Modifying Treatment Expectations in Depression: the Role of Social Learning

NCT ID: NCT05245370

Last Updated: 2022-09-29

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

Get a concise snapshot of the trial, including recruitment status, study phase, enrollment targets, and key timeline milestones.

Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

171 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2022-01-14

Study Completion Date

2022-04-15

Brief Summary

Review the sponsor-provided synopsis that highlights what the study is about and why it is being conducted.

Research has shown that treatment expectations play a major role in the course of mental disorders and that positive expectations have a beneficial impact on treatment outcomes. Expectations can develop in different ways, whereby an emerging body of research has shown that social learning plays a significant role in this process. To date, most studies have investigated the impact of social learning on treatment expectations in the context of pain relief. Little is known about the impact of social learning in the psychotherapeutic treatment of depression. Therefore, this study investigates whether treatment expectations regarding the treatment of depression can be modulated via social learning, i.e., showing positive treatment testimonials.

Hypotheses:

H1: The investigators predict that individuals who are provided with treatment testimonials (experimental groups) show a greater change toward positive treatment expectations compared to individuals who do not view such testimonials (control groups).

H2: The investigators predict that individuals provided with treatment testimonials will, compared to the control groups, show a greater change in secondary outcome variables in the following ways: a greater decrease in perceived uncertainty/ barriers; a greater decrease in stigma/ negative attitudes toward psychotherapy; a greater increase in intentions to seek therapy; a greater willingness to try the specific technique described in the videos.

H3: Inter-individual differences in the effect of provided testimonials are associated with pre-existing factors: level of depressive symptoms; intolerance of uncertainty; treatment experience; locus of control; general self-efficacy; dispositional optimism and cognitive immunization tendencies.

Exploratory questions:

1. An exploratory aim of this study is to assess whether viewing different types of testimonials (clinician delivered; patient-delivered; combination of both) has differential effects on treatment expectation change.
2. Furthermore, the investigators want to assess whether implicit treatment expectations change in a similar pattern as explicit treatment expectations.
3. Based on the results of H1 and H2, the investigators aim to assess possible mechanisms of change: e.g. assess whether a change in treatment expectations is mediated by a decrease in perceived uncertainty or a change in stigma/ attitudes toward therapy.

Detailed Description

Dive into the extended narrative that explains the scientific background, objectives, and procedures in greater depth.

Conditions

See the medical conditions and disease areas that this research is targeting or investigating.

Health Care Utilization

Study Design

Understand how the trial is structured, including allocation methods, masking strategies, primary purpose, and other design elements.

Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

FACTORIAL

Primary Study Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Blinding Strategy

DOUBLE

Participants Investigators

Study Groups

Review each arm or cohort in the study, along with the interventions and objectives associated with them.

Control group 1: Control video

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Control video

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Control group 1 will see a control video consisting of basic information about the different types of psychotherapy that are covered by insurance in Germany and the process of applying for psychotherapy with the insurance. The control video is matched in duration (10 minutes), set-up and the overall topic (psychotherapy) to the intervention video testimonials.

Control group 2: Rationale video + control video

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Control video

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Control group 1 will see a control video consisting of basic information about the different types of psychotherapy that are covered by insurance in Germany and the process of applying for psychotherapy with the insurance. The control video is matched in duration (10 minutes), set-up and the overall topic (psychotherapy) to the intervention video testimonials.

Rationale video

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The active control group 2 will see a short rationale and the control video. The rationale is a 2:45 minute-long animated video (designed via the visual communication platform powtoon, https://powtoon.com/) explaining some of the underlying mechanisms of depression.

Rationale video + clinician testimonial

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Rationale video

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The active control group 2 will see a short rationale and the control video. The rationale is a 2:45 minute-long animated video (designed via the visual communication platform powtoon, https://powtoon.com/) explaining some of the underlying mechanisms of depression.

Clinician testimonial

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

This group will see the rationale video first, followed by testimonial of a professional clinician/psychotherapist.

Rationale video + patient testimonial

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Rationale video

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The active control group 2 will see a short rationale and the control video. The rationale is a 2:45 minute-long animated video (designed via the visual communication platform powtoon, https://powtoon.com/) explaining some of the underlying mechanisms of depression.

Patient testimonial

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

This group will see the rationale video first, followed by testimonial of a patient who is being treated for depression with psychotherapy.

Rationale video + clinician testimonial + patient testimonial

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Rationale video

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The active control group 2 will see a short rationale and the control video. The rationale is a 2:45 minute-long animated video (designed via the visual communication platform powtoon, https://powtoon.com/) explaining some of the underlying mechanisms of depression.

Clinician testimonial

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

This group will see the rationale video first, followed by testimonial of a professional clinician/psychotherapist.

Patient testimonial

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

This group will see the rationale video first, followed by testimonial of a patient who is being treated for depression with psychotherapy.

Interventions

Learn about the drugs, procedures, or behavioral strategies being tested and how they are applied within this trial.

Control video

Control group 1 will see a control video consisting of basic information about the different types of psychotherapy that are covered by insurance in Germany and the process of applying for psychotherapy with the insurance. The control video is matched in duration (10 minutes), set-up and the overall topic (psychotherapy) to the intervention video testimonials.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Rationale video

The active control group 2 will see a short rationale and the control video. The rationale is a 2:45 minute-long animated video (designed via the visual communication platform powtoon, https://powtoon.com/) explaining some of the underlying mechanisms of depression.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Clinician testimonial

This group will see the rationale video first, followed by testimonial of a professional clinician/psychotherapist.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Patient testimonial

This group will see the rationale video first, followed by testimonial of a patient who is being treated for depression with psychotherapy.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Check the participation requirements, including inclusion and exclusion rules, age limits, and whether healthy volunteers are accepted.

Inclusion Criteria

* at least 18 years old
* be able understand German (at least B1 level)
* have access to a computer device with internet access

Exclusion Criteria

* age below 18 years old
* non correctable hearing or visual impairment
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

Meet the organizations funding or collaborating on the study and learn about their roles.

Philipps University Marburg

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

Identify the individual or organization who holds primary responsibility for the study information submitted to regulators.

Winfried Rief

Professor, Dr.

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Learn about the lead researchers overseeing the trial and their institutional affiliations.

Winfried Rief

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Philipps-University Marburg, Germany, 35032

Locations

Explore where the study is taking place and check the recruitment status at each participating site.

Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Philipps-University Marburg

Marburg, , Germany

Site Status

Countries

Review the countries where the study has at least one active or historical site.

Germany

Other Identifiers

Review additional registry numbers or institutional identifiers associated with this trial.

Social learning_testimonials

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

More Related Trials

Additional clinical trials that may be relevant based on similarity analysis.