rTMS With and Without Text4Support for the Treatment of Resistant Depression.

Last updated: March 24, 2025
Sponsor: University of Alberta
Overall Status: Active - Recruiting

Phase

N/A

Condition

Depression

Treatment

Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) Plus Text4Support

Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS)

Clinical Study ID

NCT05570344
Pro00122696
  • Ages > 18
  • All Genders

Study Summary

This study is a multicenter prospective, parallel design, two-arm, rater-blinded randomized controlled pilot trial. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two treatment conditions. In the first condition, treatment consists of rTMS sessions combined with Text4Support. The second condition is made up of the treatment as usual (rTMS sessions alone). The recruitment process is scheduled to last 12 months. It will involve active treatment for six weeks and follow-up period observation periods of 1,3, and 6 months for participants in both arms of the study. Participants will be recruited from four different centers for this project. Two centers (the Addiction and Mental Health clinic and the Alberta day hospital) will be from the large, sociodemographic diverse city of Edmonton in Alberta Western Canada. The remaining two centers will be in Halifax and Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion

Inclusion Criteria:

  • aged 18 and above and diagnosed with MDD based upon the criteria of the Diagnosticand Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) and who have at least failed twoor more standard antidepressant treatments during the current episode. Participantsmay be on psychotropic medications including antidepressants, antipsychotics,benzodiazepines, and anticonvulsants. They must have a good understanding of theEnglish language. Must have access to a smartphone and be able to receive and readtext messages. Must be willing to provide written informed consent upon acceptanceinto the study.

Exclusion

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients below the age of 18.

  • Having diagnosis such as the following conditions (current unless otherwise stated):A neurological disorder, including a history of seizures, having primary orsecondary tumors in the central nervous system, cerebrovascular disease, stroke,cerebral aneurysm, movement disorder,

  • Having a current psychotic disorder such as substance-induced psychosis, psychoticdisorder due to a medical condition, or MDD with psychotic features at the time ofscreening

  • Having a current personality disorder that may hinder the patient's participation inthis research or may have the potential of affecting cognition and ability to fullyparticipate in the study.

  • Having a learning disability as per identified through medical history or by theinvestigator during the assessment process.

  • Participants involved in any drug or device clinical trial within the last six weeksbefore the screening visit and/or involvement in another clinical trial for theduration of this study.

  • Pregnant and breastfeeding women.

  • Identification and/or the sudden appearance of any condition or instance from thementioned above and based on the expertise of the investigators that have thepotential to hinder the progress and completion and/or become a confounding factoron the outcome assessments.

Study Design

Total Participants: 200
Treatment Group(s): 2
Primary Treatment: Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) Plus Text4Support
Phase:
Study Start date:
February 01, 2023
Estimated Completion Date:
December 20, 2025

Study Description

Objective: This study aims to assess the initial comparative clinical effectiveness of rTMS with and without the Text4Support program as an innovative patient-centered intervention for the management of participants diagnosed with TRD.

Methods: This study is a multicentered prospective, parallel-design, two-arm, rater-blinded randomized controlled pilot trial. The recruitment process is scheduled to last 12 months. It will involve active treatment for six weeks, observation, and a follow-up period of six months for participants in both arms of the study. In total, 200 participants diagnosed with TRD at rTMS care clinics in Edmonton, Alberta, and rTMS clinics in Halifax, Nova Scotia will be randomized to one of two treatment arms (rTMS sessions alone and rTMS sessions plus Text4Support intervention. Participants in each group will be made to complete evaluation measures at baseline, one month, three months, and six months. The primary outcome measure will be the mean change to scores on the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Patient service utilization data and clinician-rated measures will also be used to gauge patient progress. Patient data will be analyzed with descriptive statistics, repeated measures, and correlational analyses.

Interventions: Study participants will be randomized to one of the treatment interventions (rTMS alone or rTMS plus Text4Support). During the introductory visit to the study sites, participants in both arms of the study will be given a detailed orientation about the rTMS application, and all procedures and activities within each visit will be explained to them. As part of their participation in the rTMS program, all patients will be made to complete some standard measures. Participants will be invited to the various rTMS clinics a week before the commencement of the rTMS sessions to enable them to undergo motor threshold (MT) assessments. The MT assessment is essential in that it aids in the selection of the required stimulation intensity for each patient for inclusion in the treatment. MT assessment is a measure of the minimum intensity of TMS output needed to elicit a motor response in the participating TRD patients in at least 50% of all attempts.

The MT assessments will be conducted by the rTMS team of experts within the rTMS clinics in the various treatment centers and may consist of psychiatrists, nurses, and other healthcare professionals with the requisite knowledge to do so. Each TMS assessment session will take about 3-5 minutes, and the total time will be within 35-45 minutes. This visit timeline will be the same for all study participants. Overall, all study participants will be scheduled to receive 30 sessions of rTMS treatment for 6 weeks as pre-established by the Alberta Health Services Strategic Clinical Network for Addiction and Mental Health and Nova Scotia Health.

Additionally, participants in the rTMS plus Text4Support group of the study will be assisted by a study team member assigned that purpose to register on to the Text4Support program. The process will require all participants in this arm of the study to input their phone numbers into the Text4Support platform that will be used to deliver the daily messages. Starting a day after enrollment, participants will receive daily supportive text messages designed by mental health therapists, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, and mental health service users. These messages are based on cognitive behavior therapy principles crafted to enhance positively the mood of its users with depressive symptoms and other related mental health problems of concern. The messages will be pre-programmed into a software program that will deliver the messages to participants automatically to the participants' mobile phones at 10 AM (Mountain Time) and 12 PM (Atlantic Time), and each participant will receive these messages continuously for 6 weeks.

Connect with a study center

  • Edmonton Mental Health Clinic

    Edmonton, Alberta T6R 3P5
    Canada

    Active - Recruiting

  • Nova Scotia Health - Abbie J. Lane Memorial Building QEII Health Sciences Centre

    Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 2E2
    Canada

    Active - Recruiting

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