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Background: Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is highly prevalent among university students, but the majority of affected students remain untreated. Internet- and mobile-based self-help interventions (IMIs) may be a promising strategy to address this unmet need. This study aims to investigate the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of an unguided internet-based treatment for SAD among university students. The intervention is optimized for the treatment of university students and includes one module targeting fear of positive evaluations that is a neglected aspect of SAD treatment. Methods: The study is a two arm randomized controlled trial in which 200 university students with a primary diagnosis of SAD will be assigned randomly to either a wait-list control group (WLC) or the intervention group (IG). The intervention consists of 9 sessions of an internet-based cognitive-behavioral treatment, which also includes a module on fear of positive evaluation (FPE). Guidance is delivered only on the basis of standardized automatic messages, consisting of positive reinforcements for session completion, reminders, and motivational messages in response to non-adherence. All participants will additionally have full access to treatment as usual. Diagnostic status will be assessed through Structured Clinical Interviews for DSM Disorders (SCID). Assessments will be completed at baseline, 10 weeks and 6-month follow-up. The primary outcome will be SAD symptoms at post-treatment, assessed via the Social Phobia Scale (SPS) and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS). Secondary outcomes will include diagnostic status, depression, quality of life and fear of positive evaluation. Cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analyses will be evaluated from a societal and health provider perspective. Discussion: Results of this study will contribute to growing evidence for the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of unguided IMIs for the treatment of SAD in university students. Consequently, this trial may provide valuable information for policy makers and clinicians regarding the allocation of limited treatment resources to such interventions. Trial registration: DRKS00011424 (German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS)) Registered 14/12/2016. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Major depressive disorder (MDD) imposes a considerable disease burden on individuals and societies. Web-based interventions have shown to be effective in reducing depressive symptom severity. However, it is not known whether web-based interventions may also be effective in preventing the onset of MDD. The aim of this study is to evaluate the (cost-) effectiveness of an indicated web-based guided self-help intervention (GET.ON Mood Enhancer Prevention) on the onset of MDD. Methods/design A randomised controlled trial (RCT) will be conducted to compare the (cost-) effectiveness of the GET.ON Mood Enhancer Prevention training with a control condition exclusively receiving online-based psychoeducation on depression. Adults with subthreshold depression (N = 406) will be recruited from the general population and randomised to one of the two conditions. The primary outcome is time to onset of MDD within a 12-months follow-up period. MDD will be assessed according to DSM-IV criteria as assessed by the telephone-administered Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID). Time to onset of MDD will be assessed using life charts. Secondary outcomes include changes on various indicators of depressive symptom severity, anxiety and quality of life from baseline to post-treatment, to a 6-month and a 12-month follow up. Additionally, an economic evaluation using a societal perspective will be conducted to examine the intervention's cost-effectiveness. Discussion This is one of the first randomised controlled trials that examines the effect of an indicated guided self-help web-based intervention on the incidence of major depression. If shown to be effective, the intervention will contribute to reducing the disease burden due to MDD in the general population. Trial registration German Clinical Trial Registration DRKS00004709. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Major Depressive Disorder is one of the most challenging mental health problems of our time. Although effective psychotherapeutic treatments are available, many patients fail to demonstrate clinically significant improvements. Difficulties in emotion regulation have been identified as putative risk and maintaining factors for Major Depressive Disorder. Systematically enhancing adaptive emotion regulation skills should thus help reduce depressive symptom severity. However, at this point, no study has systematically evaluated effects of increasing adaptive emotion regulation skills application on symptoms of Major Depressive Disorder. In the intended study, we aim to evaluate stand-alone effects of a group- based training explicitly and exclusively targeting general emotion regulation skills on depressive symptom severity and assess whether this training augments the outcome of subsequent individual cognitive behavioral therapy for depression. Methods/Design In the evaluation of the Affect Regulation Training, we will conduct a prospective randomized-controlled trial. Effects of the Affect Regulation Training on depressive symptom severity and outcomes of subsequent individual therapy for depression will be compared with an active, common factor based treatment and a waitlist control condition. The study sample will include 120 outpatients meeting criteria for Major Depressive Disorder. Depressive symptom severity as assessed by the Hamilton Rating Scale will serve as our primary study outcome. Secondary outcomes will include further indicators of mental health and changes in adaptive emotion regulation skills application. All outcomes will be assessed at intake and at 10 points in time over the course of the 15-month study period. Measures will include self-reports, observer ratings, momentary ecological assessments, and will be complemented in subsamples by experimental investigations and the analysis of hair steroids. Discussion If findings should support the hypothesis that enhancing regulation skills reduces symptom severity in Major Depressive Disorder, systematic emotion regulation skills training can enhance the efficacy and efficiency of current treatments for this severe and highly prevalent disorder. Trial registration This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01330485. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a prevalent and severe disorder. Although effective treatments for MDD are available, many patients remain untreated, mainly because of insufficient treatment capacities in the health care system. Resulting waiting periods are often associated with prolonged suffering and impairment as well as a higher risk of chronification. Web-based interventions may help to alleviate these problems. Numerous studies provided evidence for the efficacy of web-based interventions for depression. The aim of this study is to evaluate a new web-based guided self-help intervention (GET.ON-Mood Enhancer-WL) specifically developed for patients waiting to commence inpatient therapy for MDD. Methods: In a two-armed randomised controlled trial (n = 200), the web-based guided intervention GET.ON-Mood Enhancer-WL in addition to treatment as usual (TAU) will be compared with TAU alone. The intervention contains six modules (psycho education, behavioural activation I & II, problem solving I & II, and preparation for subsequent inpatient depression therapy). The participants will be supported by an e-coach, who will provide written feedback after each module. Inclusion criteria include a diagnosis of MDD assessed with a structured clinical interview [SCID] and a waiting period of at least three weeks before start of inpatient treatment. The primary outcome is observer-rated depressive symptom severity (HRSD24). Further (explorative) questions include whether remission will be achieved earlier and by more patients during inpatient therapy because of the web-based preparatory intervention. Discussion: If GET.ON-Mood Enhancer-WL is proven to be effective, patients may start inpatient therapy with reduced depressive symptom severity, ideally leading to higher remission rates, shortened inpatient therapy, reduced costs, and decreased waiting times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A diagnosis of diabetes mellitus types 1 or 2 doubles the odds of a comorbid depressive disorder. The combined diseases have a wide range of adverse outcomes, such as a lower quality of life, poorer diabetes outcomes and increased healthcare utilisation. Diabetes patients with depression can be treated effectively with psychotherapy, but access to psychological care is limited. In this study we will examine the efficacy and costeffectiveness of a newly developed web-based intervention (GET.ON Mood Enhancer Diabetes) for people with diabetes and comorbid depressive symptoms. Methods/Design: A two-arm randomised controlled trial will be conducted. Adults with diabetes (type 1 or type 2) with increased depression scores (> 22 on the German version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D)) will be included. Eligible participants will be recruited through advertisement in diabetes patient journals and via a large-scale German health insurance company. The participants will be randomly assigned to either a 6- week minimally guided web-based self-help program or an online psychoeducation program on depression. The study will include 260 participants, which will enable us to detect a statistically significant difference with a group effect size of d = 0.35 at a power of 80% and a significance level of p = 0.05. The primary outcome measure will be the level of depression as assessed by the CES-D. The secondary outcome measures will be: diabetes-specific emotional distress, glycaemic control, self-management behaviour and the participants' satisfaction with the intervention. Online self-assessments will be collected at baseline and after a 2 months period, with additional follow-up measurements 6 and 12 months after randomisation. The data will be analysed on an intention-to-treat basis and per protocol. In addition, we will conduct an economic evaluation from a societal perspective. Discussion: If this intervention is shown to be cost-effective, it has considerable potential for implementing psychological care for large numbers of people with diabetes and comorbid depression in routine practice and improve health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]