Evaluation of a Website to Improve Depression Literacy in Adoldescents

Depressive Disorder Clinical Trial

Official title:

Evaluating the Efficacy and the Acceptability of the Website "Ich Bin Alles" to Improve Depression Literacy in Adolescents

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT05300217
• Other study ID #: 20115_2
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: January 4, 2021
• Est. completion date: May 2, 2022

Study information

• Verified date: July 2022
• Source: Ludwig-Maximilians - University of Munich
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and acceptability of the website "ich bin alles" (https://www.ich-bin-alles.de/) to improve depression literacy (knowledge about depression, which aid the recognition, treatment or prevention of depression) in healthy adolescents. The investigators will examine whether the website improves depression literacy in healthy adolescents aged 12 to 18 years. The investigators will also assess the acceptability of the website among adolescents.

Description:

Few young people with major depressive disorder seek professional treatment in time. Concerns about social stigma, confidentiality, and limited knowledge about mental health conditions, such as depression, or mental health services are some of the main barriers to seek treatment. To address these problems, we developed an evidence-based website "ich bin alles" (https://www.ich-bin-alles.de/) to improve depression literacy.

To improve depression literacy, the website provides general information about depression as psychiatric disorder in adolescents (e.g., symptoms, causes, course and treatment of depression). Furthermore, the website provides information about self-help strategies for depression and prevention of depression; i.e., strategies for promoting mental health (e.g., reducing stress, doing exercise, undertaking positive activities), which are meant to serve as an addition to professional treatments of depression or to promote mental health in adolescents.

Target groups of the website are adolescents aged 12 to 18 years seeking help for depression, as well as healthy adolescents seeking information about mental health promotion or depression. Easy access to information about depression would make early recognition of depression more likely and engage young people to seek help for depression.

Since the website targets two different groups, the investigators will evaluate the website accordingly:

Target group 1: Adolescents with a major depressive disorder (acute or remitted) Target group 2: Healthy Adolescents (no mental health condition) The current study will focus on target group 2. A study focusing on target group 1 can be found in a separately registered clinical trial on clinicaltrials.gov.

The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and acceptability of the website "ich bin alles" (https://www.ich-bin-alles.de/) to improve depression literacy in healthy adolescents.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 79
• Est. completion date: May 2, 2022
• Est. primary completion date: May 2, 2022
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 12 Years to 18 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Intelligence quotient (IQ) of = 80

Exclusion Criteria:

• Current diagnosis of a mental disorder

• Remitted depressive disorder

• Insufficient knowledge of German

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Depression
• Depression in Adolescence
• Depressive Disorder

Intervention

Other:
• Strategies for promoting mental health
Before starting the intervention, the participants are told that they will be shown parts of a website about depression. The participants are instructed to carefully attend to the website (e.g., to read the text precisely, to hear attentively to the podcasts and images on the website). The time window spent for the reception of each part of the website are fixed. The participants in this intervention group will only be shown parts of the website regarding strategies for promoting mental health
• General information about depression
Before starting the intervention, the participants are told that they will be shown parts of a website about depression. The participants are instructed to carefully attend to the website (e.g., to read the text precisely, to hear attentively to the podcasts and to view carefully the videos and images on the website). The time window spent for the reception of each part of the website are fixed. The participants in this intervention group will only be shown parts of the website regarding general information about depression

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Germany	Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Munich	Munich	Bayern

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Ludwig-Maximilians - University of Munich	Prof. OTTO Beisheim Stiftung (Germany)

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Germany, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Depression Literacy - Strategies for promoting mental health	This self-designed questionnaire is a self-report inventory to assess knowledge of strategies for promoting mental health (exercise, dealing with problems and stress, positive attitude, postive activities and social contacts; 27 items), with higher scores indicating more knowledge of strategies for promoting mental health. Participants will complete this self-designed questionnaire at pre-test, post-test and the two follow-ups to determine change in knowledge of strategies for promoting mental health.	Pre-Test, Post-Test (within 2 hours), Follow-Up 1 (Week 2), Follow-Up 2 (Week 4)
Primary	Depression Literacy - Depression as psychiatric disorder	This self-designed questionnaire is a self-report inventory to assess knowledge of depression as psychiatric disorder (frequency and comorbidities, treatment, symptoms, causes and course of depression; 27 items), with higher scores indicating more knowledge of depression as psychiatric disorder. Participants will complete this self-designed questionnaire at pre-test, post-test and the two follow-ups to determine change in knowledge of depression as psychiatric disorder	Pre-Test, Post-Test (within 2 hours), Follow-Up 1 (Week 2), Follow-Up 2 (Week 4)
Secondary	Visual Aesthetics of Websites Inventory Short Version (VisAWI-S)	The short version of the Visual Aesthetics of Websites Inventory (VisAWI-S) is self-report inventory to assess the evaluation of the website's design - especially the perceived visual aesthetics. Participants indicated their response to the four items (e.g., "The layout appears professionally designed") on a seven-point Likert scale (ranging from 1 "do not agree at all" to 7 "do fully agree")	Post-Test (within 2 hours)
Secondary	Overall reception of the website	The overall reception of the website as measured with a self-designed questionnaire	Post-Test (within 2 hours)