OTHER

• SickKids Foundation

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Calgary

  collaborator OTHER

• Patricia Steele

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• John Toews, MD, FRCPC · Canadian Institute of Natural and Integrative Medicine

• Badri Rickhi, MB MD FRCPC · Canadian Institute of Natural and Integrative Medicine

• Jordan Cohen, MD, FRCPC · University of Calgary

• Dawne Clark, PhD · Mount Royal College

• John Griffith, BA MDiv · Spiritual Directions

• Hude Quan, PhD · University of Calgary

• Janet Chafe, MSW, RSW · Alberta Health services

• Sabine Moritz, Bsc MSc · Alberta Health services

• Patti Paccagnan, RN, BN, ACC · Canadian Institute of Natural and Integrative Medicine

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

13 Years

Max Age

24 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2010-01-31

Primary Completion

2012-09-30

Completion

2012-09-30

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations