Organized Self-Management Support Services for Chronic Depressive Symptoms: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Interventions promoting recovery from depression for patients transitioning from outpatient mental health services to primary care: A scoping review

INTRODUCTION

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is one of the most prevalent mental disorders worldwide with significant personal and public health consequences. After an episode of MDD, the likelihood of relapse is high. Therefore, there is a need for interventions that prevent relapse of depression when outpatient mental health care treatment has ended. This scoping review aimed to systematically map the evidence and identify knowledge gaps in interventions that aimed to promote recovery from MDD for patients transitioning from outpatient mental health services to primary care.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We followed the guidance by Joanna Briggs Institute in tandem with the PRISMA extension for Scoping Reviews checklist. Four electronic databases were systematically searched using controlled index-or thesaurus terms and free text terms, as well as backward and forward citation tracking of included studies. The search strategy was based on the identification of any type of intervention, whether simple, multicomponent, or complex. Three authors independently screened for eligibility and extracted data.

RESULTS

18 studies were included for review. The studies had high heterogeneity in design, methods, sample size, recovery rating scales, and type of interventions. All studies used several elements in their interventions; however, the majority used cognitive behavioural therapy conducted in outpatient mental health services. No studies addressed the transitioning phase from outpatient mental health services to primary care. Most studies included patients during their outpatient mental health care treatment of MDD.

CONCLUSIONS

We identified several knowledge gaps. Recovery interventions for patients with MDD transitioning from outpatient mental health services to primary care are understudied. No studies addressed interventions in this transitioning phase or the patient's experience of the transitioning process. Research is needed to bridge this gap, both regarding interventions for patients transitioning from secondary to primary care, and patients' and health care professionals' experiences of the interventions and of what promotes recovery.

REGISTRATION

A protocol was prepared in advance and registered in Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/ah3sv), published in the medRxiv server (https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.10.06.22280499) and in PLOS ONE (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0291559).

The clinical effectiveness of a self-management intervention for patients with persistent depressive disorder and their partners/caregivers: results from a multicenter, pragmatic randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND

Persistent depressive disorder (PDD) is prevalent and debilitating. For patients with PDD, psychiatric rehabilitation using self-management interventions is advised as the next therapeutic step after multiple unsuccessful treatment attempts. The "Patient and Partner Education Program for All Chronic Diseases" (PPEP4All) is a brief, structured self-management program that focuses on functional recovery for patients and their partners/caregivers. In chronic somatic disorder populations, PPEP4All has already been shown to be clinically effective. We examined whether PPEP4All adapted for PDD (PPEP4All-PDD, nine weekly group or individual sessions) is also clinically effective for adults/elderly with PDD and their partners/caregivers compared to care-as-usual (CAU) in specialized mental healthcare.

METHODS

In this mixed-method multicenter pragmatic randomized controlled trial, 70 patients with PDD and 14 partners/caregivers were allocated to either PPEP4All-PDD (patients, n = 37; partners/caregivers, n = 14) or CAU (patients, n = 33; partners/caregivers, not included) and completed questionnaires at 0, 3, 6, and 12 months regarding depressive symptoms, psychopathology, psychosocial burden, mental resilience, and happiness/well-being. Qualitative data were collected regarding treatment satisfaction. Data were analyzed using mixed model analyses and an intention-to-treat (ITT) approach.

RESULTS

There was no statistically significant difference in any outcome regarding clinical effectiveness between PPEP4All-PDD and CAU. Subgroup analysis for depressive symptoms did not show any interaction effect for any subgroup. Although 78% of participants recommended PPEP4All-PDD, there was no difference in treatment satisfaction between PPEP4All-PDD (score = 6.6; SD = 1.7) and CAU (score = 7.6; SD = 1.2), p = 0.06.

CONCLUSION

Although depressive symptoms did not improve relative to CAU, this only confirmed that treatment for patients with treatment-resistant PDD should move from symptom reduction to functional recovery. Also, functional recovery may be reflected in other outcomes than psychosocial burden, such as self-empowerment, in patients with treatment-resistant PDD. Future research on PPEP4All-PDD could focus on a longer-term program and/or online program that may also be offered earlier in the treatment process as an empowerment intervention.  TRIAL REGISTRATION: Netherlands Trial Register Identifier NL5818. Registered on 20 July 2016 https://clinicaltrialregister.nl/nl/trial/20302.

Identifying key roles and responsibilities of peer workers in behavioral health services: A scoping review

OBJECTIVE

The roles and responsibilities of peer workers (PWs) are not well articulated. This scoping review aims to systematically identify and describe the roles of PWs in outpatient, community based mental health and substance use services, and compare their roles and responsibilities across these service settings METHODS: The scoping review was a priori developed and implemented according to the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology, which includes stating the review objectives, conducting a three-step search method, and charting the results.

RESULTS

Forty-four peer reviewed manuscripts were included in the review. PWs were used more often in mental health (n = 27) than substance use (n = 10) programs. Peers adopted a wide range of skills. Across program contexts, peers were frequently used as a source of informal support or mentorship and care coordination. Mental health programs often used peers to deliver manualized interventions, while substance use programs more frequently leveraged PWs to facilitate service linkage and engagement.

CONCLUSION

Roles of peers differed between substance use and mental health programs, reflecting significant diversity in how peers are being integrated into the behavioral health workforce.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Peer certification programs must balance consistency with the wide range of skills required of this workforce.

The Effectiveness of Peer Support in Personal and Clinical Recovery-Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

OBJECTIVE

Peer support has been shown to support personal recovery from mental illness. It is unclear whether the effects of peer support across different mental illnesses depend on the organizational setting. The authors reviewed the effectiveness of peer support for both personal recovery and clinical recovery of adults with any mental illness and evaluated the effectiveness of peer support in different settings.

METHODS

A systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was conducted in PubMed, PsycInfo, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science. A meta-analysis of outcomes of personal and clinical recoveries at the end of interventions was conducted.

RESULTS

In total, 49 RCTs with 12,477 participants with any mental illness were included. Most of the trials had a high risk for bias. Results of the meta-analysis indicated that peer support in general had a small positive effect on personal recovery (standard mean difference [SMD]=0.20; 95% CI=0.11-0.29) and decreased anxiety symptoms (SMD=-0.21; 95% CI=-0.40 to -0.02), with most trials evaluating peers added to mental health-related hospital services. No data for peers in established service roles were available for the meta-analysis. Peer-designed interventions developed to be provided independently of hospital services and delivered in community settings had a modest effect on self-advocacy. A small nonsignificant effect on personal recovery for peer support delivered online was also observed.

CONCLUSIONS

The effect on personal recovery from mental illness was most evident in peer support added to hospital services. High-quality RCTs with comparable cocreated interventions and clear descriptions of mechanisms of change are needed to further investigate peer support efficacy.

Hybrid Concept Analysis of Self-Management Support: School Nurses Supporting Students with Psychogenic Nonepileptic Seizures

Self-management support has been identified as an effective nursing intervention for improving outcomes for people with chronic conditions, yet this concept lacks a clear definition. Furthermore, the concept has not been used in school nursing literature despite the clear connection between school nursing practice and tenets of self-management support. Additionally, the concept has not been explored in the context of difficult-to-manage mental health concerns, such as psychogenic nonepileptic seizures. A conversion disorder in which seizure events in the absence of abnormal brainwave activity result from stress, psychogenic nonepileptic seizures affect the quality of life and school experience for students experiencing them and could be addressed through self-management support. This hybrid concept analysis included a review of extant literature and semi-structured interviews with school nurses to ascertain a definition of self-management support in the context of school nursing using care of students with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures as an exemplar.

A community-based peer-support group intervention "Paths to EvERyday life" (PEER) added to service as usual for adults with vulnerability to mental health difficulties - a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background

The number of people struggling with vulnerability to mental health difficulties is increasing worldwide, and there is a need for new interventions, to prevent more people from developing serious mental illnesses. In recent years, peer support has been suggested as a key element in creating person-centered interventions in mental health services. However, the evidence for peer support is not yet established. We aim to investigate the effect of a 10-week peer-support intervention “Paths to EvERyday life” (PEER) added to service as usual (SAU) versus SAU alone in a Danish municipality setting.

Methods

A two-armed, investigator-initiated, multi-municipal, parallel-group superiority trial to investigate the effectiveness of the PEER intervention added to SAU compared to SAU alone. A total of 284 participants will be recruited from the municipal social services in the participating municipalities and by self-referrals and randomly assigned to (1) the PEER intervention added to SAU or (2) SAU. The primary outcome is a self-assessed personal recovery (Questionnaire about the process of recovery (QPR-15)) at end of the intervention. The secondary outcomes are self-assessed empowerment (Empowerment Scale Rogers (ESR)), quality of life (The Manchester Short Assessment of Quality of life (MANSA)), and functioning (Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS)).

Discussion

This trial will test a new community-based peer-support intervention, and if the intervention proves to be effective, the goal is that future integration of this intervention will improve individual recovery and mental health and reduce the societal burden of individuals seeking municipal social support and/or mental health services.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04639167. Registered on Nov. 19, 2020.

A Systematic Review of the Roles and Contributions of Peer Providers in the Behavioral Health Workforce

CONTEXT

Peer providers with lived experiences of mental health and substance use are a growing component of the workforce responsible for the prevention and treatment of behavioral health disorders. This systematic literature review aims to better define the roles of peers and their unique contributions to behavioral health care.

EVIDENCE ACQUISITION

Researchers searched MEDLINE, CINAHL Complete, PsycINFO, Cochrane Central, and Scopus databases for studies published between January 1, 2013 and April 3, 2020. Studies were included if they (1) were experimental or observational studies, (2) included an adult population of people with a behavioral health disorder, and (3) used paid peer providers in addition to traditional behavioral health services. Researchers extracted sample demographics, intervention characteristics, outcome data, and significant associations from studies that met inclusion criteria and assessed the trends in these data in May 2020.

EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS

A total of 23 articles assessing peer-provided services were included. Peers were employed most frequently in mental healthcare roles in the Department of Veterans Affairs, hospital, and community health facilities. A total of 14 studies observed significant clinical improvements in participants' social functioning, quality of life, patient activation, and behavioral health. A majority of studies involved the supervision of peers and required peers to have completed training in service delivery.

CONCLUSIONS

Peers are effective providers of behavioral health treatment and relapse prevention services who encourage recovery through resilience building, empowerment, and self-advocacy. There remains a need for more evidence-based interventions on the efficacy of peers in substance use disorder treatment and the impact of formalized certification and training opportunities.

Mental Health Services and Personal Recovery in California: A Population-Based Analysis

OBJECTIVE

Personal recovery measures have been examined among treatment-seeking individuals enrolled in high-quality care. The authors examined whether utilization of mental health services as typically delivered is associated with personal recovery among adults with clinically significant psychological distress.

METHODS

The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K-6) measured respondents' (N=1,954) psychological distress level. The authors also assessed five dimensions of personal recovery-hope, life satisfaction, empowerment, connectedness, and internalized stigma. Multivariable linear regression analyses were used to examine relationships between personal recovery and treatment, self-reported treatment completion, provider type, and adequacy of care, adjusting for covariates including K-6 score.

RESULTS

Participants who received care >12 months prior to the survey reported lower levels of hope (95% confidence interval [CI]=-0.36, -0.06, p<0.01), empowerment (95% CI=-0.26, -0.02, p<0.05), and connectedness (95% CI=-0.37, -0.06, p<0.01) than those who had not received treatment. Those who received care in the past 12 months reported lower levels of hope (95% CI=-0.47, -0.14, p<0.001) and life satisfaction (95% CI=-0.42, -0.05, p<0.01). However, treatment completion was associated with higher levels of empowerment (95% CI=0.02, 0.56, p<0.05) and hope (95% CI=0.04, 0.62, p<0.05) and lower levels of stigma (95% CI=-1.21, -0.21, p<0.01) compared with noncompletion. Differences according to provider type and adequacy of care were nonsignificant.

CONCLUSIONS

Utilization of mental health services was associated with lower levels of personal recovery, which may indicate that care-as typically utilized and received-does not promote personal recovery. Longitudinal research is needed to determine causal relationships underlying these associations.

An exploration of the conditions for deploying self-management strategies: a qualitative study of experiential knowledge in depression

BACKGROUND

Living with recurrent, and/or chronic depression requires long-term management in addition to active coping on a day-to-day basis. Previous research on long-term management, and coping with depression mainly focused on identifying self-management strategies. However, research on the conditions for deploying self-management strategies in depression is lacking. By means of exploring the development of experiential knowledge in depression, and its relation with coping with depression, this study aims to gain insight into the conditions for deploying self-management strategies.

METHODS

In the current qualitative study, individual pathways to recovery, living with depression, and recurrence risk were assessed, including but not limited to long-term management. 'Experiential knowledge', which can be defined as patients' unique knowledge and own lived experiences in facilitating and debilitating factors in the recovery process and coping with the disorder, was used as a sensitizing concept. Thirteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with individuals who experienced at least two depressive episodes and were currently in (partial) remission, plus two deviant cases were interviewed to check for saturation. Until saturation was achieved, participants were purposively selected to include diverse perspectives on coping with depression. Data were analysed using a narrative research method.

RESULTS

The results show that deploying self-management strategies are an integral part of 'experiential knowledge'. The evolvement of experiential knowledge can be seen as a cyclical process of the main themes that were identified as relevant when coping with depression: introspection, empowerment, self-management strategies, and external moderators of the environment. The identification of supporting and impeding factors in coping with depression from a patient perspective might increase a sustainable use of self-management strategies.

CONCLUSION

These results highlight the need for an individualised holistic model of coping with depression, both in research, and in practice. By means of integrating experiential knowledge in this holistic approach, the conditions for deployment of self-management strategies in depressive patients can be specified.

Mechanisms for the testing effect on patient-reported outcomes

The testing effect is when patient-reported outcomes (PRO) improve with repeated administration without intervention. The testing effect can confound interpretation of clinical trials using PROs as endpoints. This study investigated potential mechanisms. The parent study (n = 302) investigated a self-management intervention for depression. We qualitatively analyzed exit interview feedback from the 89 control group participants completing the last assessment. Participants reported several perceived benefits from control group participation including novel mechanisms (study participation was meaningful, emotional support, appreciating outreach), a possible negative testing effect and mechanisms previously identified (behavioral change).

The role of relapse prevention for depression in collaborative care: A systematic review

BACKGROUND

Relapse (the re-emergence of depression symptoms before full recovery) is common in depression and relapse prevention strategies are not well researched in primary care settings. Collaborative care is effective for treating acute phase depression but little is known about the use of relapse prevention strategies in collaborative care. We undertook a systematic review to identify and characterise relapse prevention strategies in the context of collaborative care.

METHODS

We searched for Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) of collaborative care for depression. In addition to published material, we obtained provider and patient manuals from authors to provide more detail on intervention content. We reported the extent to which collaborative care interventions addressed four relapse prevention components.

RESULTS

93 RCTs were identified. 31 included a formal relapse prevention plan; 42 had proactive monitoring and follow-up after the acute phase; 39 reported strategies for optimising sustained medication adherence; and 20 of the trials reported psychological or psycho-educational treatments persisting beyond the acute phase or focussing on long-term health/relapse prevention. 30 (32.3%) did not report relapse prevention approaches.

LIMITATIONS

We did not receive trial materials for approximately half of the trials, which limited our ability to identify relevant features of intervention content.

CONCLUSION

Relapse is a significant risk amongst people treated for depression and interventions are needed that specifically address and minimise this risk. Given the advantages of collaborative care as a delivery system for depression care, there is scope for more consistency and increased effort to implement and evaluate relapse prevention strategies.

Strategies for engaging patients and families in collaborative care programs for depression and anxiety disorders: A systematic review

BACKGROUND

Patients and families are often referred to as important partners in collaborative mental health care (CMHC). However, how to meaningfully engage them as partners remains unclear. We aimed to identify strategies for engaging patients and families in CMHC programs for depression and anxiety disorders.

