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  • Digital cognitive behavioural therapy intervention in the workplace: study protocol for a feasibility randomised waitlist-controlled trial to improve employee mental well-being, engagement and productivity

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Mental health
Protocol
Digital cognitive behavioural therapy intervention in the workplace: study protocol for a feasibility randomised waitlist-controlled trial to improve employee mental well-being, engagement and productivity
  1. Krishane Patel1,
  2. Talar Rita Moukhtarian2,
  3. Sean Russell3,
  4. Guy Daly3,
  5. Lukasz Walasek4,
  6. Nicole K Y Tang4,
  7. Carla Toro2,
  8. Caroline Meyer2
  1. 1University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
  2. 2Warwick Medical School, Division of Health Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
  3. 3Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Coventry University, Coventry, UK
  4. 4Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Carla Toro; carla.toro{at}warwick.ac.uk

Abstract

Introduction One in six workers experience some form of mental health problems at work costing the UK economy an estimated £70 billion/year. Digital interventions provide low cost and easily scalable delivery methods to implement psychological interventions in the workplace. This trial tests the feasibility of implementing a self-guided 8-week digital cognitive behavioural therapy intervention for subthreshold to clinical depression and/or anxiety versus waitlist control (ie, life as usual) in the workplace.

Methods and analysis Feasibility of implementation will be tested using a mixed-methods evaluation of the two-arm randomised waitlist-control trial. Evaluation will include examination of organisational buy-in, and the engagement of employees through the trial indicated by the completion of outcome measures. In addition, we also explore how participants use the platform, the appropriateness of the analysis both with reference to the outcome measures and linear modelling. Finally, we examine the acceptability of the intervention based on participants experiences using qualitative interviews. Assessments take place at baseline (T0), at 8 weeks post-treatment (T1), at short-term follow-up 4 weeks post-treatment (T2) and long-term follow-ups (6 and 12 months after-end of treatment). We will recruit from 1 July 2021 to 31 December 2021 for employees and self-employed workers with depression and anxiety symptoms (subclinical and clinical levels) who are not seeking or engaged in treatment at the time of the trial.

Ethics and dissemination Full approval was given by the University of Warwick Biomedical and Research Ethics Committee (BSREC 45/20–21). The current protocol version is 2.8 (August 2021). Publication of results in peer-reviewed journals will inform the scientific, clinical and business communities. We will disseminate results through webinars, conferences, newsletter as well as a lay summary of results on the study website (mhpp.me).

Trial registration number ISRCTN31161020.

  • mental health
  • depression & mood disorders
  • adult psychiatry
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-060545

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    Footnotes

    • Twitter @TMoukhtarian

    • Contributors KP, TRM, CT, CM, LW and NKYT were involved in design and interpretation of the work. CT and TRM led the treatment development. KP drafted the first version of the manuscript. KP, TRM, CT, LW, SR, NKYT, GD and CM all were involved in revising for critical intellectual content, and shared agreement for accountability in all aspects of the work.

    • Funding This research is supported by Midlands Engine (R.ESWM.3932).

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research. Refer to the Methods section for further details.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.