Effectiveness & Cost-effectiveness of Internet-delivered Interventions for Depression and Anxiety Disorders in IAPT

Summary

Depression and anxiety are common mental health problems. There are effective treatments for depression and anxiety and one of these is talking therapies using cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT). In recent years CBT has been transferred to online delivery methods and these interventions have proven successful for people being treated with symptoms of depression and anxiety.

The current study will utilise a randomised controlled trial design, where the majority (n=240) of participants will be allocated to the immediate treatment (internet-delivered CBT for either depression or anxiety), and a smaller number (n=120) will be allocated to a waiting list. The waiting list group will receive treatment after an eight week wait. This design helps us to understand that any changes in symptoms in the treatment group will be likely due to the treatment they received compared to the waiting list.

A sample size of 360 participants is proposed and has been adjusted to ameliorate against patient dropout. Follow-up and maintenance of any positive changes in symptoms is very important in CBT for depression and anxiety, simply because some people can have a relapse of symptoms. We will therefore follow-up the treatment group for 3, 6, 9 and 12 months to assess maintenance of positive gains from treatment.

The study also seeks to investigate the cost effectiveness of the treatments.

Conditions

• Depression
• Anxiety Disorders
• Depressive Disorder
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder
• Social Anxiety Disorder
• Phobic Disorders
• Panic Disorder
• Health Anxiety

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

SilverCloud Internet-delivered Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

SilverCloud Health is a leading provider of online therapeutic solutions to support and promote positive behavior change and mental wellness. SilverCloud delivers interventions for all of the anxiety disorders (panic disorder, social anxiety, phobias, GAD, health anxiety, OCD), depression and also comorbid depression and anxiety. The programs for the treatment of depression and anxiety employ several innovative engagement strategies for improving the user experience. These are divided into several categories: personal, interactive, supportive, and social. Research on the SilverCloud interventions has yielded significant clinical outcomes (Richards et al., 2015).

OTHER

Waiting List

8 week waiting list period.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

  collaborator OTHER

• Silver Cloud Health

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Derek Richards, PhD · SilverCloud Health

• Sarah Sollesse, MSc · Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

80 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2017-06-15

Primary Completion

2019-07-25

Completion

2019-08-30

Countries

• United Kingdom