Testing a Precision Psychotherapy System for Low-income Patients

Major Depressive Disorder Clinical Trial

— ML_LMIC  

Official title:

Open-trial to Prospectively Test the Feasibility of a Precision Psychotherapy System for Low-income Patients

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Not yet recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT05118594
• Other study ID #: ML_LMIC_2021
• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: February 2026
• Est. completion date: November 2026

Study information

• Verified date: November 2021
• Source: National Council of Scientific and Technical Research, Argentina
• Contact: Juan M Gomez Penedo, PhD
• Phone: +5491165257053
• Email: jmgomezpenedo[@]gmail.com
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of an evidence-based system to recommend core interventions, before the beginning of treatment, to psychotherapists treating low-income patients with depressive or anxiety disorders.

Description:

After providing a written inform consent, potential patients will undergo a 2-weeks screening period to determine if they meet eligibility criteria. Baseline information (i.e., derived from semi-structured intake interviews and baseline clinical measures) from patients who meet eligibility criteria and consent to participate in the study, will be use to feed a machine learning algorithm, developed in a previous study, to perform individual predictions and determine which interventions (i.e., cognitive, behavioral, interpersonal, or patient-centered) will be recommended for the individual patient. This recommendation (i.e., about the most personally well-suited intervention for a given patient) will be provided to therapists before the beginning of treatment. Patients will be treated with 15 sessions of psychotherapy. The investigators will examine the extent to which therapists adhered to the recommended interventions as the primary outcome. The investigators will also examine patient symptomatic/functional improvement as a secondary outcome.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Enrollment: 111
• Est. completion date: November 2026
• Est. primary completion date: November 2026
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years to 65 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Diagnoses of a depressive disorder (i.e., major depressive disorder or dysthymic disorder) or an anxiety disorder (i.e., specific phobia, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia or generalized anxiety disorder) determined with the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI)
• A score of at least two (mild) in any the five items from the depression and anxiety domains of the DSM-5 Self-Rated Level 1 Cross-Cutting Symptom Measure-Adult
• A total family income below the poverty index threshold, determined by a Licensed Social Worker
• Aged 18 to 65
• Fluency in Spanish language
• Capacity to consent

Exclusion Criteria:

• Psychosis
• Mania
• Suicidal ideation with intent and/or plan
• Substance abuse disorders
• History of organic mental disease.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Agoraphobia
• Anxiety Disorders
• Depression
• Depressive Disorder
• Depressive Disorder, Major
• Disease
• Dysthymic Disorder
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder
• Major Depressive Disorder
• Panic Disorder
• Phobia, Social
• Social Anxiety Disorder
• Specific Phobia

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Pre-treatment psychotherapy recommendations
After patients complete an intake evaluation and prior to starting therapy, the assigned therapist will receive automatized feedback that consists of recommendations regarding the most suitable interventions (i.e., cognitive, behavioral, interpersonal or patient-centered) for each individual patients, based on patients' baseline characteristics and a machine learning algorithm developed in a previous study. Besides the interventions recommended, therapist will receive within the system guideline and tutorial videos showing how to deliver adequately the specific interventions recommended.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
n/a

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
National Council of Scientific and Technical Research, Argentina

References & Publications (5)

Kroenke K, Spitzer RL, Williams JB. The PHQ-9: validity of a brief depression severity measure. J Gen Intern Med. 2001 Sep;16(9):606-13. — View Citation

Sheehan DV, Lecrubier Y, Sheehan KH, Amorim P, Janavs J, Weiller E, Hergueta T, Baker R, Dunbar GC. The Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.): the development and validation of a structured diagnostic psychiatric interview for DSM-IV and ICD-10. J Clin Psychiatry. 1998;59 Suppl 20:22-33;quiz 34-57. Review. — View Citation

Solomonov N, McCarthy KS, Gorman BS, Barber JP. The Multitheoretical List of Therapeutic Interventions - 30 items (MULTI-30). Psychother Res. 2019 Jul;29(5):565-580. doi: 10.1080/10503307.2017.1422216. Epub 2018 Jan 16. — View Citation

Spitzer RL, Kroenke K, Williams JB, Löwe B. A brief measure for assessing generalized anxiety disorder: the GAD-7. Arch Intern Med. 2006 May 22;166(10):1092-7. — View Citation

Ustün TB, Chatterji S, Kostanjsek N, Rehm J, Kennedy C, Epping-Jordan J, Saxena S, von Korff M, Pull C; WHO/NIH Joint Project. Developing the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0. Bull World Health Organ. 2010 Nov 1;88(11):815-23. doi: 10.2471/BLT.09.067231. Epub 2010 May 20. — View Citation

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Change from Baseline in Depressive Severity on the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) at Week 15	The PHQ-9 is a validated 9-item self-reported measure of depression severity grounded on the diagnostic criteria from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV (DSM-IV), with higher scores representing greater severity. Items are rated on a four-point Likert scale ranging from 0 ("Not at all") to 3 ("Nearly every day").; Change= Estimated weekly change from Baseline to Week 15 from a multilevel growth curve model	Baseline and Week 15
Primary	Change from Baseline in Anxiety Severity on the General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) at Week 15	The GAD-7 is a self-reported measure that evaluates the overall anxiety severity with seven items rated on a four-point Likert scale ranging from 0 ("Not at all) to 3 ("Nearly every day"). Greater scores represents higher severity.; Change= Estimated weekly change on severity from Baseline to Week 15 from a multilevel growth curve model	Baseline and Week 15
Primary	Change from Baseline in Overall Functioning on the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS) at Week 15	The WHODAS is a validated self-reported measure that evaluates overall functioning with 12 items rated on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 0 ("None") to 4 ("Extreme"). Greater scores represents higher disability.; Change= Estimated weekly change on severity from Baseline to Week 15 from a multilevel growth curve model	Baseline and Week 15
Primary	Average Adherence to the Recommended Interventions on the Multitheoretical List of Therapeutic Interventions (MULTI-30) Across Treatment	The MULTI-30 is a validated and reliable measure to assessed the adherence to therapeutic interventions in a given session. Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 ("Not at all typical to the session") to 5 ("Very typical to the session"). For the project the investigators will test the following MULTI-30 subscales: Cognitive, Behavioral, Interpersonal, and Person-centered. In this study the investigators will use the therapist version of the MULTI-30.; Average Adherence= Mean Score of the Recommended Interventions Across all the Sessions of the Treatment.	Week 1 and Week 15
Secondary	Diagnostic Status at Week 15 in the Primary Diagnoses Identified at Baseline with the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview	The MINI is a brief structured diagnostic interview for psychiatric disorders developed based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) diagnostic criteria. Several studies have positioned the MINI as a highly reliable and valid instrument for determine psychiatric disorders.; Diagnostic Status= Determine if the primary diagnoses remain at Week 15	Baseline and Week 15