Project details

Summary

What is the study about? 

Two therapies for depression routinely offered in Talking Therapy sites are cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), and person-centred experiential therapy (PCE; also known as counselling for depression). 

Both therapies are equally effective. However, a past published study 
with archival data suggested there are certain characteristics (such as age, baseline severity, and use of medication) which might make some people more likely to recover from depression if they are matched to either CBT or PCE. 

What are you trying to find out?

We want to explore if matching certain subgroups of people with depression to a particular therapy would help patients.  In this pilot randomized controlled trial, we will randomly assign some Talking Therapies sites to an experimental group, and others to a control group.  

The TherapyMatch-D computer programme will give a personalised treatment recommendation to some patients in the experimental group. 

This recommendation is based on an artificial intelligence programme that was developed in prior research. In the control group, no treatment recommendation will be provided. In this way, we will be able to assess if the TherapyMatch-D treatment selection recommendations help to improve outcomes.  

What does taking part involve?

After you provide verbal consent during your assessment, the therapist will ask you some questions about your symptoms and characteristics that will be inputted by your therapist in the Digital TherapyMatch-D app. 

This computer programme will compare your information with information from a prior study, and see if people with similar characteristics were found to be more likely to recover from their depression symptoms if they took part in CBT or PCE. 

If you are given a treatment recommendation, you will discuss with your therapist and make a decision together about which treatment to select. You do not have to follow the treatment recommendation.

After the initial assessment, your assessing therapist will send you a link via email or text so you may access this information sheet with your consent, and also ask you in that email/text if you want to ake part in a substudy consisting of a telephone interview, and will explain more details about the substudy in the link we send you.

Who is it for?

Service users:

• Adults (18 years of age or old) 
• With depression, including those with anxiety and those taking antidepressant medication 
• Seeking mental health care in Talking Therapies services  

All patients going through routine assessments for high intensity therapies for depression are invited to take part in the research, because the study investigates different ways to select from available treatments to new patients. 

Staff:

• Employed by a participating Talking Therapies service 
• Attended a group/individual training on how to utilise the computer programme TherapyMatch-D.

Why is it important? 

Your participation will help us to learn if using the TherapyMatch-D artificial intelligence method helps us to make better treatment selection recommendations for patients accessing high intensity talking therapies for depression. 

How can I find out more?

You can find out more information about taking part in this study by downloading the key documents at the top of this page. 

If you are interested in taking part in this study, or have questions for the research team, click the button below to email the research team:

Email the research team