Clinical trial NCT06527625: Cultural Arts Programme for Older Chinese
Official title: Cultural Arts for Reducing Depressive Symptoms and Age-related Self-stigma in Older People: a Randomised Waitlist Controlled Trial
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Depressive Symptoms
Ageism
Older Adults
Psychosocial Intervention
Art
Lead sponsor: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: The University of Hong Kong
First posted: 2024-07-30
Enrollment: 50
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 60
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: This study examines the effectiveness of an innovative cultural arts program in reducing depressive symptoms and age-related self-stigma among older Chinese as compared to service as usual through a randomized waitlist controlled trial.

Detailed description: Depressive symptoms are common among community-dwelling older people, and prevention and early detection can reduce the incidence of depressive disorders. However, internalized ageism and stigma of mental illness may disempower older people and impede help-seeking behaviors among those at risk of depression. Nonpharmacological interventions may reduce stigma, and among different approaches, arts-based programs are gaining attention because arts are deemed enjoyable, stigma-free, and conducive to mental health.

This study adopts a waitlist-controlled trial and examines the effectiveness of an innovative cultural art programme to combat internalised ageism and reduce depressive symptoms compared with service as usual. Community-dwelling older adults (age 60 years and over) at risk for depression will be recruited and randomised to receive cultural arts (experimental group) or service as usual (waitlist control group). Assessments will be administered by trained researcher(s) at baseline (T0), and completion of the 9-session intervention (T1). Effectiveness analyses will be based on changes in assessments at different time points between intervention and control groups.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* aged 60 years or above;
* at risk for depression, i.e., Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) score under 10; or
* having at least one risk factor of depression, including frequent loneliness, lack of social interaction, lack of meaningful/enjoyable activities, chronic pain, more than four chronic diseases, or bereavement.

Exclusion Criteria:

* known history of autism, intellectual disability, schizophrenia-spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, Parkinson's disease, or dementia;
* illiterate;
* physically frail; or
* significant suicidal risk.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Changes from baseline in depressive symptoms at 9 weeks
timeFrame: Baseline (T0) and 9 weeks after baseline (T1)
measure: Changes from baseline in self-stigma of age at 9 weeks
timeFrame: Baseline (T0) and 9 weeks after baseline (T1)
measure: Changes from baseline in self-stigma of depression at 9 weeks
timeFrame: Baseline (T0) and 9 weeks after baseline (T1)
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Changes from baseline in empowerment at 9 weeks
timeFrame: Baseline (T0) and 9 weeks after baseline (T1)
measure: Changes from baseline in cognitive fusion at 9 weeks
timeFrame: Baseline (T0) and 9 weeks after baseline (T1)
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Hong Kong
country: Hong Kong
facility: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Study officials:
affiliation: The Polytechnic University of Hong Kong
name: Tianyin Liu, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: