Brief Psychological Intervention Through Mobile App and Conference Calls for the Prevention of Depression in Non-Professional Caregivers: A Pilot Study
Open accessAbstract
Despite its potential, no intervention aimed at non-professional caregivers administered through a smartphone app has been proven to prevent depression. The objective of this pilot study was to evaluate the efficacy and feasibility of an indicated depression-prevention intervention for non-professional caregivers administered through an app with the addition of conference-call contact. The intervention was administered to 31 caregivers (Mean age = 54.0 years, 93.5% women). An independent evaluation determined the incidence of depression, depressive symptoms, risk of developing depression, and the variables in the theoretical model (positive environmental reinforcement, negative automatic thoughts) at the pre-intervention and post-intervention, as well as the one- and three-month follow-ups. The incidence of depression at 3 months of follow-up was 6.5%. There was a significant reduction in depressive symptoms (p < 0.001) and in the risk of developing depression (p < 0.001) at the post-intervention and at the one- and three-month follow-ups. The model’s variables improved significantly after the intervention and were associated with post-intervention depressive symptoms. The intervention was more effective in caregivers who had a lower level of depressive symptoms at the pre-intervention. Adherence and satisfaction with the intervention were high. The results encourage future research using a randomized controlled clinical trial.
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Otero et al.'s intervention showed good indicators of adherence and satisfaction.
“show good indicators of adherence and satisfaction with the intervention”
From Using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for Mental Health Prevention and Treatment (2021) · cites this paper as [4]
Otero et al.'s brief cognitive-behavioral intervention for depression prevention delivered through a smartphone app combined with feedback provided preliminary evidence of efficacy in reducing depressive symptoms and risk of developing depression, both at postintervention and follow-up.
“The results provided preliminary evidence of the efficacy of the intervention in reducing depressive symptoms and the risk of developing depression, both at postintervention and in the follow-up assessments”
From Using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for Mental Health Prevention and Treatment (2021) · cites this paper as [4]
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Using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for Mental Health Prevention and Treatment
Fonseca, A., & Osma, J. (2021) · MDPI eBooks · doi:10.3390/books978-3-0365-0459-9
- Authors
- Otero, P., Hita, I., Torres, Á. J., & Vázquez, F. L.
- Affiliations
- Universidade da Coruña (ES)
- Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (ES)
- Corresponding author
- Otero, Patricia
- Venue
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2020-06-25
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 4578
- ISSN
- 1660-4601 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7345199
- OpenAlex
- W3037591789
- Cited by
- 15
- References
- 45
- Citations by year
- 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 2.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- dx.doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Hispana (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Repositorio institucional da Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (University of Santiago de Compostela) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- RUC (Universidade Da Coruña) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (Spain) (PSI2016-79041)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Keywords
- depression prevention, non-professional caregivers, caregiver burden, smartphone-based intervention, conference calls, brief psychological intervention, depressive symptoms, negative automatic thoughts, intervention adherence, intervention satisfaction
- MeSH terms
- Depression, Female, Humans, Male, Pilot Projects, Caregivers, Mobile Applications
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