Importance of depression trial outcomes
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A survey of the importance of outcomes for depression trials
IRAS ID
344064
Contact name
Til Wykes
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 9 days
Research summary
Depression is a severe and enduring illness and is expected to be a leading worldwide health problem by 2030. Numerous treatments are currently provided, including antidepressants with a lower uptake for cognitive therapies, such as talking therapies, despite evidence showing they are similar in effectiveness. But, a treatment may not always be effective. Research outcomes are used to evaluate how well any treatment works and are typically decided on by researchers, with little input from those using the services or providing them. This means that outcomes set by the research team may not reflect those outcomes valued by service-users or service providers.
This study aims to bring some balance to this by collecting service-users and service staffs views in which outcomes are important to them. There are various outcomes and can include clinical (e.g., symptoms, severity of illness), cognitive (e.g., memory, attention) or functional (e.g., quality of life). Researchers usually choose one as their primary outcome to determine if a treatment is successful.
This study seeks to present service-users and service staff up to two lists of a total of 13 possible outcomes and will ask them to rank each outcome in order of importance to them. They will be asked to do this by assigning a total of 100 points to each outcome list. This information will then be used to give each of those outcomes a score that can then produce a model that future research can use to aid not only in choosing appropriate outcomes that are valued by service-users and service staff but also to give each of them an appropriate ‘weight’.
We will invite a total of 100 service-users who meet the eligibility criteria and have given their consent and 50 service providers to complete both online questionnaires.
REC name
West Midlands - South Birmingham Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/WM/0067
Date of REC Opinion
17 Apr 2025
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion