DepressionNCT02396472
Mental Health Pathways in Internet Support Groups
A study testing Order by time and topic, Order by information relevance and Order by social relationship in people with Depression and Stress, run by Carnegie Mellon University at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
People facing serious health threats increasingly use Internet health support communities to obtain informational support, emotional support and other resources. This study introduces software algorithms similar to those used by social media sites to put people in touch with helpful information and social… Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and olderHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Depression, Stress, Anxiety
- What is being tested?
- Order by time and topic, Order by information relevance and Order by social relationship
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- Yes, some participants may receive a placebo
- How many people
- 6,500 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- Jun 2016to 16 Aug 2019
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 years and older
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Is an existing or new registrant to the American Cancer Society's Cancer Support Network.
Who cannot join
- -
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
United States1 site
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15213
About this study
Official title: Internet Support Groups: Identifying and Improving Pathways for Mental Health
People facing serious health threats increasingly use Internet health support communities to obtain informational support, emotional support and other resources. This study introduces software algorithms similar to those used by social media sites to put people in touch with helpful information and social interactions. Participants from the American Cancer Society's Cancer Support Network will have access to this online support group using the default interface that orders content by broad content category and date or with a new interface that highlights communication content and people that match users' interests and needs.
Read the detailed description
Internet support groups (ISGs) are online communities where people come together to exchange information, emotional support and other resources. They are an important resource for patients grappling with serious medical conditions. Although participation in health-related ISGs has been associated with significant reductions in participant-reported depression, anxiety and other indicators of psychological distress, many ISG members leave too soon to benefit. In a parallel study, we are using state-of-the art machine learning and automated language analysis techniques to assess the types of interactions that keep people participating in these groups and that lead to improved psychosocial well-being and health quality of life and how these interactions develop. The clinical trial described here uses these technologies and insights from our empirical research to build, deploy, and evaluate interventions that improve the interactions in Internet health support groups.
We will develop and pilot-test interventions to encourage effective communication processes identified in our empirical research. Participants from the American Cancer Society's Cancer Support Network will access this support group using either the default interface that orders content by disease diagnosis and date or with a new interface that sometimes highlights communication content and people who match their interests and needs. We will test whether mood, satisfaction with interactions and engagement in the group increase following interventions that (a) increase participants' receipt of individualized support from others; (b) provide participants with opportunities to offer support to others; (c) facilitate participants' expression of emotions; and (d) help participants form relationships with compatible peers. In a series of small, randomized experiments, we will examine how these interventions affect participants' communication behaviors as well as short-term engagement and satisfaction with their online interactions.
- Conditions
- Depression, Stress, Anxiety
- Being tested
- Order by time and topic, Order by information relevance, Order by social relationship, Order by help giving, Order by self-disclosure
- Keywords
- social support
- Medical subject headings
- Depression, Anxiety Disorders
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Order by time and topicBehavioural
Order by information relevanceBehavioural
Order by social relationshipBehavioural
Order by help givingBehavioural
Order by self-disclosureBehavioural
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Order by time and topic | Placebo comparator | Volunteers from the American Cancer Society's Cancer Survivors' Network (CSN) will see some of their messages delivered using CSN's default ordering, which shows messages within a conversational thread ordered by time stamp. Conversational threads are nested within a broad topic-based forum, like breast cancer or colorectal cancer survivors.
Note that this is a within-participant trial, so that all participants participate in all arms of the trial. Messages, not people, are randomly assigned to condition. Receives: Behavioral: Order by time and topic |
| Order by information relevance | Active comparator | In this condition some messages will be highlighted if they match the type of content the user has previously shown interest in, by previously contributing or reading semantically similar material. Receives: Behavioral: Order by information relevance |
| Order by social relationship | Active comparator | In this condition some messages will be highlighted because they come from people the user has previously shown interest in, by previously reading their posts or communicating with them. Receives: Behavioral: Order by social relationship |
| Order by help giving | Active comparator | In this condition some messages will be highlighted because they seek help and therefore provide an opportunity for participants to provide social support to others. Receives: Behavioral: Order by help giving |
| Order by self-disclosure | Active comparator | In this condition some messages will be highlighted because in them the writer is self-disclosing, and they provide provide an opportunity for participants to self-disclose in return. Receives: Behavioral: Order by self-disclosure |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Read message (Does the user read the message they were exposed to?)
Measured: 1 day
Secondary outcomes (2)
Interaction satisfaction (Self-report measure of satisfaction 3-item survey)
Self-report measure of satisfaction with a random sample of messages. This is a 3-item survey that will be delivered as a pop-up questionnaire following a random sample of the messages users were exposed to.
Measured: 1 day
Reply to message (How long does it take the users to reply to a message they were exposed to, if they reply at all.)
How long does it take the users to reply to a message they were exposed to, if they reply at all.
Measured: 2 days
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted24 Mar 2015 (estimated)
- Study startJun 2016
- Primary completion16 Aug 2019
- Study completion16 Aug 2019
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Publications (7)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for DepressionStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Supportive care
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Single group
- Masking
- Double blind
- Who is masked
- Participant, Outcomes assessor
- Enrolment
- 6,500 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Carnegie Mellon University
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- University of Pittsburgh, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), American Cancer Society, Inc.
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
- Investigators
- Robert E Kraut, PhD, Principal investigator, Carnegie Mellon University
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT02396472
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- CarnegieMU
- Status last verified
- Aug 2019
- First submitted
- 15 Jan 2015
- Last updated
- 12 Feb 2021
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
Publications
Wang YC, Kraut RE, Levine JM. Eliciting and receiving online support: using computer-aided content analysis to examine the dynamics of online social support. J Med Internet Res. 2015 Apr 20;17(4):e99. doi: 10.2196/jmir.3558.
PubMed 25896033Vlahovic, T., Wang, Y.-C., Kraut, R. E., & Levine, J. M. (2014). Support matching and satisfaction in an online breast cancer support community. CHI'14: Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1625-1634 ). NY: ACM.
Wang, Y., Kraut, R., & Levine, J. (2012). To stay or leave? the relationship of emotional and informational support to commitment in online health support groups CSCW '12 Proceedings of the ACM 2012 conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (pp. 833-842). NY: ACM.
Yang D, Kraut R, Smith T, Mayfield E, Jurafsky D. Seekers, Providers, Welcomers, and Storytellers: Modeling Social Roles in Online Health Communities. Proc SIGCHI Conf Hum Factor Comput Syst. 2019 May;2019:344. doi: 10.1145/3290605.3300574.
PubMed 31423493Yang D, Yao Z, Seering J, Kraut R. The Channel Matters: Self-disclosure, Reciprocity and Social Support in Online Cancer Support Groups. Proc SIGCHI Conf Hum Factor Comput Syst. 2019 May;2019:31. doi: 10.1145/3290605.3300261.
PubMed 31448374Yang D, Yao Z, Kraut R. Self-disclosure and Channel Difference in Online Health Support Groups. Proc Int AAAI Conf Weblogs Soc Media. 2017 May;2017:704-707.
PubMed 31423352Yang D, Kraut R, Levine JM. Commitment of Newcomers and Old-timers to Online Health Support Communities. Proc SIGCHI Conf Hum Factor Comput Syst. 2017 May;2017:6363-6375. doi: 10.1145/3025453.3026008.
PubMed 31423492
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 12 Feb 2021. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Internet Support Groups: Identifying and Improving Pathways for Mental Health
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT02396472
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- CarnegieMU
- Conditions
- Depression, Stress, Anxiety
- Keywords
- social support
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 6,500 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- Carnegie Mellon UniversityUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- University of Pittsburgh, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), American Cancer Society, Inc.
- Study start
- Jun 2016 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 16 Aug 2019 (actual)
- Study completion
- 16 Aug 2019 (actual)
- First posted
- 24 Mar 2015 (estimated)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
People facing serious health threats increasingly use Internet health support communities to obtain informational support, emotional support and other resources. This study introduces software algorithms similar to those used by social media sites to put people in touch with helpful information and social interactions. Participants from the American Cancer Society's Cancer Support Network will have access to this online support group using the default interface that orders content by broad content category and date or with a new interface that highlights communication content and people that match users' interests and needs.
Detailed description
Internet support groups (ISGs) are online communities where people come together to exchange information, emotional support and other resources. They are an important resource for patients grappling with serious medical conditions. Although participation in health-related ISGs has been associated with significant reductions in participant-reported depression, anxiety and other indicators of psychological distress, many ISG members leave too soon to benefit. In a parallel study, we are using state-of-the art machine learning and automated language analysis techniques to assess the types of interactions that keep people participating in these groups and that lead to improved psychosocial well-being and health quality of life and how these interactions develop. The clinical trial described here uses these technologies and insights from our empirical research to build, deploy, and evaluate interventions that improve the interactions in Internet health support groups.