METHODS

We updated a Cochrane review of CMHC programs for depression and anxiety disorders. Searches were conducted in Cochrane CCDAN and CINAHL, complemented by additional database searches, trial registry searches, and cluster searches for 'sibling' articles. Coding and data extraction of engagement strategies was an iterative process guided by a conceptual framework. We used narrative synthesis and descriptive statistics to report on findings.

FINDINGS

We found 148 unique CMCH programs, described in 578 articles. Most programs (96%) featured at least one strategy for engaging patients or families. Programs adopted 15 different strategies overall, with a median of two strategies per program (range 0-9 strategies). The most common strategies were patient education (87% of programs) and self-management supports (47% of programs). Personalized care planning, shared decision making, and family or peer supports were identified in fewer than one third of programs.

LIMITATIONS

Our search strategy was designed to capture programs evaluated in clinical trials and so other innovative programs not studied in trials were likely missed.

CONCLUSION

Most CMHC programs for depression and anxiety disorders adopted a limited number of strategies to engage patients and families in their care. However, this review identifies numerous strategies that can be used to strengthen the patient- and family-centeredness of collaborative care.

Self-Management of Depression: Beyond the Medical Model

Self-management is increasingly becoming the standard of care among people with chronic medical conditions. Its application to depression is mostly extrapolated from the paradigms used for nonpsychiatric medical illnesses. Such an approach falls short in addressing strength-based interventions that foster recovery in individuals with depression. This article describes a new paradigm of self-management, which is in line with the recovery model, is patient-centered, and goes beyond amelioration of clinical symptoms.

The collaborative care model for HIV and depression: Patient perspectives and experiences from a safety-net clinic in the United States

Objectives:

Collaborative care models may improve outcomes for both HIV and depression. The model includes routine screening and re-assessment of depressive symptoms as well as care coordination services delivered by an ancillary provider focused on mental health. We sought to explore patient experiences and attitudes about the services received through the collaborative care model, including measurement-based care using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9.

Methods:

We conducted 17 qualitative interviews with patients in a collaborative care model implemented at an HIV primary care clinic in a safety-net hospital in the United States. Interviews were analyzed using Framework Analysis.

Results:

Our findings illustrate the ways in which the collaborative care model for depression may be meaningful to patients in HIV care settings. Participants appreciated the support offered through the collaborative care model. Most participants perceived measurement-based care as useful to their providers, and an additional subset used the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 for their own self-management and awareness of depression. Over time, the collaborative care model appeared to motivate some patients to address depressive symptoms.

Conclusion:

The collaborative care model may be particularly helpful to patients in the way that it reinforces how depressive symptoms can be measured and managed. Furthermore, routine screening and re-measurement for depressive symptoms using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 hold promise as an additional self-management tool to complement other clinical and supportive services.

Effectiveness of a self-management training for patients with chronic and treatment resistant anxiety or depressive disorders on quality of life, symptoms, and empowerment: results of a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND

Anxiety and depressive disorders are common mental disorders. A substantial part of patients does not achieve symptomatic remission after treatment in specialized services. Current care as usual (CAU) for these patients consists of long-term supportive contacts. Termination of CAU is often not considered to be an option due to persistent symptoms, a low level of functioning, and the absence of further treatment options. A new intervention, ZemCAD, offers a program focused on rehabilitation and self-management, followed by referral back to primary care.

METHODS

This multicenter randomized controlled trial was carried out in twelve specialized outpatient mental health care services in the Netherlands. Consenting and eligible patients were invited for the MINI interview and the baseline questionnaire. Assessments were done at 6 (T1), 12 (T2) and 18 (T3) months post baseline. We used linear mixed model analysis (LMM) to ascertain the effectiveness of the ZemCAD group relative to the CAU group on quality of life, symptom severity and empowerment.

RESULTS

In total 141 patients were included. The results at 18-month follow-up regarding to quality of life and symptom severity, showed no significant differences between the ZemCAD group and the CAU group, except on the 'social relationships'-domain (d = 0.37). With regard to empowerment a significant difference between both groups was observed in the total empowerment score and one empowerment dimension (d = 0.45 and d = 0.39, respectively). After the ZemCAD intervention, more patients went from specialized outpatient mental health services back to a less specialized health care setting with less intensive treatment, such as primary care.

