[Psychoeducation in Depression: Results of two Surveys five Years Apart in Germany, Austria and Switzerland]

An online program with individualized vs automated support for significant others of depressed individuals - study protocol of a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND

Due to budget restrictions in mental health care, non-professional caregivers are increasingly burdened with the emotional and practical care for their depressed relatives. However, informal family caregiving is mostly a stressful role with negative consequences on the physical and mental health of the caretakers to the extent that they have an elevated risk of experiencing psychiatric disorders themselves. While psychoeducation for relatives of depressed individuals showed positive results both in terms of the caretakers' strain and the depressive symptoms of the affected person, there are major barriers to participate in presence in those programs. Digital programs might be a viable alternative. We found no empirically evaluated digital program available for informal caregivers of depressed patients.

METHODS

An online program for relatives of depressed individuals has been developed including four interactive modules on 1) psychoeducation, 2) how to strengthen the relationship with the depressed person, 3) how to deal with the depressive symptoms of the patient, and 4) find the right balance between caring for the depressed person and self-care. We investigate if this self-help program is more effective when used with individualized versus automated e-mail support, and if both supported conditions are more effective than treatment-as-usual (TAU in form of written information material) in terms of the risk of mental diseases in caregivers. The primary outcome is the reduction of the caregiver's nonspecific mental distress as measured by the change of the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale score from baseline to four weeks after randomization. Caregivers (n = 500:500:250) will be randomized to one of the three conditions.

DISCUSSION

Psychological support for caregivers of individuals with mental disorders such as depression should be offered as part of integrated services. There is a huge potential to develop and implement interactive online approaches to support informal caregivers of patients with depression to function in their multiple roles and to help them to remain healthy.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

DRKS, DRKS00025241 . Registered 5 Mai 2021.

The Effects of Resilience-Focused Psychoeducation in Patients Diagnosed with Depression

This study was conducted to determine the effects of resilience-focused psychoeducation on the level of depression, hopelessness, coping with stress, and psychological resilience in patients diagnosed with depression. This experimental study was conducted using pre and post-tests, with control groups. The sample of the research has been consisted of 60 patients (30 patients in experimental group and 30 patients in control group). Data has been collected by using Beck Depresssion Scale (BDI), Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS), Ways of Coping Scale (WCS) and Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA). BDI and BHS posttest score of experimental group was found to be decreased to be significantly according to pre-test score (p < 0.05), at the control group was not found to be significantly decreased (p > 0.05). The increases in the score of WCS sub-dimension Self-confident, Optimistic approaches and Seeking of social support coping styles and the decrease of score of Helpless approach of patients in experimental group in posttest compared with pre-test are significant (p < 0.05). Psychoeducation has been effective on decreasing depression and hopelessness levels, and increasing effectively-active coping and decreasing-passive coping strategies of patients. It has been partially effective on level of resilience.