An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of a Simple Marketing Intervention in Changing Student Attitudes to Depression
NCT ID: NCT00122083
Last Updated: 2005-07-26
Study Results
The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.
Basic Information
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COMPLETED
NA
1680 participants
INTERVENTIONAL
2004-04-30
2004-06-30
Brief Summary
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Detailed Description
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Knowledge of effective treatments for depression is burgeoning thanks to a rapid increase in the quantity and quality of relevant research. Regardless of these advances, depression is still under-reported (Freeling et al., 1985) and general practitioners often fail to diagnose it.
When depression is correctly diagnosed, most patients in primary care will receive a prescription for an antidepressant. However, some patients will not have the prescription dispensed, and most will not complete the full recommended course. Compliance with psychological treatments is also a problem.
Study Design:
* Pilot work: The intervention consisted of mailing (to each undergraduate student's pigeon-hole) a pack of 4 postcards which provided brief information on depression in an attractive format. One postcard summarised information on depression as an illness; one summarised information on the causes of depression; one summarised information on the treatment of depression; and one summarised information on how to seek help for depression. Prior to the trial, the drafts were revised through feedback from a focus group of 5 students, who discussed the design and content of the draft postcards. The focus group participants were recruited from the Queen's College, as this college did not participate in the trial. The focus group contributed to the revision of the draft questionnaire.
* The trial: The design was a cluster, randomised, controlled trial. Individual Oxford University colleges which accept undergraduate students were the units of randomisation. Twenty-eight colleges were randomised. Permanent private halls and postgraduate colleges were excluded, as was the Queen's College (due to it being the lead investigator's college) and Harris Manchester College (a college for mature students).
Half of the randomised colleges received no intervention; the other half received the intervention.
A questionnaire was administered before and after the intervention to half of the undergraduate students in each of the colleges. The same questionnaire was used for both time points. Questions addressed knowledge of, and attitudes towards:
* depression as an illness;
* symptoms of depression;
* treatment for depression;
* sources of help for depression.
Conditions
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Keywords
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Study Design
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RANDOMIZED
PARALLEL
ECT
NONE
Interventions
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Health education information
Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria
Exclusion Criteria
* Students at the excluded colleges
0 Years
ALL
Yes
Sponsors
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Pfizer
INDUSTRY
Wyeth is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Pfizer
INDUSTRY
University of Oxford
OTHER
Principal Investigators
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John Geddes
Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
University of Oxford
Locations
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University of Oxford
Oxford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
Countries
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References
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Birrer RB. Depression and aging too often do mix. Postgrad Med. 1998 Sep;104(3):143-9, 153-4, 163-4. doi: 10.3810/pgm.1998.09.580.
Freeling P, Rao BM, Paykel ES, Sireling LI, Burton RH. Unrecognised depression in general practice. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed). 1985 Jun 22;290(6485):1880-3.
Other Identifiers
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UOxford
Identifier Type: -
Identifier Source: org_study_id