CONCLUSION

The findings in this study suggest that patients with chronic and treatment-resistant anxiety and depression using the ZemCAD intervention improve on empowerment but not on symptom severity or quality of life. Since little is known about the effects of rehabilitation and self-management in patients with chronic and treatment resistant anxiety and depressive disorders, this is a first attempt to provide a proof-of-concept study in this under-researched but important field.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Netherlands Trial Register: NTR3335 , registered 7 March 2012.

Mindfulness-Based Versus Health Promotion Group Therapy After Traumatic Brain Injury

The current pre- and posttest intervention study is designed for individuals with chronic symptoms and stress associated with mild-to-moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI). The researchers' intent was to evaluate whether an 8-week mindfulness-based group therapy compared to health promotion active control group therapy reduces chronic stress, TBI symptoms, and depressive symptoms. Significant mean reductions in chronic stress and TBI depressive and general symptoms for individuals in the mindfulness group compared to the active control group were present, according to paired t test analyses. Further, while controlling for baseline scores, the mindfulness-based intervention group change score was greater compared to the control group using regression analyses. Results suggest that mindfulness-based group intervention for individuals with chronic difficulties after TBI is feasible and effective. Further study of this cost-effective and self-management approach to stress and symptom management is warranted and has the potential to be a broad-based intervention for early therapy after injury. [Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 57(1), 26-33.].

Psychological therapies for treatment-resistant depression in adults

BACKGROUND

Antidepressants are a first-line treatment for adults with moderate to severe major depression. However, many people prescribed antidepressants for depression don't respond fully to such medication, and little evidence is available to inform the most appropriate 'next step' treatment for such patients, who may be referred to as having treatment-resistant depression (TRD). National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance suggests that the 'next step' for those who do not respond to antidepressants may include a change in the dose or type of antidepressant medication, the addition of another medication, or the start of psychotherapy. Different types of psychotherapies may be used for TRD; evidence on these treatments is available but has not been collated to date.Along with the sister review of pharmacological therapies for TRD, this review summarises available evidence for the effectiveness of psychotherapies for adults (18 to 74 years) with TRD with the goal of establishing the best 'next step' for this group.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the effectiveness of psychotherapies for adults with TRD.

SEARCH METHODS

We searched the Cochrane Common Mental Disorders Controlled Trials Register (until May 2016), along with CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, and PsycINFO via OVID (until 16 May 2017). We also searched the World Health Organization (WHO) trials portal (ICTRP) and ClinicalTrials.gov to identify unpublished and ongoing studies. There were no date or language restrictions.

SELECTION CRITERIA

We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) with participants aged 18 to 74 years diagnosed with unipolar depression that had not responded to minimum four weeks of antidepressant treatment at a recommended dose. We excluded studies of drug intolerance. Acceptable diagnoses of unipolar depression were based onthe Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) or earlier versions, International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10, Feighner criteria, or Research Diagnostic Criteria. We included the following comparisons.1. Any psychological therapy versus antidepressant treatment alone, or another psychological therapy.2. Any psychological therapy given in addition to antidepressant medication versus antidepressant treatment alone, or a psychological therapy alone.Primary outcomes required were change in depressive symptoms and number of dropouts from study or treatment (as a measure of acceptability).

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

We extracted data, assessed risk of bias in duplicate, and resolved disagreements through discussion or consultation with a third person. We conducted random-effects meta-analyses when appropriate. We summarised continuous outcomes using mean differences (MDs) or standardised mean differences (SMDs), and dichotomous outcomes using risk ratios (RRs).

