Project: A randomised controlled trial of a community based group guided self-help intervention.
Target group: Community based adults – Aged 16 years of age or older with at least mild depressive symptoms, defined as a score ≥5 on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9)
Settings: Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland.
Intervention: A pre-post randomised controlled trial of a class-based life-skills course for anxiety and depression, with a delayed access control group.
Support offered: LLTTF classes were delivered by the charitable organisation Action on Depression (AOD) and involved eight, weekly classes that taught a range of CBT-based life skills. Classes were 90-minutes long, attended by up to 16 participants and were conducted in a classroom setting based in a locally accessible location e.g. library. Attendees also received a printed copy of the class books and access to the www.llttf.com website to use alongside the course. This allowed revision and also to catch up on any sessions missed.
Outcomes: Statistically significant improvements in the treatment group for depression (PHQ-9), anxiety (GAD-7) and social functioning (WSAS) at 6 months, compared to controls.
What else?
Participant satisfaction – Mean participant satisfaction with the LLTTF classes (IA group) was high with a CSQ-8 score of 24.3 (sd 5.1) (n=47). Classes were rated as useful, quite useful or extremely useful by 81.8% of IA participants who returned class feedback forms (n=36 of 44).
Cost –effectiveness – The intervention was effective in improving symptoms of depression, anxiety and social function whilst being cost-neutral and available at an ICER below the NICE thresholds for funding.
Papers/outputs:
Williams, C. , McClay, C.-A., Matthews, L., McConnachie, A., Haig, C. , Walker, A. and Morrison, J. (2018) Community-based group guided self-help intervention for low mood and stress: randomised controlled trial. British Journal of Psychiatry, 212(2), pp. 88-95.(doi:10.1192/bjp.2017.18) (PMID:29436324).
McClay, C.A., Morrison, J., McConnachie, A., and Williams, C. (2013) A community-based group-guided self-help intervention for low mood and stress: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials, 14 (1). p. 392. ISSN 1745-6215 (doi:10.1186/1745-6215-14-392).