Randomised controlled trial of a digitally assisted low intensity intervention to promote personal recovery in persisting psychosis: SMART-Therapy study protocol

Thomas, Neil; Farhall, John; Foley, F; Rossell, SL; Castle, D; Ladd, E; Meyer, D; Mihalopoulos, C; Leitan, N; Nunan, C; Frankish, R; Smark, T; Farnan, S; McLeod, B; Sterling, L; Murray, G; Fossey, Ellie; Brophy, Lisa; Kyrios, M

doi:10.26181/22350991.v1

Randomised controlled trial of a digitally assisted low intensity intervention to promote personal recovery in persisting psychosis: SMART-Therapy study protocol

journal contribution

posted on 2023-03-28, 22:52 authored by Neil Thomas, John FarhallJohn Farhall, F Foley, SL Rossell, D Castle, E Ladd, D Meyer, C Mihalopoulos, N Leitan, C Nunan, R Frankish, T Smark, S Farnan, B McLeod, L Sterling, G Murray, Ellie FosseyEllie Fossey, Lisa BrophyLisa Brophy, M Kyrios

Background: Psychosocial interventions have an important role in promoting recovery in people with persisting psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. Readily available, digital technology provides a means of developing therapeutic resources for use together by practitioners and mental health service users. As part of the Self-Management and Recovery Technology (SMART) research program, we have developed an online resource providing materials on illness self-management and personal recovery based on the Connectedness-Hope-Identity-Meaning-Empowerment (CHIME) framework. Content is communicated using videos featuring persons with lived experience of psychosis discussing how they have navigated issues in their own recovery. This was developed to be suitable for use on a tablet computer during sessions with a mental health worker to promote discussion about recovery. Methods/Design: This is a rater-blinded randomised controlled trial comparing a low intensity recovery intervention of eight one-to-one face-to-face sessions with a mental health worker using the SMART website alongside routine care, versus an eight-session comparison condition, befriending. The recruitment target is 148 participants with a schizophrenia-related disorder or mood disorder with a history of psychosis, recruited from mental health services in Victoria, Australia. Following baseline assessment, participants are randomised to intervention, and complete follow up assessments at 3, 6 and 9 months post-baseline. The primary outcome is personal recovery measured using the Process of Recovery Questionnaire (QPR). Secondary outcomes include positive and negative symptoms assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, subjective experiences of psychosis, emotional symptoms, quality of life and resource use. Mechanisms of change via effects on self-stigma and self-efficacy will be examined. Discussion: This protocol describes a novel intervention which tests new therapeutic methods including in-session tablet computer use and video-based peer modelling. It also informs a possible low intensity intervention model potentially viable for delivery across the mental health workforce.

Funding

This trial is funded by the State Government of Victoria Department of Health Mental Illness Research Fund (MIRF33). From 2012 to 16, CM was funded by a NHMRC ECR grant (APP1035887).

History

Publication Date

2016-09-07

Journal

BMC Psychiatry

Volume

16

Article Number

312

Pagination

12p.

Publisher

Springer Nature

ISSN

1471-244X

Rights Statement

© 2016 The Author(s). This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.