Health TrialsbyHealthPanel

Adolescent Interpersonal Counseling in Primary Care

ConditionsDepressive Symptoms Mild to Moderate in SeverityMajor Depressive Disorder
Trial statusRecruiting
Trial phaseNot listed
Trial typeObservational
Biological sexAll
Age13-16
SponsorFinnish Institute for Health and Welfare

About this trial

The demand for prevention and treatment of adolescent depression has rapidly increased over years. A national project to improve treatment of adolescent depression in primary care has taken place in Finland starting 2020.

The goal of this prospective observational cohort study is to describe pathways to mental health services in adolescents with depressive symptoms. The main questions it aims to answer are:

* Do young people reporting depressive symptoms have equal access to treatment? * How is it best to recognize those adolescents who will benefit from IPC-A?

Adolescents who participate in the study will

* complete a survey on protective and risk factors of depression three times over 6 months * report possible depressive symptoms every two weeks over 6 months * report whether they needed and received help, motivation for treatment, and benefits and harms from treatment

We will also collect

* information from one of caretakers with two surveys within 6 month- intervals on their view on adolescent's need for support, strengths and risks, and benefits and harms from treatment where applicable * where applicable, from the professional who provided support after the intervention on their training and competence, as well as content of and response to treatment * register data to estimate overall provision and cost of social welfare and health care services one year preceding the study and over 2 to 10 years after the observation period

Researchers will compare an intervention that is new in Finland, adolescent interpersonal counseling (IPC-A), to other treatments of depression, to see if it is equal to or better than other treatments of depression.

Eligibility criteria

This trial accepts healthy volunteers

Qualifiers

we will include all adolescents attending grades 7 to 9 in selected schools with on informed consent

Disqualifiers

psychiatric care within the past 12 months or receiving a psychosocial intervention (psychotherapy, IPC-A, any other therapy of support) during the 12 months before baseline,

an inability to reliably understand the Finnish, Plain Finnish, Swedish, or English versions of the survey, or

an adolescents' or caretakers' report of a need for exclusion, such as another medical condition - including a mental disorder - requiring acute current treatment or support.

Trial population

Adolescents attending grades 7 to 9 (13 to 16 years) in selected schools

Trial design

Design model

Ecologic or community

Time perspective

Prospective

Treatments tested in this trial

  • Interpersonal counseling

    Behavioral

    A structured psychotherapeutic intervention to prevent depression or treat mild to moderate depression. IPC-A is a brief, individual-based intervention (3-8 sessions). The focus is on interpersonal relations as a factor of resilience in depressive symptoms. IPC-A is a shorter form of IPT-A, developed by prof. Myrna Weissman and team.

  • Treatment as usual

    Behavioral

    Any other behavioral or medical support or depression indicated by depressive symptoms or depression. This is based on adolescent, caretaker and professional's report.

  • No support, intervention or other treatment

    Other intervention

    The group will comprise those adolescents who report sustained depression but do not seek or receive support over 6 months of follow-up based on adolescent and caretaker's report

Treatment groups

9,000 Participants
are divided into 1 treatment group
Group A: Adolescents with sustained depression3 interventions

Trial outcomes

Primary outcomes

1

Proportion of adolescents referred to specialized psychiatric services

Proportion of adolescents in each three groups with sustained depressive symptoms by 6 months who receive specialized psychiatric services by 12 months

Time frame
From baseline to 12 months

Secondary outcomes

1

Proportion of adolescents who received any social welfare or health care services

Data collected from adolescent and caretaker's surveys and registers

Time frame
Up to 10 years after baseline
2

longitudinal changes in PHQ-9-A score

Longitudinal changes in biweekly PHQ-9-A scores over 6 months; PHQ-9-A 10 items, 0 to 3, higher score more depression

Time frame
2 weeks

Other outcomes

1

Loneliness

One item: Do you feel lonely? yes/no

Time frame
No time frame
2

Experiences of Social Inclusion Scale

10 items, 0 to 4, higher score more inclusion

Time frame
No time frame
3

The child-friendly EuroQol-5 dimensions questionnaire

EQ-5D-Y, 5 items 0 to 2; a VAS scale, higher score more functional

Time frame
The same day
4

Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-7

GAD-7, 7 items 0 to 3, higher score more anxiety

Time frame
2 weeks

Sponsors and contacts

Click on the lead sponsor to view all of their trials.

Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare

Lead sponsor

Strategic Research Council of Finland

Collaborator

University of Helsinki

Collaborator

University of Eastern Finland

Collaborator

Tampere University

Collaborator

Source ClinicalTrials.gov
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