The proposed trial aims to test the feasibility of ecological momentary intervention on stroke caregivers' psychological distress.
75% of stroke caregivers report severe caregiver burdens, with 60% of stroke caregivers reporting at least one depressive symptom in Hong Kong. However, caregivers can experience difficulties in accessing and fully utilising existing services due to the varying types of care needs and its intensities amongst stroke survivors. Ecological momentary intervention (EMI) as an innovative and personalised intervention has shown great potential in supporting psychological well-being; yet, there are no studies on using EMI for the caregivers' psychological support. The proposed trial aims to reduce stroke caregivers' psychological distress by delivering EMI through instant messaging applications to provide personalised and real-time support led by healthcare professionals. Stroke caregivers screened by Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) with scores ranging from 5 to 19 will be recruited from multiple sites including community centres, rehabilitation centres and outpatient clinics in public hospitals in Hong Kong, and individually randomised into the intervention group (n=20) or control group (n=20). The intervention group will receive the personalised instant messages for 4 weeks. The control group will receive general health information and regular messages reminding them to participate in follow-up surveys. The primary outcome will be the score of PHQ-9 at 4 weeks. Secondary outcomes will include anxiety, perceived stress, and caregiver burden.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
OTHER
Masking
DOUBLE
Enrollment
40
Using the messaging function of mobile devices, EMI offers a framework to deliver health information to the target population, corresponding to each individual's demands in terms of type (e.g., photo, text and/or voice message), timing, duration, and frequency of the messages, which are different to the features from other interventions
Hong Kong PHAB Association
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
RECRUITINGHong Kong Stroke Association
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
RECRUITINGChange depressive symptoms by Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) Scale (questionnaire) at 4 weeks
Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) Scale: PHQ-9 is a scale for screening depression in primary care. It consists of 9 items with 4 likert scale. Score range is from 0 to 27 (higher score = higher severity of depressive symptom).
Time frame: 4 weeks
Change anxiety symptoms by Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) Scale at 4 weeks
Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) Scale: GAD-7 is a scale for screening anxiety in primary care. It consists of 7 items with 4 likert scale. Score range is from 0 to 21 (higher score = higher severity of anxiety symptom).
Time frame: 4 weeks
Change stress levels by Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4) at 4 weeks
Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4); PSS-4 is a scale for screening stress level. It consists of 4 items with 5 likert scale. Score range is from 0 to 16 (higher score = higher severity of stress).
Time frame: 4 weeks
Change caring burdens by Burden Interview-4 (ZBI-4) at 4 weeks
Burden Interview-4 (ZBI-4) Scale: ZBI-4 is a scale for screening carer's burdens. It consists of 4 items with 5 likert scale. Score range is from 0 to 16 (higher score = higher severity of caring burden).
Time frame: 4 weeks
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