A feasibility RCT of creative psychotherapy (Arts for the Blues)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A feasibility Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) of an evidence-based creative group psychotherapy for adults with symptoms of depression (Arts for the Blues) in National Health Service (NHS) Talking Therapies compared to Treatment as Usual
IRAS ID
328898
Contact name
Joanna Omylinska-Thurston
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Salford
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 2 months, 31 days
Research summary
18% of people suffer from depression in the UK. There are number of therapies available within the NHS-Talking-Therapies where people are encouraged to talk in order to address their depression. However, about half of the people who use these therapies do not complete them. Given that a lot of people struggle with depression, it is important that a greater variety of therapies are available.Research shows that arts psychotherapies might be a good option for people who find it difficult to talk about their problems and service users also indicate that they would like to see arts psychotherapies offered.
To address this need, we developed a creative psychotherapy for depression combining arts and talking psychotherapies called Arts-for-the-Blues (A4B). Following a small evaluation, we found that this psychotherapy was helpful but to find out if it reduces depression we need to test it through a larger study. However, firstly, we need to test the study’s design in a smaller study which is the aim of this project.
We plan to recruit 60 adults from NHS Talking Therapies who struggle with depression. Those who agree to take part will be put into two groups by chance (randomisation) to receive either Treatment-As-Usual (TAU) or twelve sessions of A4B.
We will record information about how people are recruited, if they attend until the end of the study and what is the TAU they receive. Participants will be asked to complete questionnaires in relation to their symptoms of depression at the start of therapy, after the end of therapy, and then 3 months later. We will also interview participants and therapists about their experiences of the study. All this information will feed into the design of the larger study comparing A4B and TAU.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
26/NW/0059
Date of REC Opinion
16 Mar 2026
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion