Gladstone et al. Trials (2015) 16:203
DOI 10.1186/s13063-015-0705-2
TRIALS
STUDY PROTOCOL
Open Access
An internet-based adolescent depression
preventive intervention: study protocol for a
randomized control trial
Tracy G Gladstone1, Monika Marko-Holguin3, Phyllis Rothberg1, Jennifer Nidetz3, Anne Diehl2, Daniela T DeFrino3*,
Mary Harris1, Eumene Ching5, Milton Eder6, Jason Canel7, Carl Bell3, William R Beardslee2, C Hendricks Brown4,
Kathleen Griffiths8 and Benjamin W Van Voorhees3
Abstract
Background: The high prevalence of major depressive disorder in adolescents and the low rate of successful
treatment highlight a pressing need for accessible, affordable adolescent depression prevention programs. The
Internet offers opportunities to provide adolescents with high quality, evidence-based programs without burdening
or creating new care delivery systems. Internet-based interventions hold promise, but further research is needed to
explore the efficacy of these approaches and ways of integrating emerging technologies for behavioral health into
the primary care system.
Methods/Design: We developed a primary care Internet-based depression prevention intervention, Competent
Adulthood Transition with Cognitive Behavioral Humanistic and Interpersonal Training (CATCH-IT), to evaluate a
self-guided, online approach to depression prevention and are conducting a randomized clinical trial comparing
CATCH-IT to a general health education Internet intervention. This article documents the research framework and
randomized clinical trial design used to evaluate CATCH-IT for adolescents, in order to inform future work in
Internet-based adolescent prevention programs. The rationale for this trial is introduced, the current status of
the study is reviewed, and potential implications and future directions are discussed.
Discussion: The current protocol represents the only current, systematic approach to connecting at-risk youth with
self-directed depression prevention programs in a medical setting. This trial undertakes the complex public health
task of identifying at-risk individuals through mass screening of the general primary care population, rather than
solely relying on volunteers recruited over the Internet, and the trial design provides measures of both symptomatic
and diagnostic clinical outcomes. At the present time, we have enrolled N = 234 adolescents/expected 400 and
N = 186 parents/expected 400 in this trial, from N = 6 major health systems. The protocol described here provides
a model for a new generation of interventions that blend substantial computer-based instruction with human
contact to intervene to prevent mental disorders such as depression. Because of the potential for broad
generalizability of this model, the results of this study are important, as they will help develop the guidelines
for preventive interventions with youth at-risk for the development of depressive and other mental disorders.
Trial registration: Clinical Trial Registry: NCT01893749 date 6 May 2012.
Keywords: Adolescent depression, Prevention, Internet, Adolescence, Primary care
* Correspondence: ddefrino@uic.edu
3
Department of Pediatrics, the University of Illinois at Chicago, West Taylor
Street, Chicago, IL 60612, USA
Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
© 2015 Gladstone et al.; licensee BioMed Central. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. 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.
Gladstone et al. Trials (2015) 16:203
Background
Adolescent Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a
significant public health problem. Twenty percent of all
adolescents will experience a depressive episode by age
18, with potential adverse impacts on educational attainment, interpersonal relationships, and behavioral health
(including increased risk of substance abuse, future
depressive episodes, and suicide) [1-3]. This high prevalence in adolescents is concerning, given that depression
frequently manifests as a “life-course” disorder, emerging
in mid-adolescence, and recurring every 5 to 7 years in
80% of individuals [4,5]. Given the high prevalence of
adolescent MDD, the serious associated functional
impairments, and the risk of unhealthy behaviors and
life-long illness, it is vital to population health that
programs are available to address the problem.
Efficacious psychosocial and pharmacological treatments
for depression are currently available for adolescents [6,7].
However, adolescents have very low rates of seeking care
(35%), completing referrals for psychotherapy (30%), and
receiving high-quality treatment (20%) [8-11]. Furthermore,
adolescents who do receive high-quality depression treatment do not always recover. Even under controlled
research conditions, only about half of adolescents
who receive treatment for depression fully recover,
and frequently these recovered individuals eventually
relapse [12-14]. Given the low recovery rates associated
with adolescent depression treatment, and the adverse
educational, interpersonal, and behavioral outcomes still
present in adolescents who receive depression treatment
[1,3], approaches to prevent the onset of adolescent
depression are indicated.
Since the 1980s, a number of prevention programs
have been developed to reduce the risk of depressive
symptoms, episodes, and disorders [15]. More than 30
programs have been developed specifically targeting
the prevention of depression in youth, and recent
meta-analyses indicate that such prevention programs are
effective, particularly when targeting high-risk adolescents
[16]. There is substantial evidence that cognitive behavioral
approaches, in particular, may prevent adolescent depression [17-20]. However, many barriers associated with
depression treatment (for example, high cost, stigma,
transportation, reticence to speak with a stranger, and
limited availability of providers) are barriers to prevention
programs delivered face-to-face [21-24].
The Internet offers promising opportunities for the
dissemination of public health adolescent depression
prevention programs to overcome the barriers of
face-to-face interventions. Use of the Internet to deliver
prevention programs enables any adolescent with a
web-connection to potentially receive help anonymously,
conveniently, and free of charge. Adolescents report
extensive use of the Internet [25], and some willingness to
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utilize health-related websites [26,27]. Therefore, use of the
Internet to deliver adolescent depression programs seems a
practical and acceptable manner to provide prevention
services to adolescents. For adults, Internet-based interventions have been demonstrated to produce clinically
meaningful preventive effects, equivalent to face-to-face
interventions [28-32], and preliminary research indicates
that this is true for adolescent-targeted Internet prevention programs, as well [33]. Despite the many benefits of
providing depression prevention programs online, not all
Internet-based programs for youth are equally effective
[34]. Although adolescents report extensive use of the
Internet [25], there are mixed reports on adolescent
utilization of health-related Internet websites [25,27], and
adolescent participation in Internet interventions has been
inconsistent [27,35]. Theory and research indicate that
Internet-based programs are most effective when engagement strategies (for example, stimulating material and
providing reminders to use the program), both within the
intervention website and in real life, are incorporated into
the intervention [36-39].
Instructional Design Theory [36] teaches the importance
of maintaining learner attention, informing the learner of
objectives, and providing opportunities for stimulation,
guidance, and feedback for maximizing learning and
behavior change. Effective Internet-based depression
prevention programs incorporate these principles in their
design, and offer additional strategies to promote opportunities for identification and relevance, to engage adolescents in the thought and behavior change process [40].
Motivation and external engagement also are important
for Internet-based prevention programs. The literature
indicates that adolescents need to be reminded and
encouraged to visit intervention websites to sustain use
[41,42]. Many effective Internet-based programs for adults
use some form of reminder or professional guidance to
encourage engagement, and similar protocols also have
been effective in adolescent Internet prevention programs
[33,37-39]. Recent studies also indicate that motivational
interviews with participants linking personal goals to
intervention use are more effective at maintaining site use
and achieving preventive effects than just brief advice and
reminders alone [33].
Cognizant of this research on Internet-based prevention, we developed CATCH-IT (Competent Adulthood
Transition with Cognitive Behavioral Humanistic and
Interpersonal Training) [43-49] a public health, primary
care/Internet-based depression prevention program for
adolescents. CATCH-IT teaches resiliency skills to at-risk
adolescents through teen-friendly, interactive web-based
modules, and incorporates both motivational support by
primary care professionals and an Internet-based parental
behavioral change course. CATCH-IT targets multiple
etiological elements by teaching skills from empirically
Gladstone et al. Trials (2015) 16:203
supported, face-to-face interventions (including Cognitive
Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Interpersonal Psychotherapy
(IPT), and Behavioral Activation (BA); [33,45,46]), and
employs a multi-channel learning process with culturally
relevant lessons, stories, and graphics to increase personal
relevance and multi-modal learning opportunities. Should
this intervention prove efficacious, the public would have
the first effective, low-cost, and acceptable depression
prevention intervention offered through primary care for
young people that would be free to users and available
universally, without further burdening the mental health
care delivery system or creating any new care delivery
infrastructure.
The purpose of this article is to document the study
design and research framework used to evaluate
CATCH-IT, in order to inform future work in this area.
The aims of the CATCH-IT study are to determine (a)
whether or not CATCH-IT prevents or delays major
depressive episodes, as well as non-affective disorder
episodes, compared to a Health Education (HE) control;
(b) whether or not CATCH-IT participation is associated
with more rapid favorable changes in depressive symptoms
and/or vulnerability/protective factors, compared with a
Health Education control; (c) whether or not CATCH-IT
participation is associated with lower perceived educational
impairment, greater quality of life, greater health-related
quality of life, and lower incidence of symptoms of other
mental disorders (for example, anxiety disorder and
substance use disorder), compared with a Health Education
control; and (d) for whom and how the CATCH-IT program works in this population. In this paper, we present
findings from the multiphase trials of this intervention, and
discuss both potential implications of this work, as well as
future directions.
Methods/Design
Study design
This study is a 5-year, two-site randomized clinical trial
to test the efficacy the CATCH-IT preventive intervention
against the Health Education (HE) control program in
preventing the onset of depressive episodes in an intermediate to high risk, geographically representative sample
of adolescents aged 13 to 18.
We identify high risk adolescents based on elevated
depressed mood scores (cut-off set to maximize sensitivity
and specificity for future episodes; [14,50,51]). Enrolled
adolescents are randomized into either the CATCHIT or the HE group, and are assessed at baseline and
at 2, 6, 12, 18 and 24 months post-intake on measures of
depressive symptoms, depressive diagnoses, other mental
disorders, and on measures of role impairment in
education, quality of life, attainment of educational
milestones, and family functioning in order to examine
predictors of intervention response. Ethical bodies that
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approved this study are discussed in the Acknowledgements
section.
Primary care site recruitment and implementation
process
The primary care aspects of the study (including recruitment, provider motivational interview, and referrals to
treatment, when clinically indicated) are centered in
pediatric clinics in urban and suburban areas in both
Chicago, IL and Boston, MA. Practices are recruited
either by study staff or by health care providers at existing
study sites. Healthcare providers (physicians and nurse
practitioners) and office nursing staff (for example, registered nurses and medical assistants) are informed about the
study and provide written consent to participate in specific
roles described below. Each participating healthcare provider also completes pre- and postquestionnaires regarding
the intervention, status of the clinic, and their experiences
in participation. At each site, a research coordinator or
study champion is identified to communicate with study
staff about room scheduling, weekly recruitment times,
positive and negative screens, and other study details.
Providers and other medical professionals are instructed in
the screening protocol. Office nursing staff conduct the
screenings of the adolescents with the two question
screening tool. Health care providers are trained in
Motivational Interviewing either with a one hour program
using a lecture/discussion format and example video
tapes, a three-session training, or through more informal
interactions with the study staff, using detailed scripts.
Providers receive semi-structured feedback on their
motivational interview technique after completing 1
to 2 interviews with teen participants at their clinic. Each
motivational interview takes approximately 10 minutes to
complete. Three interviews are completed over the course
of the year with each participant, with each provider interviewing one to eight patients. Study-employed mental
health professionals, who conduct three motivational phone
calls with the participants during the intervention, are also
trained in Motivational Interviewing. Throughout the
study, study staff members are in frequent contact with the
primary care clinics, discussing logistical details, reporting
when screened adolescents require referral to treatment,
and providing feedback about the clinic’s participation.
Inclusion criteria
Adolescents (ages 13 through 18) experiencing elevated
levels of depressive symptoms on the Center for
Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D; [50]) scale are
eligible for the study (eligible scores are between 8 to 17,
inclusive, on the ten-item shortened scale; those with
scores of 18 to 20 are considered with permission of the
principal investigator). Adolescents also are included if
they have a past history of depression or dysthymia.
Gladstone et al. Trials (2015) 16:203
Exclusion criteria
Adolescents must not have any of the following: (a) a
current DSM-IV diagnosis (Kiddie Schedule of Affective
Disorders [K-SADS]; [52]) of Major Depressive Disorder,
current therapy for depression, or be taking antidepressants
(for example, SSRIs, TCAs, MAOIs, bupropion, nefazodone, mirtazapine, or venlafaxine); (b) a history of being
treated with Dialectical Behavioral Therapy or eight or
more sessions of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; (c) a
current CES-D score of outside the range of 8 to 20 on the
short form or 16 to 35 on the long form [50]; (d) a DSM-IV
diagnosis of schizophrenia (current or past) or bipolar
disorder; (e) a current serious medical illness that causes
significant disability or dysfunction; (f) a significant reading
impairment (a minimum sixth-grade reading level based on
parental report), mental retardation, or developmental disabilities; (g) a serious imminent suicidal risk (as determined
by endorsement of current suicidality on the CES-D or in
the K-SADS interview) or other conditions that may require
immediate psychiatric hospitalization; (h) psychotic features
or disorders, or currently be receiving psychotropic medication; or (i) extreme, current drug/alcohol abuse (greater
than or equal to 2 on the CRAFFT Screening Test; [53]).
Participant recruitment and enrollment
Participants are recruited through participating primary
care clinics; all adolescent patients are provided with a
brief description of the study while visiting the clinic,
along with a study brochure. Recruitment letters sent to
patient homes are also used as a form of recruitment
along with posted study flyers. Participants are identified
using a public health model of screening, whereby all
adolescent patients are screened for risk (subthreshold
depressed mood) while visiting their primary care clinics,
thus encompassing diverse populations in urban and
suburban areas in Chicago and Boston. We use a simple
two-question screener (depressed mood/irritability, and/
or anhedonia for at least 2 weeks), based on the Patient
Health Questionnaire-Adolescent [33,54]. If an adolescent
responds positively to a screener item, initial parental
consent and adolescent assent are obtained to conduct an
eligibility assessment by phone using the CES-D and a
checklist of survey exclusion criteria. Some clinics, rather
than presenting teens with a two-question screener in the
office, have opted to send letters about the study to all
teens in their practice. Upon receiving the letter, teens
have called for further study information. After parents
have given consent, these teens also have participated in
an eligibility assessment by phone. After establishment of
eligibility criteria, the parent and adolescent are scheduled
for an enrollment assessment interview (which includes
informed consent, the K-SADS interview, and completion
of other psychometric scales) at their primary care office
to confirm final eligibility. Enrollment and randomization
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of subjects is then completed [55]. Primary care providers
are supported with materials and training to respond to
adolescents identified with major depression during
screening or during study participation.
Sample size
Our intent is to recruit and randomize 400 participants
(200 per site). We anticipate being able to retain 80% of
these youth throughout the two-years of follow-up. In
Van Voorhees’s pilot study of the CATCH-IT intervention,
of the 84 randomized participants, only 7 did not take part
in any follow-up (91% retention) [5]. We implemented
standard measures to minimize attrition: all adolescents
who express challenges related to study participation are
contacted by research staff; attempts are made to resolve
their concerns so they can continue to participate; and
standard methods are used to optimize retention (for
example, birthday cards and regular updates on contacts).
In keeping with an intent-to-treat design, all randomized
cases who provide consent are followed and included in
data analyses.
Randomization
Participants are assigned randomly to CATCH-IT or
HE. Randomization was determined by a computer
generated sequence and was blocked by practice and
time of entry, and stratified by level of risk severity
(based on CES-D score, prior episodes of either major
depression or dysthymia), age (13 to 14 or 15 to 18) site
(Chicago or Boston) [56,57].
The CATCH-IT intervention
The CATCH-IT intervention has an Internet component
(with separate adolescent (14 modules) and parent (4
modules) programs) and a motivational component (three
primary care physician motivational interviews at time 0,
2 months and 12 months, and one to three study-staff
coaching phone calls either at 1 month (Chicago) or at 2
and 4 weeks and 18 months (Boston)). In addition to the
motivational interviews and coaching phone calls,
three “check-in” calls during weeks 1 to 3 are offered to
participants; these calls are intended to ensure participants
have access to the Internet and take approximately five
minutes to complete.
CATCH-IT: The adolescent internet component
The adolescent Internet component comprises 14 modules
that teach skills from BA, CBT, IPT, a community resiliency
concept model [19,46,48,58-60], and an optional anxiety
module. The intervention is intended to reduce cognitions
(for example, dysfunctional thoughts, impaired problems
solving, or pessimistic expectations), behaviors (for
example, procrastination, passivity, and avoidance),
and interpersonal interactions (for example, indirect
Gladstone et al. Trials (2015) 16:203
communications) that are associated with increased risk
of depression, and to strengthen behaviors (for example,
behavioral scheduling of pleasurable activities), thoughts
(for example, optimistic appraisals, counter thoughts, and
effective problem solving), and interpersonal relations (for
example, effective social problem solving, building and
engaging social support) thought to be protective against
depression [33].
Development and modification
The development of CATCH-IT was heavily informed
by research and theory (for example, [47]). Each module
was designed to address the objectives of Instructional
Design Theory [36], such as gaining learner attention,
strengthening recall, and increasing retention; this was
accomplished by creating identically structured modules
that each include a lesson overview, review of previous
content, core concept explanation, adolescent stories
(including scripted video “diaries”) to illustrate the lessons,
skill building and self-efficacy exercises, a summary,
feedback on the experience, and an Internet-based reward
(gift card).
To address the need to engage adolescents with varying
levels of motivation, we grounded the intervention in key
principles of effective community-based preventive interventions: sufficient dose, training, positive relationships,
and sociocultural relevance [61]. The adolescent stories,
designed to stimulate recall, understanding, and retention,
were written in first person or intimate third person style
so as to connect directly with the experience of the reader.
These stories were included based on both the principles
of Nation’s (2003) socio-cultural relevance and of Vicarious
Learning Theory [36]. Instructional Design Model, the
Trans-Theoretical Model of Change, and the Theory of
Planned Behavior [47] informed the modification of the
original adolescent Internet component. Through the
modification process, text was shortened and translated
into “teen-friendly” language, and videos were included.
These modifications were made using previously published
methods [47,55,62].
Lessons and structure
The CATCH-IT online intervention comprises fourteen
core modules, as well as an optional anxiety module,
and online tools to track mood (a feedback mechanism),
manage intense feelings, and solve problems that are
interfering with the completion of the program. The
fourteen core modules of CATCH-IT are grouped into
six sections: Introduction, How Do You Act, How Do
You Think, How Do You Socialize, How Resilient Are
You, and Wrap Up. Each section contains one to four
modules. Each module is approximately 20 slides long,
and designed to be completed in approximately 15 to
20 minutes.
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Section one: Introduction (Module 1) The first CATCHIT section comprises one module, titled “How Can
This Help?” This module introduces the concept of
CATCH-IT and prompts adolescent participants to
think about their goals and how using CATCH-IT can
help them achieve these objectives (by improving
mood, solving relationship problems, building social
support, or increasing enjoyable activity in one’s routine).
Information is provided about the structure of each
following module, as well as about special CATCH-IT
tools to track mood, manage intense feelings, and solve
problems interfering with the completion of the program.
The module concludes by previewing the concepts of
Behavioral Activation (BA), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
(CBT), and Interpersonal Therapy (IPT).
Section two: How do you act (Modules 2 to 4) The
second CATCH-IT section, “How Do You Act,” comprises
three modules: “Going Outside In,” “Habits, Acting &
TRAPS,” and “Choosing To Get Back On Track,” which
instruct participants in principles of BA.
“Going Outside In” introduces the BA approach.
Adolescent participants are instructed that negative
mood can result from specific situations in which one feels
a lack of achievement or pleasure, and that adjusting
situations to increase feelings of mastery and pleasure
can correspondingly improve mood. Participants are
encouraged to track throughout the week how much
mastery and pleasure their daily activities evoke, and then
plan new activities in their routines that will increase their
sense of mastery or pleasure.
“Habits, Acting & TRAPS” discusses how maladaptive
habits of avoidance and procrastination can prolong
feelings of sadness and stress, which can create a
cycle of further avoidance and resulting poor mood.
The module introduces the TRAP (Trigger, Response,
Avoidance Pattern) concept, which teaches that specific
situations, or triggers, evoke negative feelings (response),
which compel individuals to avoid the trigger (avoidance
pattern). This module provides examples of avoidance
patterns (such as habitual napping, skipping activities,
and procrastinating) and encourages participants to
identify what situations in their lives trigger them,
how the triggers make them feel, and what avoidance
patterns result.
“Choosing To Get Back On Track” encourages participants to choose alternative coping behaviors, such as
breaking a task into small parts or rewarding one’s self
for addressing a triggering situation, instead of avoidance
behaviors. The module teaches participants how to choose
and integrate alternative coping behaviors into their
routines. The module also addresses how to use BA when
participants experience low energy, lack of motivation, or
more significant personal problems.
Gladstone et al. Trials (2015) 16:203
Section three: How do you think (Modules 5 to 8)
The third CATCH-IT section, “How Do You Think?”
comprises four modules focused on Cognitive Behavioral
Therapy (CBT) skills: “Freedom From Negative Thoughts,”
“Changing Your Thoughts And Feelings,” “How To Figure
Out What Bothers You,” and “Problem Solving In Stressful
Situations.”
“Freedom From Negative Thoughts” provides an introduction to the theory behind CBT, explaining in adolescentfriendly language how negative thoughts can create low
mood and result in maladaptive behaviors.
“Changing Your Thoughts And Feelings” begins
with instruction in the ABC (Activating event, Belief,
Consequence) method, which involves identifying the
activating event that triggers poor mood, the negative
belief associated with the trigger, and the emotional
consequence of the negative belief. Adolescent participants
are encouraged to challenge negative beliefs about an activating event with counter-thoughts that are more positive.
Participants are encouraged to choose their most negative
belief each day and write down a counter-thought to
reframe the activating event in a neutral or positive
manner. Participants are reminded to reward themselves
when they change their thinking.
“How To Figure Out What Bothers You” begins with a
motivational component encouraging participants to review
how far they have come in the program and to reward
themselves for their progress. Next, the module instructs
participants in the CAB (Consequence, Activating event,
Belief) method, in which adolescents identify their negative
mood, the event that preceded this mood, and the negative
belief about the event that led to the negative feelings.
Adolescents are encouraged to replace their belief with a
counter-thought that improves their feelings about the
situation. Instruction is provided on how underlying beliefs
can cause one to have negative beliefs after an activating
event, and how these beliefs can be identified and
addressed. Examples of counter-thoughts are provided for
common negative underlying beliefs.
“Problem Solving In Stressful Situations” provides tips
on reducing low frustration tolerance, avoiding negative
people, stopping negative thoughts, changing difficult
situations, and changing one’s emotional response to
stressful situations. Participants are encouraged to diagram
stressful situations in their lives, predict their reactions to
them, and develop a coping plan.
Section four: How do you socialize (Modules 9 to 12)
The fourth CATCH-IT section, “How Do You Socialize,”
comprises four modules that teach Interpersonal Therapy
(IPT) skills.
“Relationship Skill Training” discusses the importance
of relationships and the role of IPT in improving social
skills and decreasing negative feelings associated with
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social problems. Participants are encouraged to map out
patterns of strengths and areas for improvement in their
relationships with specific individuals.
“How Do I Communicate” discusses different communication styles, provides a quiz to identify the user’s style, and
provides insight on how others may react to each approach.
The module emphasizes the benefits of responding to
frustrating situations in a calm, clear manner, and of
listening to the perspective of others to resolve conflict.
“Relationship Conflicts” discusses how differences in
expectations and poor communication can cause conflict.
Participants are encouraged to keep a relationship diary to
observe patterns in their interactions. Step-by-step
instruction is provided on identifying conflicts in relationships and addressing them constructively.
“Dealing With Real Life Situations” describes how
relationships can change due to life changes, and how
life changes create an opportunity to take on new roles.
Instruction is provided on defining old and new social
roles, evaluating the skills needed for the new role, and
finding social support for the new role.
Section five: How resilient are you (Module 13) The
fifth CATCH-IT group, “How Resilient Are You,” comprises
a single module, “Building a Resilient Life,” which teaches
skills from a community resiliency concept model.
“Building a Resilient Life” teaches four resiliency skills:
first reactions, ways of living, organized coping, and
surviving bad situations. First reaction skills taught
include building a sense of humor, refocusing energy on
constructive activities, taking a break, and prioritizing
problems. Ways of living refers to setting goals, problemsolving challenges, and fulfilling needs for companionship
and fun. The organized coping section instructs that optimism and hope are important tools for solving problems.
Surviving bad situations describes how successful survivors of tragedy do not blame themselves for the
acts of others and can grow stronger from traumatic
situations by seeking help and realizing they can take
control over their own lives. Creativity, resourcefulness,
being involved in meaningful activities, finding one’s place
in society, and being a part of a community are highlighted
as characteristics of resilient people.
Section six: The wrap-up (Module 14) The final
CATCH-IT section has one module, “What To Do If You
Can’t Shake The Blues.” This module describes clinical
depression, how to stop the process of developing depression, and information about the identification and treatment of major depressive disorder.
Optional anxiety module An optional anxiety module
is provided, which teaches relaxation techniques of muscle
relaxation, visualization, and deep breathing.
Gladstone et al. Trials (2015) 16:203
CATCH-IT: The parent internet component
The parent Internet component of the intervention is
based on an adaptation of Beardslee and Gladstone’s
clinician-facilitated and lecture intervention approaches
from the Preventive Intervention Project [43]. This
intervention helps parents develop the awareness and
skills needed to help build resiliency in their children.
The intervention also seeks to reduce known risk factors
for adolescent depression. To address the key mediating
role of parental depressed mood, a personalized component
is available to parents with depressed mood. A paper and
pen version of the parent component was originally piloted
during the phase 2 CATCH-IT clinical trial, but parents
strongly requested their own Internet site. A paper version
of the current parent program is available in Spanish.
Lessons and structure
The parent Internet component of CATCH-IT comprises
four modules, with an additional fifth module that is
optional. Each module is approximately eight slides in
length.
Module One describes the goals of CATCH-IT, the
concepts of BA, CBT, and IPT, and how to encourage a
child to finish the CATCH-IT program. Module Two
describes depression symptoms, causes, and treatment
methods. Module Three discusses how to recognize
depression in children and adolescents, invites parents
to reflect on how their child is currently functioning,
and provides instruction on actions to take if one’s child
might be depressed. Module Four describes characteristics
of resilience in teens and strategies for promoting resilience
in one’s adolescent and family. The optional fifth module
discusses what to do if a parent believes they are depressed,
how parental depression is associated with depression risk
in offspring, and how to promote health and well-being in
a teen while struggling as a parent with depression.
This module specifically provides family-based prevention
strategies adapted from Beardslee and Gladstone’s
Preventive Intervention Project [43].
CATCH-IT: The motivational component
The CATCH-IT intervention uses motivational interviewing, goal-setting, and telephone coaching to enhance
the change process and to advance the participants
through the stages of change to reduce vulnerability and
increase protective factors [63-66]. In the adolescent
motivational interview (10 to 15 minutes duration), the
primary care provider seeks to help the adolescent weigh
the balance of positives and negatives of undertaking this
depression preventive intervention. The coaching phone
calls are conducted by study staff and use the same
motivational interview approach, but last 5 minutes
or less in duration and are solely designed to encourage
completion of the intervention and behavior change. All
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adolescents are asked to complete a motivational interview questionnaire before the interview to enhance level
of participation and fidelity to the interview.
Control group: health education
Health Education (HE) is an attentional control. This
Internet site comprises 14 modules, 13 of which provide
instruction on nutrition, safety, and other teen health
and wellness topics. The 14th module discusses mood
and seeking mental health treatment, and also addresses
stigma and negative attitudes toward the treatment of
mental disorders, as these have previously been identified
as barriers to seeking and adhering to treatment [47,67].
Module 14 does not provide instruction in Behavioral
Activation, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or Interpersonal
Therapy. The HE Internet site does not include interactive
elements such as videos, question prompts, or feedback
on mood or progress.
The HE components are similar to those employed
in previous primary care-based quality improvement/
Chronic Care Model Interventions, incorporating patient
psychoeducation, active monitoring and referral, with
routine contact with a primary care provider. The HE
group receives the same assessments as the CATCH-IT
group (including notification and referral to mental health
services) and routine contact with their primary care
provider (PCP; estimated two to three visits per year), and
also incorporates a parent Internet program that provides
similar psychoeductional content about general adolescent
health. Psychoeducation Internet site use is monitored to
compare with use of the CATCH-IT intervention as an
attentional control. Self-harm risk is managed based on a
standard protocol.
Instruments
Screening measures
Two-question screener The two-question screener was
developed by study staff to screen for possible depressive
symptoms. The two-item self-report tool, based on the
Patient Health Questionnaire-Adolescent [33,54] asks
adolescents to endorse whether or not they have been
experiencing depressed mood/irritability or anhedonia
for at least the past 2 weeks. The questions include
“Have you had any of the following problems during the
last 2 weeks? 1) Little interest or pleasure in doing
things? 2) Feeling down, depressed, irritable or hopeless?”
There are three possible responses to each item: 1) Yes:
Nearly every day in the past 2 weeks; 2) Yes: a few days in
the past 2 weeks; Or 3) No. Any endorsement qualifies the adolescent as a positive screen. Providers at participating practices invite all adolescents of the appropriate
age to complete the screener.
Gladstone et al. Trials (2015) 16:203
Phone screen interview The phone screen is a 10- to
15-minute scripted interview developed by study staff
and conducted over the phone with the adolescent
(those who screened positively on the two-question
screener or who contacted the study team in response to
a letter about the study from their pediatrician). After
parental permission and assent (or consent for those age
18) are provided, adolescents are then asked about the
presence of exclusion criteria. This includes a checklist
of disqualifying characteristics (a sample item is “Are
you currently in counseling for depression?”) and a
subsequent depression symptom checklist, to screen for
adolescents who meet criteria for current major depressive
disorder (five or more symptoms; A sample item is “Has
there been a 2-week period of time in the past 2 months
when you have been feeling down, depressed, or sad much
of the time?”). Adolescents who do not endorse these
preliminary exclusion criteria are then administered the
short, ten-item version of the CES-D (see description
below) to assess current depressive symptoms; scores
above 20 are excluded from the study and given referral to
treatment, and scores of 8 to 20 (18 to 20 on a case-by
case basis) are eligible for the in-person K-SADS interview
(where final eligibility for the study is determined), and
scores below 8 are provided with a final three question
screen for past depressive episode (a sample item is “Has
there ever been a time in your who life when for at least
2 weeks, you felt down, depressed, or sad for much of the
time?”). Those who scored below 8 on the short CES-D
but endorse a positive history of depressive episode
are eligible for an in-person K-SADS interview, and
those who do not are excluded.
Psychopathology and treatment
Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders Scale The
Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders Scale (K-SADS
[52]) is a reliable and valid semistructured clinical
interview used to assess current and lifetime psychiatric
diagnoses in participants under age 18 [52]. The psychometric properties demonstrate test-retest reliability estimates of diagnoses in the excellent to good range [52]. We
use the entire section covering depression and the brief
screening questions for bipolar disorder, psychosis, and
substance abuse (the section for anxiety is not used). The
child is interviewed and then the parent is interviewed
about the child, thereby yielding two sources of information
about the child’s functioning. The K-SADS measures
the occurrence, degree of severity, and the extent of
impairment, using the Depression Rating Scale (DRS),
which yields a depression score from 1 to 6 for current
symptoms as well as worst past episode and first full
episode. We establish if a participant meets criteria
for major depressive episode (DSR 4 or above) and major
depression disorder (DSR 5 or above).
Page 8 of 17
Kiddie Longitudinal Interval Follow-up Evaluation
The Kiddie Longitudinal Interval Follow-up Evaluation
(K-LIFE [68]) is an adaptation of the K-SADS that
provides information about psychiatric diagnoses during
the interval since the previous assessment. It is used at all
follow-up assessments. Children and parents are questioned
about all symptoms present at the previous assessment and
about any new symptoms that may have developed since
they were last interviewed, and both reports are considered
in determining K-LIFE ratings. K-LIFE is reported to have
high reliability [68]. Depression Severity Ratings (DSRs) are
obtained for each week of the follow-up interval.
Child and Adolescent Service Assessment The Child
and Adolescent Service Assessment (CASA [69]) is used
to record psychiatric service utilization and access to
mental health services within the past 3 months (or, in
the case of follow-up interviews, the interval since the
previous assessment). The CASA consists of two parts:
the Screen and the Detailed Services Form. The Screen
covers a broad range of mental health services, including
informal ones such as seeking support from a school
guidance counselor or talking to a youth minister.
The Detailed Service Form is used to provide detailed
information for some of the service endorsed on the
screen, and includes items such as the number and
length of visits, focus of treatment, and if medication
was prescribed. The CASA is administered to both
the adolescent and the parent about the adolescent at
baseline and at all follow-up interviews. The CASA was
selected for this study with two purposes in mind: to
determine if the adolescents we identified as having a
psychiatric illness are actually receiving treatment, and
from a public health standpoint, to ascertain the cost to
society of the illnesses CATCH-IT aims to prevent.
Vulnerability- symptoms
Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale
The Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression
Scale (CES-D [50]) is a self-report measure of the frequency of 20 depressive symptoms over the past week,
using a four-point scale. This measure is used with both
adolescents and parents about themselves. Sample items
include “I was bothered by things that usually don’t
bother me” and “I could not get going.” The use of selfreport scales like the CES-D as depression case-finding
or screening instruments has been successfully validated
with both adults [70,71] and adolescents [72,73]. The
CES-D is short and easy to read, has been successfully
administered in several large adolescent school samples
[73,74], and has strong psychometrics with youth
[75]. In our pilot study, both baseline and follow-up
Cronbach alphas were .91 [5,33].
Gladstone et al. Trials (2015) 16:203
The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional
Disorders The Screen for Child Anxiety Related
Emotional Disorders (SCARED [76]) is a 41-item scale,
with five factors (somatic/panic, general anxiety, separation
anxiety, social phobia, and school phobia) corresponding
to different diagnostic categories of anxiety on a 3-point
scale (0 = not true/hardly ever true, 1 = sometimes true,
2 = true/very true). A sample item is “I worry about
the future.” The SCARED scale has good reliability
and validity [76]. The adolescent completes this self-report,
and the parent also completes it about their adolescent. The SCARED has good reliability (α = 0.74) and
validity [76].
The Disruptive Behaviors Disorder Scale The Disruptive
Behaviors Disorder Scale (DBD [77]) form is a 45-item
self-report measure assessing the level of teens’ behavioral
problems, rated on a four-point scale (0 = not at all
to 3 = very much). A sample item is “often loses temper.”
This scale is used with both the teen and the parent
about the teen. This scale has shown good reliability
and validity [77].
Vulnerability - cognition, social factors, and adverse events
The CRAFFT The CRAFFT [5] is a six-item measure
that reports the frequency of the use of drugs to relax,
use of drugs when alone, driving while using drugs/riding
in a car with a driver who is using drugs, family or friends
concern about drug use, and negative consequences
encountered for using drugs (α = 0.68) [53]. The
CRAFFT has good discriminative properties for detecting
substance-use disorders in adolescents [78]. The CRAFFT
is only completed by adolescents.
The Adolescent Life Events Questionnaire The
Adolescent Life Events Questionnaire (ALEQ [79]) is a
retrospective self-report measure that asks the teen to
report on the presence/absence of various life events in
the following categories: health/loss, conflict/arguments,
changes/moves, school/job, finances, and crime and legal
issues. The internal consistency reliability of the ALEQ
was reported as 0.94 [79].
Page 9 of 17
8 to 18, and it has been shown to have acceptable internal
consistency, all greater than 0.60, as well as test–retest
reliability and adequate construct validity [80].
Sibling Inventory of Differential Experience The Sibling
Inventory of Differential Experience (SIDE; [81]) is a nineitem questionnaire that asks adolescents to compare their
experiences to the experiences of their siblings in three
different areas: parental treatment, sibling treatment, and
peer characteristics. For this study, we are only using
the nine items of the parental treatment section, which
assesses parental affection and control. The SIDE shows
adequate psychometric properties; the test-retest reliabilities
have a mean of 0.84 [81].
Child Report of Parental Behavior Inventory The
Child Report of Parental Behavior Inventory (CRPBI;
[82]) measure contains 15 items inquiring about the
child’s relationship with his/her mother and 15 items
about his/her relationship with his/her father. The items
are rated “not like him/her,” “somewhat like him/her,” or
“a lot like him/her.” It assesses interpersonal relationships between parents and their children and taps
into parenting styles and nurturing behaviors. The
CRPBI correlates well with other measures of parenting.
Scores suggesting parenting impairments have been
linked to both parental and child psychopathology
[83]. The CRPBI is given to both adolescents and
parents.
Conflict Behavior Questionnaire The Conflict Behavior
Questionnaire (CBQ; [84]) contains 20 true/false items
that pertain to the degree of negative communication
and conflict in families during the past 2 weeks. Items
are rated as 0 = false or 1 = true. Higher scores reflect
greater levels of conflict. This measure is completed by
parents, who report on their own parenting behaviors,
and by adolescents, who report on their parents’ parenting
behaviors. Robin and Foster reported a 6- to 8-week retest
reliability of .57 and .84 for these scales [85].
Relationships
Sibling Relationship Questionnaire The Sibling Relationship Questionnaire (SRQ [80]) and the corresponding
parent SRQ are used to assess the nature of a child's
relationship with his or her siblings. This 48-item measure
includes 16 scales of three items each. Children are asked
to indicate on a five-point scale (1 = hardly at all to
5 = extremely much) how prevalent certain qualities
are in their sibling relationship. Parents provide the
same information about the target child and that sibling.
The SRQ has been used for children and adolescents aged
Physician Relationship Scale The Physician Relationship
Scale [33] contains nine items rating the participant’s
relationship with his/her provider in understanding,
engagement, helpfulness, comfort, and trust. Only
adolescents in the CATCH-IT condition are administered
this measure. This self-report measure is rated on a
five-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly
agree). A sample item is, “I trust my physician.” Higher
scores reflect a more positive relationship with the provider.
In our pilot study, Cronbach alpha was .85 [5,33].
Gladstone et al. Trials (2015) 16:203
Page 10 of 17
Functional status
Training
Pediatric Quality of Life and Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire - parent and child versions On
the Quality of Life and Enjoyment and Satisfaction
Questionnaire - parent and child versions (PQ-LES-Q
[86]) questionnaire, adolescents and parents (who respond
about their adolescent) are asked to rate their/their child’s
life experience on 13 items on a six-point Likert scale
(1 = very poor to 6 = very good). A sample item is “In
general, I would rate my health as…” In terms of reliability,
the Cronbach alpha has been demonstrated to be excellent
(alpha = .90; [86]). In terms of validity, this measure
demonstrates a significant correlation with the Children’s
Depression Rating Scale-Revised [86].
Usability and clarity Adolescent participants respond
to questions about ease of use (that is, “this module was
easy to use”), ease of understanding (that is, “this
module was easy to understand”), and ease of reading
(that is, “this module was easy to read”) of the online
intervention. Items are scored using a five-point Likert
scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree) [91]. In
our pilot study, the Cronbach alpha for these scales were
.94, .96 and .97, respectively [5,33].
Developmental milestones
Masten’s Status Questionnaire We will assess developmental task attainment at 24 months using adolescent
response to the 102-item Masten’s Status Questionnaire
[87]. Competence is defined with respect to effective
functioning in age-salient developmental tasks. Part of
our examination of role functioning will focus on four
of the six developmental tasks as delineated by the
Masten’s Status Questionnaire: academic achievement
(alpha = 0.9), work (alpha = 0.74), social competence
with peers (alpha = 0.86), and romantic relationships
(alpha = 0.77; [87]). The other two developmental
tasks, parenting and conduct, will not be assessed, as
relatively few of our participants will be parents and
because we access externalizing symptoms in our measures of mental health outcomes. The Masten’s Status
Questionnaire has excellent predictive validity [88].
Motivation
Theory of planned behavior scale This 19-item instrument, originally developed for prostate cancer, was adapted
to primary care-based depression prevention (α = 0.76)
[89]. The adolescent participants indicate a level of agreement based on a five-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree) with items such as “depression
intervention makes sense to me.”
Trans-theoretical model scale We measure adolescent
motivation to change risk-factor behaviors before,
during, and after the intervention. We adapted the
standard approach for measuring motivation as described
by Miller and Rollnick [90] to evaluate importance (“rate
the importance of preventing a depressive episode”),
self-efficacy (“rate your ability to learn coping skills to
reduce your risk of depression”) and readiness (“rate
your readiness to learn coping skills”) on a 10-point
Likert scale (1 = not important to 10 = very important).
The Cronbach’s alpha was reported as 0.76.
Sociocultural relevance Adolescents respond to statements about identification and relevance of the lesson. A
sample item is “the module struck a chord with my
own life.” Items are scored using a five-point Likert
scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). In our
pilot study, the Cronbach alpha was .96 [5,33].
Perceived benefits of cognitive behavioral principles
Perceived benefits of the cognitive behavioral principles
taught in the intervention are measured by five questions,
which are rated by adolescents on a ten-point Likert scale
(1 = very unhelpful to 10 = very helpful), with higher scores
indicating a stronger perceived benefit for learning cognitive behavioral therapeutic techniques [92]. A sample item
is, “change my behaviors in ways that have improved my
mood.” In our pilot study, Cronbach alpha was .92 [5,33].
Perceived benefits of interpersonal principles Perceived benefits of the interpersonal principles taught in
the intervention are measured by four questions (for
example, “express my feelings and reactions to important
people in my life”), to which adolescents respond on a
ten-point Likert scale (1 = very unhelpful to 10 = very
helpful), with higher scores indicating a stronger
perceived benefit for learning interpersonal therapeutic
techniques [92]. In our pilot study, the Cronbach alpha
was .85 [5,33].
General information sheet Participants provide demographic information about themselves at baseline and
follow-up assessment points. Information collected includes
age, date of birth, sex, height, weight, address, phone
number(s), email address(s), race/ethnicity, school grades
completed, parental marital status, family composition, and
number of lifetime moves derived from the Four-Factor
Hollingshead measure of social status.
Teen Behavior Questionnaire The Teen Behavior Questionnaire (TBS) is a self-report questionnaire regarding
diet, exercise, religion, and internet use. Questions
vary in format, such as open ended, yes/no, and contain
Likert scales of frequency (for example, “never” to “multiple
times per day”).
Gladstone et al. Trials (2015) 16:203
Social Adjustment Scale The Social Adjustment Scale
(SAS-SR) is a self-report measure containing 36 items.
The measure is designed to evaluate behaviors at school,
with peers, and at home over the past 2 weeks (for
example, “How many days of classes did you miss in the
last 2 weeks?”) using a five-point ordinal scale (for example,
“No days missed” to “I did not go to classes at all”).
Beck Hopelessness Scale The Beck Hopelessness Scale
(BHS) is a 20-item, true-false measure of the extent to
which individuals are pessimistic about their future.
The BHS has been shown to predict dropout from
psychosocial treatment and poorer treatment response.
The BHS has strong psychometric properties in adolescent
samples; Cronbach’s alpha is .93 [93].
Page 11 of 17
and subtract the starting from the final time stamp. To
avoid measuring time spent on other open pages, the
length of time for each session will be capped at 7 minutes,
the estimated amount of time required to review the
material with a fifth grade reading level. The lengths
of all sessions will be combined to create a variable for
total time spent on the website measured in minutes. To
calculate the time spent on the story component of the
intervention in minutes, we will use a similar algorithm
that subtracts the timestamp from when the story component is opened from the timestamp of when the following
page is loaded. To calculate the duration of website use
(the total number of days a participant spends on the
intervention), we will count the number of days from the
first login until the last day of the participant’s activity on
the website.
Safety
Suicide ideation scale This is a scale used to assess the
adolescent’s current level of suicidal tendencies. This
measure is only used in response to adolescent reports of suicidal thinking. An example of a question
asked is: If you were to weigh your reasons for living
against dying, how would they compare? 0: Living
outweighing dying; 1: about equal; and 2: for dying
outweighing living [94].
Suicide intent scale This measure is used when an adolescent has made a suicide attempt. It yields information
about the seriousness of the attempt. An example of as
question asked is: Did you make it hard for people to
find you and to help you? 0: No precautions; 1: Passive
precautions (for example, avoiding others but doing
nothing to prevent their intervention); and 2: Active precautions, such as locking doors [95].
Lethality scale This is a measure of the lethality of past
suicide attempts, as reported by the adolescent. This does
not have questions, but rather examples on a numerical
scale based on intent scale. For example: 2.0: Death is
improbable as an outcome of the act; if it occurs it is
probably due to unforeseen secondary effects. Frequently
the act is done in a public setting or is reported by the
person or by others. While medical aid may be warranted,
it is not required for survival. Or 10.0: Death is almost a
certainty, regardless of the circumstances or interventions
by an outside agent [96].
Adherence and log files
Time Our time measures will be total time on the website
in minutes, total time spent on story components in
minutes, and duration of website use in days. To calculate
the total time on the website in minutes, we will collect
the time stamps of the first and last page loaded for each
session (that is, each time a participant loads a module)
Modules For every participant, we will record the total
number of modules completed. A module is considered
complete if at least one exercise in that module is
completed and/or the short online survey offered at
the end of the module is completed.
Sessions We define a session as the discrete occasion
when a participant logs onto the website. Total number
of sessions for each participant will be manually calculated
by adding the total number of sessions per participant
(if there was no activity after logging in, a participant
is logged out after 7 minutes, but it still will be counted as
a session).
Exercises Exercise measures (percentage of exercises
completed and number of characters typed) are used to
measure the active behavior of participants. For each
participant, we will calculate the percentage of exercises
completed by adding the number of exercises completed
across all modules and dividing this by the total number
of available exercises. To measure the degree to which
each exercise is completed, we will count the total
number of characters typed by each participant across
all modules.
Statistical analysis
Survival analyses
Preceding the main analysis of whether the rate of MDD
onset varies by intervention condition, we will test for
constant hazard over time. If this test is not significant
at 0.10 will use Cox proportional hazards, adjusted for
age and sex, to compute the hazard ratio for adolescent
major depressive episodes for the intervention group in
comparison to the HE group. We will also test whether
time to MDD depends on the interaction of intervention
condition by baseline level of symptoms. If the test or
diagnostics reveal nonproportional hazards (that is, there
Gladstone et al. Trials (2015) 16:203
is evidence of differential effect over time), we will include
this nonproportionality in analyses. We have used
such limited “model fitting” tests without regard to
the magnitude of intervention effect in previous analyses
that still preserve the Type I error rate [97], and will follow
multiple comparison procedures we have used previously
to identify time intervals where significant effects are
found [88].
Longitudinal data analysis
We test the hypothesis that the intervention affects the
course of depressive symptoms and other measures
across time. Our general method will be to use growth
curve modeling with continuous outcomes to examine
how the intervention changes adolescent depressive
symptoms, vulnerability factors, educational impairment,
and quality of life. Simple comparisons will be calculated
as appropriate (for example, number of depressed days
[98]), and survival curve modeling will be used for
binary outcomes for prevalence of disorders [44,99-103].
Guided by our methods development on growth models,
we will address missing data using full information
maximum likelihood and multiple imputation, which provide improvement over “last observation carried forward”
and other less refined methods [104-106]. We will also
examine whether or not there are variations in growth
trajectories by introducing covariate interactions and
mixtures to growth models, techniques that we and our
colleagues have developed [97,107-110]. These more
complex models can characterize quantitatively differential
response, as well as qualitative changes, such as recurrence
[111]. All such models will be preceded by careful model
checking [67,93,107,112].
Mediator analysis
In addition to examination of whether the intervention
impact varies as a function of baseline symptoms, we
will evaluate potential mediators including change in
adolescent motivation, principles (intervention experience
characteristics) of effective preventive interventions
(adherence/dose, positive relationships, training and
socio-cultural relevance, as reported by the adolescent)
and changes in adolescent vulnerability and protective
factors (social support, automatic negative thoughts,
depressed mood). Based on our recent work on a
comparison of analytic models for mediation with
nonlinear models [113], we will use the “product of
coefficients” method to conduct tests of mediation and
the bootstrap method for accurate confidence intervals
[114]. To examine the effects of adolescent participation
with the website, we will conduct complier average causal
effect (CACE) analyses that include covariates predicting
participation status [115-118].
Page 12 of 17
Moderator analysis
We expect to conduct tests of moderation in eight
domains: (a) adolescent demographic and cultural factors
[119-121], (b) adolescent vulnerability factors and adverse
events [51], (c) adolescent motivation and attitudes [62],
(d) adolescent relationship with the provider, (e) parent
and child comorbid psychopathology, (f) adolescent
treatment before and during the study [122,123], (g) level
of adolescent adherence/participation, and (h) study site.
We will use subgroup analyses and tests of interaction to
evaluate moderator effects. We anticipate conducting
several different subgroup analyses including the following:
(a) adolescent ethnicity, sex and age; (b) neighborhood
socioeconomic level; (c) adolescent level of risk, including
risk stratified by varying levels of vulnerability from different
sources (for example, family, cognitive or social risk); and
(d) practice factors (provider motivational interview quality,
practice type).
Sample size analysis
We conducted a series of power/sample size calculations
through a SAS macro [124] under realistic alternatives
to address impact on depressive symptoms. We require
200 adolescent subjects per intervention condition to
achieve 80% power based on a conservative application
of our pilot study findings from the CATCH-IT trial
[33]. These calculations assume that in the control
group, 72% are free from depression after one year
follow-up, and the second year continues to follow the
same exponential rate for controls; for intervention, the
hazard is a constant ratio of 0.62, and an attrition rate of
7% for each of the first four quarters and 2% for each of
the second four quarters. Note that the estimated hazard
rate of 0.62 is two-thirds of that we observed in this
previous study. There are concerns raised about the
use of pilot study data to assess power, even using a
lower value than we observed [125], so we conducted
other power calculations based on the data from a
similar study [45]. In their study, they found a departure
from exponential and disproportional hazards of intervention over time. Assuming the same attrition rate as we
found above, a study with 400 subjects would produce 80%
power when the effect of CATCH-IT was only 60% at every
interval of time relative to the CBT hazard rate in the
Clarke study. Thus, we expect to have sufficient power even
if the overall benefit is 60% of what was obtained by Clarke.
Previous outcomes
Pilot studies of earlier versions of CATCH-IT demonstrated
favorable changes in adolescent depressive symptoms,
dysfunctional thinking, and social support postintervention.
In a randomized clinical trial, where adolescents were
randomized to either Internet intervention + Motivational
Interview with Primary Care Provider(PCP) or Internet
Gladstone et al. Trials (2015) 16:203
intervention + Brief Advice with Primary Care Provider,
significant changes in adolescent depressed mood, social
support, and number of depressive episodes were observed
from baseline to 12-month follow-up [5,33,126,127], and
fewer depressive episodes were diagnosed by PCP
post-intervention in adolescents who received Motivational
Interviews than in adolescents who received minimal provider support (brief advice condition).
Current trial status
As of September 2014, 4,405 (N = 2,369 in Chicago,
N = 2,036 in Boston) adolescents have been identified
through the two-question screener or recruitment letter as
potentially eligible for the study (recruiting in Chicago
began several months prior to recruitment in Boston).
Two hundred thirty-four adolescents (N = 130 in Chicago,
N = 104 in Boston) have been enrolled. The average age of
adolescent participants is currently 14.87 (SD = 1.42 years).
Discussion
Major depression is a common disorder that causes
significant morbidity, lost productivity, and is associated
with an increased risk of suicide. The first episode usually
occurs in adolescence. There are currently no widely
available, low cost, effective and acceptable depression
prevention interventions for adolescents. The development of a feasible, cost-effective, Internet-based preventive
intervention for this age group would be of great value.
We describe here a protocol of a study currently in the
field, designed to determine if a low-cost, universally
available (Internet-based) and population-based (primary
care screening and engagement), theory-grounded depression preventive intervention is superior to a health education attention control intervention in preventing onset of
major depression and/or symptoms of anxiety, behavioral
disorders, and substance abuse.
This trial design has several unique features that will
distinguish it from many other recently completed and
ongoing trials. While many school-based trials have been
undertaken, there is currently no systematic approach
to connect at-risk youth with self-directed depression
prevention programs in a medical setting [34,128,129].
Medical settings may be particularly important, because of
an increased interest within the healthcare field in
containing costs through early intervention to prevent
chronic disease [130]. This trial undertakes the complex
public health task of identifying at-risk individuals through
mass screening of the general primary care population,
rather than solely relying on volunteers recruited over the
Internet, as is done for many Internet trials [131,132]. The
trial design includes both traditional continuous measure
of mental disorder symptoms most often used in Internet
studies, and structured clinical interviews of presence of
depressive disorder or episode [5,39].
Page 13 of 17
The evaluated intervention, CATCH-IT, has several
distinguishing features. CATCH-IT was developed using a
longitudinal, interactive revision model, attending to both
user experience decade and single versions [40,55,131,133].
CATCH-IT was designed from the ground-up to appeal to
hard-to-persuade, primary care patients who prefer
“natural” and “health promotion” interventions over
overtly psychological “treatment” [24,47,55,62]. Many
Internet interventions either provide no supportive
structure or rely primarily on study staff to perform
coaching functions; CATCH-IT seeks to systematically
integrate the adolescent engagement and motivation
process into the existent primary care organization
[38,55,134]. Like many successful intervention models,
it incorporates both carefully structured direct human
contact, or “coaching,” and user-friendly interface intended
to maximize adolescents’ meaningful engagement with the
intervention [40,135].
Fielding multicomponent randomized clinical trials for
the prevention of mental disorders in the community
setting has high public health relevance, but important
limitations must be considered with regard to study
design. Recruited participants via a primary care screening process may include adolescent participants with
limited motivation to engage in the intervention, compared to participants in other intervention studies where
adolescents self-select to participate [132,136]. Lower
motivation of study participants may negatively impact
intervention outcomes, perhaps directly through low
motivation by decreasing website use, or indirectly,
negatively impacting outcomes due to differing levels of
resiliency or beliefs about mental health [138]. Similarly,
placebos of any kind may produce effects of relatively
similar size to active psychotherapy interventions, incurring
the risk of failure to demonstrate significant differences
between groups [137].
Additional limitations may be related to pediatric practices, the control condition model, and implementation.
There may be meaningful variations between practices
and sites as to levels of intervention fidelity (for example,
motivational interview quality) and adherence/dose
(Internet site) that could impact study outcomes
[138]. Additionally, the HE control condition, while
derived from a non-psychoactive model in adults, may
perform differently in adolescents and children. Finally,
there is a need to study the entire implementation
process, all of which can impact outcomes [138]. For
example, implementation at a practice can vary greatly
depending on whether or not the practice has competing
demands for attention (for example, a simultaneous
implementation of health reform measures, an additional research study, or a new electronic health records system) during the implementation or active
portion of the study.
Gladstone et al. Trials (2015) 16:203
This study provides a model for what may be a new
generation of interventions that blend substantial
computer-based instruction with limited human contact to
intervene to prevent mental disorders, or what can be
called a behavioral vaccine [124,139]. Because of the potential for broad generalizability of this model, from an intervention efficacy standpoint, the results of this study are
important because they will help to develop the guidelines
for preventive interventions with youth at-risk for the
development of depressive and other mental disorders.
The study could lay the foundation in terms of implementation “scaffolding” for an entire model of primary care,
technology-based prevention of common behavioral disorders - reshaping health systems to embrace cost-saving,
disease preventing, and life experience enhancing technologies. As the study progresses, the investigators will
need to carefully weigh trade-offs between these highly
valued outcomes to optimize the performance of the study.
Trial status
This manuscript reports the protocol for an ongoing
clinical trial, for which patient recruitment is currently
ongoing.
Abbreviations
BA: behavioral activation; CATCH-IT: Competent Adults Transition with
Cognitive Behavioral Humanistic and Interpersonal Training; CBT: Cognitive
Behavioral Therapy; CES-D: Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression;
HE: Health Education; IPT: Interpersonal Psychotherapy; K-SADS: Kiddie
Schedule of Affective Disorders; MDD: Major Depressive Disorder;
PCP: Primary Care Provider; SAS-SR: Social Adjustment Scale - self report;
BHS: Beck Hopelessness Scale.
Competing interests
Benjamin W. Van Voorhees has served as a consultant to Prevail Health
Solutions, Inc, Mevident Inc, San Francisco and Social Kinetics, Palo Alto, CA,
and the Hong Kong University to develop Internet-based interventions. In
order to facilitate dissemination, the University of Chicago recently agreed to
grant a no-cost license to Mevident Incorporated (3/5/2010) to develop a
school-based version. Neither Dr. Van Voorhees nor the university will receive
any royalties or equity. Dr. Van Voorhees has agreed to assist the company in
adapting the intervention at the rate of $1,000/day for 5.5 days. No other
authors have any competing interests.
Authors’ contributions
TG is the principal investigator for the Boston, MA study site, participated in
study design and intervention development, is responsible for running the
Boston study branch, and helped draft the manuscript. BVV is the principal
investigator responsible for the Chicago, IL study site; he conceived of the
study, designed the intervention, and helped draft the manuscript. MMH
participated in the intervention design and performed significant statistical
analysis. MH and JN developed and modified study implementation
practices. DD recruited participants, opened health systems and modified
study implementation practices. PR trained assessors, recruited participants,
collected data, and helped draft the manuscript. AD recruited participants,
collected data, and helped draft the manuscript. CB contributed to the initial
conception and design of intervention framework. CHB and WB contributed
key analysis and interpretation of data. ME, JC, and EC contributed to
intervention implementation at each of their affiliated healthcare sites and
provided feedback regarding the process. KG contributed to the design of
the study. All authors have read and approve of the final version of the
manuscript.
Page 14 of 17
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Rachel Lazerus who helped with conceptual planning of the
website content, to Marc Kaplan for his intellectual impact regarding the
website development, and Carol Tee for her recruitment and data collection
at the Boston, MA study site. Special thanks to Myrna Grant for her support
with clinic coordination at UIC, to Mary Harris for her management of the
Boston, MA study site, and to Ruth Ross for her contribution to the initial
intervention design. Research reported in this article was supported by the
National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health under
award numbers K08MH072918 and R01MH090035. The content is solely the
responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official
views of the National Institutes of Health. Ethical bodies that approved this
study include: Wellesley College Institutional Review Board (IRB), University of
Illinois IRB, Advocate Health Care IRB, Franciscan St. Mary IRB, Northwestern
IRB and Northshore University Healthsystem IRB.
Author details
1
Wellesley Centers for Women, Wellesley College, Central Street, Wellesley,
MA 20481, USA. 2Department of Psychiatry, Boston Children’s Hospital,
Harvard University, Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA. 3Department
of Pediatrics, the University of Illinois at Chicago, West Taylor Street, Chicago,
IL 60612, USA. 4Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, East
Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. 5Harvard Vanguard Medical
Associates, Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. 6Access
Community Health Network, West Fulton Street, Chicago, IL 60661, USA.
7
North Shore University Health System, Pfingsten Road, Glenview, IL 60026,
USA. 8Centre for Mental Health Research, The Australian National University,
Eggleston Road, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.
Received: 12 December 2014 Accepted: 7 April 2015
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