The purpose of this study is to determine whether mindfulness-based cognitive therapy is effective in reducing depression symptoms in individuals who have experienced a traumatic brain injury. The investigators hypothesize that participants who are given the ten-week intervention will have fewer depression symptoms than the participants in the control group, and this improvement will be maintained at the three-month follow-up assessment.
Major depression is a significant chronic problem for people with traumatic brain injury (TBI), and its treatment is difficult. A promising approach to treat depression is mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), a relatively new therapeutic approach rooted in mindfulness-based stress-reduction (MBSR) and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). This multi-site, randomized, controlled trial of a MBCT intervention will examine the value of this intervention in improving quality of life and decreasing depression in people with TBI. MBCT may represent a time-limited, cost-effective group intervention through which clinicians would have an opportunity to address some of the most debilitating aspects of TBI.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
105
Subjects will participate in a 10-week Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy Program led by two trained facilitators. Weekly one-and-a-half hour group sessions will guide subjects through exercises such as meditation, awareness, and breathing techniques aimed at developing skills to help with tension, stress, anxiety and depression. Subjects will be encouraged to practice skills at home and in daily life.
Ottawa Hospital Rehabilitation Centre
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
St. Joseph's Care Group
Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
Toronto Rehabilitation Institute
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Beck Depression Inventory - II
The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) is a 21-question multiple-choice self-report inventory, one of the most widely used instruments for measuring the severity of depression. It assesses the intensity of depression into 4 categories ranging from minimal (scores from 0-13) to severe (scores from 29-63) (79). Each item is a list of four statements arranged in increasing severity about a particular symptom of depression. The depression criteria are consistent with those of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders-Fourth Edition (DSM-IV). The cognitive-affective factor includes items concerning sadness, past failure, loss of pleasure, guilty feelings, punishment feelings, self-dislike, self-criticalness, suicidal thoughts or wishes, crying, agitation, loss of interest, worthlessness, and irritability. The somatic factor is comprised of loss of energy, changes in sleeping pattern, changes in appetite, concentration difficulty, and tiredness or fatigue.
Time frame: Baseline data were collected prior to the intervention and post-intervention data were collected 10 weeks later.
Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9)
The PHQ-9 is a self-administered questionnaire based on the PRIME-MD diagnostic instrument for common mental disorders. Each of the 9 DSM-IV criteria is scored on a four point Likert scale ranging from "0" (not at all) to "3" (nearly every day) with higher scores indicative of greater depression symptoms. Scores range from a low of 0 to a high of 27.
Time frame: Baseline data were collected prior to the intervention and post-intervention data were collected 10 weeks later.
Symptom Checklist-90 Revised (Depression Subscale)
The Symptom Checklist-90 Revised (SCL-90-R) is a 90 item self-report questionnaire designed to measure nine primary symptom dimensions: somatization, obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism from the last two weeks from the current point in time. A five point Likert scale is used ranging from "Not at All" to "Extremely" with higher scores indicative of greater symptoms. There are 13 questions in the depression subscale with scores ranging between 0 and 52. To help with interpretation of all SCL-90-R sub-scales, we transformed this sub-scale total score back to a score between 0 to 4 with higher scores indicating greater depression symptoms.
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Time frame: Baseline data were collected prior to the intervention and post-intervention data were collected 10 weeks later.
Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale (Awareness Subscale)
The Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale (PHLMS) is a measure of mindfulness to assess present-moment awareness and acceptance. The questionnaire comprises 20 questions rated on a five-point Likert scale with higher scores indicative of greater mindfulness. It comprises two subscales - Awareness and Acceptance. The range of scores on the Awareness subscale is 10 to 50 and the range on the Acceptance subscale is 10 to 50 with higher scores indicative a greater awareness and acceptance respectively.
Time frame: Baseline data were collected prior to the intervention and post-intervention data were collected 10 weeks later.
Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale (Acceptance Subscale)
The Philadelphia Mindfulness Scale (PHLMS) is a measure of mindfulness to assess present-moment awareness and acceptance. The questionnaire comprises 20 questions rated on a five-point Likert scale with higher scores indicative of greater mindfulness. It comprises two subscales - Awareness and Acceptance. The range of scores on the Awareness subscale is 10 to 50 and the range on the Acceptance subscale is 10 to 50 with higher scores indicative a greater awareness and acceptance respectively.
Time frame: Baseline data were collected prior to the intervention and post-intervention data were collected 10 weeks later.