Clinical trial NCT05519722: The Effects of an Expectation-focused Nonguided Therapy Preparation
Official title: The Effects of an Expectation-focused Nonguided Therapy Preparation
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Expectations
Keywords: expectations
intervention
online
psychotherapy
patients
waitlist
Lead sponsor: Philipps University Marburg
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2022-08-29
Enrollment: 81
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: The patients will be randomly distributed to the intervention group or the control group. The intervention group will receive a nonguided online-intervention to optimize expectations. The control group will receive no intervention at all.
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: Various studies have shown that a more positive outcome expectation can have an influence on the actual treatment outcome of outpatient psychotherapeutic treatments. Therefore, the aim of this online study is to investigate whether \[1\] the patients' outcome expectation of outpatient psychotherapy can be optimized by a brief nonguided online intervention and whether \[2\] this intervention can influence important factors of psychotherapy, such as active cooperation, the therapeutic relationship, motivation, and regular attendance to therapy.

To examine these questions, patients who are waiting for outpatient therapy will be randomized into two groups (control vs. intervention group) after baseline assessment. The intervention group will participate in a brief therapy preparation (30 minutes) that focuses on optimizing outcome expectations. Both groups will fill out questionnaires again on the following day, during the diagnostic phase at the beginning of therapy and six months later (or at the end of therapy in case therapy ends before the 6-month-follow-up). Furthermore, therapists will also fill out questionnaires during the diagnostic phase at the beginning of therapy and six months later (or at the end of therapy in case therapy ends before the 6-month-follow-up).


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* patients who are waiting for therapy at the ambulance for psychotherapy Marburg ("Psychotherapie-Ambulanz Marburg")
* Age 18 or above
* Fluency in German
* Informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

* visual or hearing impairment that interferes with viewing or listening to video recordings

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change in outcome expectation (Credibility and Expectancy Questionnaire (CEQ) scale) from Baseline to T1
timeFrame: Baseline, T1 (following day)
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Change in outcome expectation (Credibility and Expectancy Questionnaire (CEQ) scale) from Baseline to T2 to T3
timeFrame: Baseline, T2 (start of therapy), T3 (6-month-follow-up)
measure: Change in outcome expectation and process expectations (Milwaukee Psychotherapy Expectations Questionnaire (MPEQ)) from Baseline to T1 to T2 to T3
timeFrame: Baseline, T1 (following day), T2 (start of therapy), T3 (6-month-follow-up)
measure: Change in scores on the subscale for treatment expectations of the the generic rating scale for previous treatment experiences, treatment expectations, and treatment effects (GEEE) from baseline to T1 to T2 to T3
timeFrame: Baseline, T1 (following day), T2 (start of therapy), T3 (6-month-follow-up)
measure: Change in symptom severity (Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), Patient Health Questionnaire 4 (PHQ-4), Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R))
timeFrame: Baseline, T2 (start of therapy), T3 (6-month-follow-up)
Other outcomes:
measure: General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE)
timeFrame: Baseline, T1 (following day), T2 (start of therapy), T3 (6-month-follow-up)
measure: Therapeutic Relationship (Helping Alliance Questionaire (HAQ))
timeFrame: T2 (start of therapy), T3 (6-month-follow-up)
measure: Treatment adherence
timeFrame: T2 (start of therapy), T3 (6-month-follow-up)
measure: Patients' Illness Perception (Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire, B-IPQ)
timeFrame: Baseline, T1 (following day), T2 (start of therapy), T3 (6-month-follow-up)
measure: Previous treatment experiences on the subscale for previous treatment experiences of the generic rating scale for previous treatment experiences, treatment expectations, and treatment effects (GEEE)
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Social Support (ESSI-D)
timeFrame: T1 (following day), T2 (start of therapy), T3 (6-month-follow-up)
measure: Personality (Big Five Inventory, BFI-10)
timeFrame: Baseline
Locations:
city: Marburg
country: Germany
facility: Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Philipps-University Marburg
Study officials:
affiliation: Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy Dept. of Psychology, Philipps-University Marburg
name: Winfried Rief, Prof. Dr.
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: