Supporting Our Valued Adolescents Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial
Condition: Depression; Anxiety
MeSH terms: Depression
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The purpose of this pilot study is to provide preliminary findings testing the Supporting Our
      Valued Adolescents (SOVA) intervention, two social media sites (one for adolescents, one for
      parents) aiming to address negative health beliefs, knowledge about depression or anxiety,
      parent-adolescent communication, in a moderated online peer community, with the goal of
      increasing adolescent use of mental health services.
    

Detailed description: 
      Although recent evidence shows integrated care models increase service use, implementing
      these models is resource intense. Even in primary care settings with access to services and
      routine screening for depression and anxiety, patient engagement is low. This can be
      explained by a low perceived need for services present in both adolescents and parents. Key
      target mechanisms which may increase service use include: (1) parents' and adolescents'
      health beliefs and knowledge, (2) emotional/informational support, and (3) communication
      about mental health with each other. The "SOVA" or "Supporting Our Valued Adolescents"
      intervention aims to address these key mechanisms through two moderated social media websites
      (one for parents, one for adolescents) which include daily blog posts, online peer to peer
      interactions, and discussion guides. SOVA had undergone an iterative process of design -
      using stakeholder-engagement and human computer interaction techniques (PCOR K12 HS 22989-1).
      The goal of this process was to build a usable intervention which is stakeholder-informed.
      Preliminary work has found that 100 adolescents/young adults with a history of depression or
      anxiety symptoms and parents find the SOVA websites to have good usability. The investigators
      will use a pilot randomized controlled trial of SOVA to refine recruitment and retention
      strategies, measure implementation outcomes and investigate potential mechanisms of action in
      depressed and/or anxious adolescents not currently engaged in treatment and their parents;
      and examine parent-adolescent communication factors about mental health and relationship
      quality in the context of a web-based intervention.
    

Intervention name(s): Supporting Our Valued Adolescents (SOVA); Enhanced Usual Care
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Other
Intervention description(s): The SOVA intervention includes:
a welcome email to the websites (adolescents also get a SOVA intro video and mobile app)
adolescents will have access to the website specifically for adolescents: sova.pitt.edu
parents will have access to the website specifically for parents: wisesova.pitt.edu
These anonymous websites aim to: (1) challenge negative health beliefs and increase depression/anxiety knowledge through daily blog posts enhanced with peer commentary; (2) promote social support through online peer interactions; and (3) encourage parent-adolescent mental health communication through same day blog posts with questions for discussion. Parents and adolescents cannot log on to each other's sites. The sites are moderated by our research team.
The SOVA websites include articles composed by SOVA Peer Ambassadors who are adolescents and young adults who have experienced symptoms of depression or anxiety and contribute monthly articles and regular comments.; A social worker at the Center for Adolescent and Young Adult Health (CAYAH) clinic helps to facilitate referrals from the adolescent healthcare provider (AHCP) and contacts patients who do not schedule for within-CAYAH appointments.The study will send an extra email to the parent and adolescent that contains the content of the depart summary as well as a list of psychoeducational materials, how to contact the AHCP, CAYAH social worker, and crisis resources and the AHCP's treatment recommendation which are obtained from the electronic health record. Also, each individual will receive a phone call from a research assistant who will communicate the information in the email and offer to inform the social worker or AHCP of questions the patient or parent may have.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Double (Care Provider, Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Health Services Research
Keywords: Adolescent; Adolescent Medicine; Mental Health Services; eHealth; Online systems; Primary Health Care; Social media; Social support