Online Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depressive Symptoms in Parkinson's Disease

Summary

More than 1 million people in Europe suffer from Parkinson's disease (PD), a brain disorder manifesting with a motor syndrome and several non-motor features. Neuropsychiatric symptoms, like anxiety and depression, are common in patients with PD, and has profound effects on quality of life and activities of daily living of the patient, and caregiver burden. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has proven efficient for depressive symptoms, but treatment availability to the general patient with PD is low. Thus, there is an urgent need for individualized remote approaches that can be of benefit to patients on a national scale. This study is a remote, randomized delayed start trial of the effectiveness of videoconference based cognitive behavioral therapy (eCBT) for PD patients with depressive symptoms. N=120 participants with PD and depressive symptoms will be recruited from neurological clinics across four health regions in Norway and self-reference, and randomized into two arms: (A) immediate eCBT with concurrent with TAU and (B) a delayed start (14 weeks) of eCBT with TAU alone. Patients will be assessed at baseline before allocation to treatment, with followed up evaluations 14, 28 and 42 weeks after baseline. The trial is designed as a state-of-the-art remote clinical trial, that can be easily implemented existing health services, resulting in a rapid implementation and improvement of treatment for patients with PD, and potentially large translational value to other brain disorders.

Conditions

• Parkinson Disease
• Depressive Symptoms
• Anxiety

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Online cognitive behavioral therapy

The e-CBT treatment manual is an adjusted version of a previously published treatment manuals for neuropsychiatric symptoms in PD, which is tailored to the preferences and needs for each participant. This manual encompass both modules from manuals for depression in PD and anxiety in PD. Individualization is ensures by including several interventions modules in the manual, wherein 5 sessions are considered "core modules", and four modules that can be offered depending on the patients individual needs. The participant may include partners or caregivers. The treatment is schedules to be completed within 13 weeks, with maximum ten sessions during this period. Following each e-CBT session, the participant will be asked to complete a short survey evaluating the acceptability and relevance of the session, and evaluate the therapeutic alliance.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Helse Stavanger HF

  lead OTHER_GOV

Principal Investigators

• Aleksander H Erga, PhD · Norwegian Centre for Movement Disorders, Stavanger University Hospital

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age

35 Years

Max Age

85 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-12-07

Primary Completion

2024-11-27

Completion

2024-11-27

Countries

• Norway

Study Locations