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Mental health
Protocol
Study protocol for a feasibility study of microinterventions in smartphone-based assessments to reduce depressive rumination
  1. Inken Höller1,2,
  2. Lena Spangenberg3
  1. 1Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Charlotte Fresenius Hochschule, Düsseldorf, Germany
  2. 2Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
  3. 3Department of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, University Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
  1. Correspondence to Professor Inken Höller; inken.hoeller{at}charlotte-fresenius-uni.de

Abstract

Introduction Depression as well as suicidal ideation and behaviours share several precipitating and maintaining factors and are subject to the influence of overlapping constructs. One of these transdiagnostic constructs is rumination. For the treatment of rumination, a variety of interventions are already available. However, not everyone with a need receives psychotherapeutic treatment. And even if they do: implementing learnt strategies alone at home can be challenging for patients. Therefore, this study aims to test the feasibility of delivering microinterventions for the reduction of rumination in a smartphone-based setting with the goal to make these interventions accessible to a larger number of people and support their use in everyday life.

Methods and analysis The study’s design is an uncontrolled-within-group design. Participants with at least mild depressive symptoms and reported rumination will be included and recruited via outpatient clinics as well as in the general population. The aim is to recruit at least N=70 participants. Participants first undergo a short telephone screening, a baseline assessment, a 7-day smartphone-based assessment including microinterventions in case participants report rumination and a postassessment. For feasibility purposes, primary outcomes relate to participants’ compliance, their evaluation of the smartphone-based assessment as well as the microinterventions delivered during the assessment. As a secondary goal, clinical utility will be examined. Clinical outcomes (eg, depressive symptoms, rumination) will be measured at baseline and postassessment.

Ethics and dissemination The ethics committee of the institute of psychology of the university of Duisburg-Essen and University of Leipzig has approved the study. Study results will be disseminated to healthcare communities, in peer-reviewed science journals and at conferences.

Trial registration number DRKS00031743.

  • MENTAL HEALTH
  • Feasibility Studies
  • Depression & mood disorders
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-076031

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors The research idea originally came from IH. IH and LS conceptualised the study. IH wrote the manuscript. LS supervised the process. Both authors read and approved the final version of this manuscript.

    • Funding The study is funded by the Program for the Promotion of Excellent Young Scientists of the University of Duisburg-Essen. The program does not assign a grant number.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were not involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.