Spirituality Teaching Program for Depressed Adults

Study Results

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Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

84 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2005-01-31

Study Completion Date

2008-12-31

Brief Summary

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Major depression is a widely spread health problem in Canada. Recent research suggests a potential role for religion/spirituality in the prevention of and recovery from depression in adults. The purpose this study was to assess the efficacy of a home-based Spirituality Teaching Program for adults in the treatment of major depression. The objectives of the study were to determine:

1. whether the Spirituality Teaching Program is efficacious in improving depression severity, response rate, and remission rate in adults,
2. whether efficacy is maintained long term (over a 16 week period).

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Detailed Description

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Major depression is a widely spread health problem in Canada with a life time prevalence of 11% in men and 16% in women. A recent avenue of research suggests a role for religion/spirituality in the prevention of and recovery from depression. It has been hypothesized that religion/spirituality acts as a coping resource in distressing life situations including illness and loss and may address the struggles of depressed patients of feeling separated from their surrounding world, as well as from their inner self. Majority of the research conducted to date on this topic has been observational and focused on the religious denomination, primarily the Christian and Muslim faiths. However, given the distinction between spirituality and religion and since a growing portion of the Canadian population identifies themselves as nonreligious but spiritual (10), it is pertinent to explore whether there is a role for a nondenominational spiritual intervention as a mental health resource. Considering the burden of depression on an individual and social level and need for effective and accessible treatment options, evaluation of spirituality based approaches is highly relevant. This study aims to assess whether nurturing spiritual coping resources in a non-faith based way may play a therapeutic role in recovery from major depression in adults.

Conditions

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Major Depression

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Outcome Assessors

Study Groups

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Spirituality Group

Arm where participants began the intervention (the Spirituality Teaching Program) upon recruitment for an 8 week period. Therefore, the program was initiated at week 1 of the trial.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Spirituality Teaching Program

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The Spirituality Teaching Program is a home study program delivered through audio CDs over an 8-week period. The program consists of weekly 90 minute teaching sessions, based on the content of a workshop developed to assist users in developing a more spiritual outlook on life and coping resources. Using didactic comment and storytelling, the following spiritual concepts are addressed in the sessions: self-transcendence, connectedness, forgiveness, self-acceptance, detachment, compassion and gratitude. Each session concludes with a relevant guided visualization practice. In addition, a 15-minute progressive relaxation exercise is included that is to be used on a daily basis. The presented content is nondenominational to ensure compatibility with any beliefs participants may hold.

Waitlist Control Group

Arm where participants began the intervention (the Spirituality Teaching Program) after an 8 week wait period. Therefore, the program was initiated at week 8 of the trial. Between week 1 and week 8, participants did not complete the program and were instructed to carry out their day to day activities as before.

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Spirituality Teaching Program

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The Spirituality Teaching Program is a home study program delivered through audio CDs over an 8-week period. The program consists of weekly 90 minute teaching sessions, based on the content of a workshop developed to assist users in developing a more spiritual outlook on life and coping resources. Using didactic comment and storytelling, the following spiritual concepts are addressed in the sessions: self-transcendence, connectedness, forgiveness, self-acceptance, detachment, compassion and gratitude. Each session concludes with a relevant guided visualization practice. In addition, a 15-minute progressive relaxation exercise is included that is to be used on a daily basis. The presented content is nondenominational to ensure compatibility with any beliefs participants may hold.

Interventions

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Spirituality Teaching Program

The Spirituality Teaching Program is a home study program delivered through audio CDs over an 8-week period. The program consists of weekly 90 minute teaching sessions, based on the content of a workshop developed to assist users in developing a more spiritual outlook on life and coping resources. Using didactic comment and storytelling, the following spiritual concepts are addressed in the sessions: self-transcendence, connectedness, forgiveness, self-acceptance, detachment, compassion and gratitude. Each session concludes with a relevant guided visualization practice. In addition, a 15-minute progressive relaxation exercise is included that is to be used on a daily basis. The presented content is nondenominational to ensure compatibility with any beliefs participants may hold.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Satisfy the DSM-IV criteria for unipolar major depression with a depression score of 18-22 on the Hamilton Depression Scale (mild to moderate severity),
* Are at least 18 years of age,
* Have the competence to understand the study requirements and the ability to comply with the study intervention,
* Have provided written informed consent.

Exclusion Criteria

* History of treatment resistance to two or more antidepressants when treated for an adequate period with a therapeutic dose
* History of bipolar d/o, psychotic d/o, any psychotic episodes, personality d/o (except obsessive compulsive d/o)
* History of multiple suicide attempts
* Acute psychiatric condition other than unipolar depression
* Regular use of medications (other than antidepressant, if applicable) that have mood altering effects, such as narcotics, anticonvulsants, illicit drugs or sleeping pills
* Uncontrolled medical conditions in the last 3 months
* DSM-IV diagnosis of substance abuse (except nicotine and caffeine) within the past 12-months
* High suicide risk

Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No