Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial of supportive parents - coping kids (SPARCK)-a transdiagnostic and personalized parent training intervention to prevent childhood mental health problems.

BACKGROUND: To meet the scientific and political call for effective prevention of child and youth mental health problems and associated long-term consequences, we have co-created, tested, and optimized a transdiagnostic preventive parent-training intervention, Supportive parents - coping kids (SPARCK), together with and for the municipal preventive frontline services. The target group of SPARCK is parents of children between 4 and 12 years who display symptoms of anxiety, depression, and/or behavioral problems, that is, indicated prevention. The intervention consists of components from various empirically supported interventions representing different theorical models on parent-child interactions and child behavior and psychopathology (i.e., behavioral management interventions, attachment theory, emotion socialization theory, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and family accommodation intervention). The content and target strategies of SPARCK are tailored to the needs of the families and children, and the manual suggests how the target strategies may be personalized and combined throughout the maximum 12 sessions of the intervention. The aim of this project is to investigate the effectiveness of SPARCK on child symptoms, parenting practices, and parent and child stress hormone levels, in addition to later use of specialized services compared with usual care (UC; eg. active comparison group). METHODS: We describe a randomized controlled effectiveness trial in the frontline services of child welfare, health, school health and school psychological counselling services in 24 Norwegian municipalities. It is a two-armed parallel group randomized controlled effectiveness and superiority trial with 252 families randomly allocated to SPARCK or UC. Assessment of key variables will be conducted at pre-, post-, and six-month follow-up. DISCUSSION: The current study will contribute with knowledge on potential effects of a preventive transdiagnostic parent-training intervention when compared with UC. Our primary objective is to innovate frontline services with a usable, flexible, and effective intervention for prevention of childhood mental health problems to promote equity in access to care for families and children across a heterogeneous service landscape characterized by variations in available resources, personnel, and end user symptomatology. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NTCT05800522.

Symptom Change during Waitlist for Medicated and Nonmedicated Patients with Chronic Depression.

INTRODUCTION: Patients seeking psychotherapy often spend time on waitlist (WL), the effect of which is largely unknown. WL patients may forego alternative non-psychotherapeutic assistance and thus do more poorly than had they not been placed on a WL. The course of symptoms might also be influenced by use of antidepressant medication (ADM), an issue that remains unexplored in the literature. OBJECTIVE: In a naturalistic setting, WL symptom change before inpatient psychotherapy (mean weeks of waiting = 22.6) was assessed in a sample (N = 313) of chronically depressed patients. METHODS: Using the Beck Depression Inventory-II, patients' symptoms were tracked at assessment, when admitted to treatment (i.e., after WL), at posttreatment and 1-year follow-up. Multilevel growth curve analysis was used to examine waitlist change for the whole sample as well as for ADM users and nonmedicated patients. RESULTS: Symptoms were reduced significantly from assessment to admittance (Cohen's d = 0.47). Symptoms reduced less for ADM users (d = 0.39) than for nonmedicated patients (d = 0.65). CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that chronically depressed patients experience a decrease in symptoms during WL, quite likely due to treatment expectations. We discuss whether less symptom improvement for ADM users could be attributed to iatrogenic comorbidity and a higher degree of demoralization in this group.

Examining Psychotherapeutic Processes with Depressed Adolescents: A Comparative Study of Two Psychodynamic Therapies.

To understand processes associated with better or poorer psychotherapy outcomes is vital. This study examined and contrasted interaction patterns between one therapist and two depressed 17-year-old girls, Johanna (good outcome) and Sonja (poor outcome), in short-term psychoanalytic therapies selected from an RCT. Outcome data were collected regarding level of inter- and intra-personal functioning and symptoms of depression. Process data were obtained using the Adolescent Psychotherapy Q-Set on all available sessions. Analyses yielded five relational patterns or "interaction structures" in the two therapy processes; Three explained most of the variance in sessions with Johanna (i.e., 'positive working alliance', 'therapist's active use of psychodynamic techniques', and 'a receptive patient') and two explained more of the variance in sessions with Sonja (i.e., 'therapist using a more problem-solving and symptom-oriented approach' and 'patient displaying limited capacity for mentalization'). The processes in the two cases presented differences related to mentalization, psychological mindedness, and attachment style of the patients. The therapist used different therapeutic approaches, favouring more psychodynamic interventions in the good outcome case and a more problem-solving and symptom-oriented approach with the poor outcome case. In the latter case, the relationship seemed to be more of a struggle.

Effectiveness of emotion focused skills training for parents: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial in specialist mental health care.

BACKGROUND: Emotion-Focused Skills Training (EFST) is a newly developed manualized skill training program for parents to strengthen emotional bonds between parents and children and improve mental health outcomes in children. Results from several preliminary trials indicate that EFST can be quite effective, but more rigorous methods are needed to affirm the evidence of the program. The primary objective of this study is to compare the effectiveness of EFST to treatment as usual (TAU) in a Norwegian outpatient clinic for child and adolescent mental health. Additionally, the study will examine the basic theoretical assumption underlying EFST that increased parental emotional functioning predicts a decline in children's mental health symptoms.  METHOD : 120 patients will be randomly assigned to either EFST or TAU. The main outcome measure is the semi-structured diagnostic interview Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia, present and lifetime version (K-SADS-PL) scored by trained assessors administered at pretreatment and repeated after 3 months. The secondary outcome measure is the DSM-IV version of the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) administered at pretreatment as well as 3, 6, and 12 months after the intervention. To examine the efficacy question, effect sizes and reliable change for each of the treatment arms will be assessed as well as symptom differences between the conditions. To examine the second aim of the study, we will examine (1) how parents relate to emotions in their children assessed by the Emotion-Related Parenting Styles (ERPS), (2) the parents' emotion regulation capacity assessed by the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, short-form (DERS-SF), and (3) parents' sense of self-efficacy and the strength of their relationship with the child will be assessed by the relationship with child scale (RWC) of the systemic inventory of change. DISCUSSION: This study will provide insights into the effectiveness of EFST in improving children's mental health and the mechanisms of change responsible for the program's effectiveness. Impotently, this study may provide information regarding whether children's mental health issues can be alleviated through therapeutic work provided to the parents alone. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinical trials.gov Identifier: NCT04885036 . First Posted on May 13, 2021. TRIAL STATUS: In recruitment.

Trajectories of change in chronic depression: Differences in self-criticism and somatic symptoms between users of antidepressants and nonmedicated patients.

OBJECTIVE: Depression is typically seen as composed of several factors (i.e., cognitive, affective, somatic) which may be targeted by different interventions (i.e., pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy, or combination treatment). Successfully targeting these factors may contribute to improved treatment response in depression. A previous study identified two subfactors on Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) in a sample of chronically depressed patients: (a) self-criticism and (b) somatic symptoms (sleep disturbance, fatigue, changes in appetite). Prior research indicates that these symptoms may respond differently to psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy. In this study, we examined whether patients who were on antidepressant medication (ADM) had different outcomes on these factors than patients not using medication while undergoing intensive inpatient psychotherapeutic treatment. METHOD: After adjusting for baseline difference with propensity score matching, a total of 238 patients with chronic depression were included in the analysis of which 119 patients were using ADM during treatment while 119 were not. We analyzed whether the two groups had different trajectories of change on the factors "self-criticism" and "somatic symptoms" using multilevel growth curve modeling. RESULTS: Patients not using medication during treatment had significantly larger symptom reduction than ADM users on the self-criticism factor, while there was no difference between groups on the somatic factor. CONCLUSION: There seems to be a difference in outcomes on self-criticism depending on the use of ADM for this patient group. This may suggest that the simultaneous use of ADM while in psychotherapy could make patients less accessible to the effects of psychotherapeutic interventions on this factor. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Comparing outcomes in chronic depression following inpatient psychotherapy for patients continuing versus discontinuing antidepressant medication.

Research indicates that combination of psychotherapy and antidepressant medication (ADM) provides cumulative effects and thus outperforms monotherapy in treating chronic depression. In this quasi-experimental study, we explored symptom change for patients with chronic depression treated with ADM when presenting for a 12-week psychotherapeutic inpatient treatment programme. We compared outcomes through treatment and follow-up of patients who continued medication with those who discontinued. We also tested possible moderator effects of initial depression severity on change between the groups. Based on prior research, we hypothesized that combination treatment would yield better results (i.e., more reduction in depression). Patients (N = 112) were referred from general practitioners or local secondary health care. Outcome was measured by Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), and comparisons were carried out using multilevel modelling. Although 35 patients discontinued ADM during treatment, 77 continued. Both continuers and discontinuers had a significant treatment effect that was maintained at 1-year follow-up. There was no difference in outcome between continuers and discontinuers of ADM. Patients with severe depression had significantly more symptom improvement than patients with moderate depression, but depression severity did not affect outcomes across continuers and discontinuers of ADM differently. The results could indicate that patients had developed resistance and/or tolerance to the prophylactic effects of medication and that ADM did not contribute to the reduction of depressive symptoms. The findings may also indicate that psychotherapy alone in some instances can be a viable alternative to continued combined treatment. Clinicians should carefully assess benefits of patients' ongoing use of antidepressant medication when entering psychotherapy.

Do self-criticism and somatic symptoms play a key role in chronic depression? Exploring the factor structure of Beck depression inventory-II in a sample of chronically depressed inpatients.

BACKGROUND: The factor structure of depression differs for different sub-samples. The purpose of this study was to explore the factor structure of Beck Depression Inventory-II in patients with chronic depression presenting for inpatient treatment. METHODS: Using exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM), we explored whether a two-factor solution or a bifactor solution provided best model fit for a sample of 377 patients. For the best fitting model stability was assessed with tests for invariance across primary diagnosis (persistent depressive disorder v. recurrent major depressive disorder), and presence of comorbidity. RESULTS: A bifactor solution with one general factor and two specific factors provided best model fit. Invariance analyses provided support for measurement invariance and stability of the factor solution. LIMITATIONS: The naturalistic study design implies some uncertainty regarding possible systematic differences between the patients on demographic and clinical characteristics. CONCLUSION: The factor structure in our sample was best explained by a general depression factor, one specific factor pertaining to self-criticism, and one consisting of the somatic items fatigue, disturbance of sleep, and appetite. Clinicians could benefit from paying special attention to the subfactors identified, as these findings may have implications for treatment choice for patients with chronic depression.