MAIN RESULTS

We included six trials (n = 698; most participants were women approximately 40 years of age). All studies evaluated psychotherapy plus usual care (with antidepressants) versus usual care (with antidepressants). Three studies addressed the addition of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) to usual care (n = 522), and one each evaluated intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy (ISTDP) (n = 60), interpersonal therapy (IPT) (n = 34), or group dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT) (n = 19) as the intervention. Most studies were small (except one trial of CBT was large), and all studies were at high risk of detection bias for the main outcome of self-reported depressive symptoms.A random-effects meta-analysis of five trials (n = 575) showed that psychotherapy given in addition to usual care (vs usual care alone) produced improvement in self-reported depressive symptoms (MD -4.07 points, 95% confidence interval (CI) -7.07 to -1.07 on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scale) over the short term (up to six months). Effects were similar when data from all six studies were combined for self-reported depressive symptoms (SMD -0.40, 95% CI -0.65 to -0.14; n = 635). The quality of this evidence was moderate. Similar moderate-quality evidence of benefit was seen on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 Scale (PHQ-9) from two studies (MD -4.66, 95% CI 8.72 to -0.59; n = 482) and on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD) from four studies (MD -3.28, 95% CI -5.71 to -0.85; n = 193).High-quality evidence shows no differential dropout (a measure of acceptability) between intervention and comparator groups over the short term (RR 0.85, 95% CI 0.58 to 1.24; six studies; n = 698).Moderate-quality evidence for remission from six studies (RR 1.92, 95% CI 1.46 to 2.52; n = 635) and low-quality evidence for response from four studies (RR 1.80, 95% CI 1.2 to 2.7; n = 556) indicate that psychotherapy was beneficial as an adjunct to usual care over the short term.With the addition of CBT, low-quality evidence suggests lower depression scores on the BDI scale over the medium term (12 months) (RR -3.40, 95% CI -7.21 to 0.40; two studies; n = 475) and over the long term (46 months) (RR -1.90, 95% CI -3.22 to -0.58; one study; n = 248). Moderate-quality evidence for adjunctive CBT suggests no difference in acceptability (dropout) over the medium term (RR 0.98, 95% CI 0.66 to 1.47; two studies; n = 549) and lower dropout over long term (RR 0.80, 95% CI 0.66 to 0.97; one study; n = 248).Two studies reported serious adverse events (one suicide, two hospitalisations, and two exacerbations of depression) in 4.2% of the total sample, which occurred only in the usual care group (no events in the intervention group).An economic analysis (conducted as part of an included study) from the UK healthcare perspective (National Health Service (NHS)) revealed that adjunctive CBT was cost-effective over nearly four years.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS

Moderate-quality evidence shows that psychotherapy added to usual care (with antidepressants) is beneficial for depressive symptoms and for response and remission rates over the short term for patients with TRD. Medium- and long-term effects seem similarly beneficial, although most evidence was derived from a single large trial. Psychotherapy added to usual care seems as acceptable as usual care alone.Further evidence is needed on the effectiveness of different types of psychotherapies for patients with TRD. No evidence currently shows whether switching to a psychotherapy is more beneficial for this patient group than continuing an antidepressant medication regimen. Addressing this evidence gap is an important goal for researchers.

Development and testing of a self-regulation model for recurrent depression

Self-regulation is a strategy for self-management of depression. Study aims were to (1) describe development of an intervention based on metacognition and self-regulation, (2) test intervention feasibility and utility, and (3) determine its effectiveness in reducing depressive symptoms. The Self-Regulated Illness Management of Depression intervention was developed and taught to 22 participants with recurrent depression. There was no attrition 6 months post intervention. At 6 months, there was a significant decrease in depressive symptoms (M = 10.21, standard deviation = 8.0), t(18) = 5.60, p < .001, and 73 percent of participants used Self-Regulated Illness Management of Depression frequently. Results indicated that Self-Regulated Illness Management of Depression was feasible and useful.

Factor Structure and Sensitivity to Change of the Recovery Assessment Scale

The focus on recovery, not just symptom reduction, in mental health care brings a need for psychometrically sound measures of recovery. This study examined the factor structure and sensitivity to change of a common measure of mental health recovery, the Recovery Assessment Scale (RAS). We conducted a secondary data analysis from a randomized clinical trial of self-management for depression (n = 302). We tested both bifactor and the previously found five-factor model. Sensitivity to change was examined three ways: (1) between the intervention and control group; (2) across time in the intervention group; and (3) in those whose depression remitted. The previous five-factor model was supported. One subscale, no domination by symptoms, was particularly sensitive to change and showed sensitivity to change whereas the subscale reliance on others did not show change in any of the comparisons. Results suggest that the subscales of the RAS should be examined separately in future studies of recovery.