We will develop and pilot-test interventions to encourage effective communication processes identified in our empirical research. Participants from the American Cancer Society's Cancer Support Network will access this support group using either the default interface that orders content by disease diagnosis and date or with a new interface that sometimes highlights communication content and people who match their interests and needs. We will test whether mood, satisfaction with interactions and engagement in the group increase following interventions that (a) increase participants' receipt of individualized support from others; (b) provide participants with opportunities to offer support to others; (c) facilitate participants' expression of emotions; and (d) help participants form relationships with compatible peers. In a series of small, randomized experiments, we will examine how these interventions affect participants' communication behaviors as well as short-term engagement and satisfaction with their online interactions.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Supportive care
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Single group
- Masking
- Double blind (participant, outcomes assessor)
- Number of arms
- 5
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Order by time and topic | Placebo comparator | Behavioral: Order by time and topicVolunteers from the American Cancer Society's Cancer Survivors' Network (CSN) will see some of their messages delivered using CSN's default ordering, which shows messages within a conversational thread ordered by time stamp. Conversational threads are nested within a broad topic-based forum, like breast cancer or colorectal cancer survivors. Note that this is a within-participant trial, so that all participants participate in all arms of the trial. Messages, not people, are randomly assigned to condition. |
| Order by information relevance | Active comparator | Behavioral: Order by information relevanceIn this condition some messages will be highlighted if they match the type of content the user has previously shown interest in, by previously contributing or reading semantically similar material. |
| Order by social relationship | Active comparator | Behavioral: Order by social relationshipIn this condition some messages will be highlighted because they come from people the user has previously shown interest in, by previously reading their posts or communicating with them. |
| Order by help giving | Active comparator | Behavioral: Order by help givingIn this condition some messages will be highlighted because they seek help and therefore provide an opportunity for participants to provide social support to others. |
| Order by self-disclosure | Active comparator | Behavioral: Order by self-disclosureIn this condition some messages will be highlighted because in them the writer is self-disclosing, and they provide provide an opportunity for participants to self-disclose in return. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (1 listed)
- Is an existing or new registrant to the American Cancer Society's Cancer Support Network.
Key exclusion criteria (1 listed)
- -
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Order by time and topic | Behavioural | Order by time and topic |
| Order by information relevance | Behavioural | Order by information relevance |
| Order by social relationship | Behavioural | Order by social relationship |
| Order by help giving | Behavioural | Order by help giving |
| Order by self-disclosure | Behavioural | Order by self-disclosure |
Primary outcome
Read message (Does the user read the message they were exposed to?)
Time frame: 1 day
2 secondary outcomes
Interaction satisfaction (Self-report measure of satisfaction 3-item survey)
Time frame: 1 day
Reply to message (How long does it take the users to reply to a message they were exposed to, if they reply at all.)
Time frame: 2 days
Results and safety
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 12 Feb 2021.
- Background: PubMed 25896033Wang YC, Kraut RE, Levine JM. Eliciting and receiving online support: using computer-aided content analysis to examine the dynamics of online social support. J Med Internet Res. 2015 Apr 20;17(4):e99. doi: 10.2196/jmir.3558.
- BackgroundVlahovic, T., Wang, Y.-C., Kraut, R. E., & Levine, J. M. (2014). Support matching and satisfaction in an online breast cancer support community. CHI'14: Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1625-1634 ). NY: ACM.
- BackgroundWang, Y., Kraut, R., & Levine, J. (2012). To stay or leave? the relationship of emotional and informational support to commitment in online health support groups CSCW '12 Proceedings of the ACM 2012 conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (pp. 833-842). NY: ACM.
- Background: PubMed 31423493Yang D, Kraut R, Smith T, Mayfield E, Jurafsky D. Seekers, Providers, Welcomers, and Storytellers: Modeling Social Roles in Online Health Communities. Proc SIGCHI Conf Hum Factor Comput Syst. 2019 May;2019:344. doi: 10.1145/3290605.3300574.
- Background: PubMed 31448374Yang D, Yao Z, Seering J, Kraut R. The Channel Matters: Self-disclosure, Reciprocity and Social Support in Online Cancer Support Groups. Proc SIGCHI Conf Hum Factor Comput Syst. 2019 May;2019:31. doi: 10.1145/3290605.3300261.
- Background: PubMed 31423352Yang D, Yao Z, Kraut R. Self-disclosure and Channel Difference in Online Health Support Groups. Proc Int AAAI Conf Weblogs Soc Media. 2017 May;2017:704-707.
- Background: PubMed 31423492Yang D, Kraut R, Levine JM. Commitment of Newcomers and Old-timers to Online Health Support Communities. Proc SIGCHI Conf Hum Factor Comput Syst. 2017 May;2017:6363-6375. doi: 10.1145/3025453.3026008.
- Robert Kraut's recent articles and book chaptersLink provided by the sponsor.
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Robert E Kraut, PhD principal investigator
Carnegie Mellon University
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Order by time and topic, Order by information relevance and Order by social relationship in people with Depression and Stress, run by Carnegie Mellon University at 1 site in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 1 inclusion and 1 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 12 Feb 2021. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. Some participants in this study may receive a placebo. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Read message (Does the user read the message they were exposed to?) (time frame: 1 day). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT02396472, which also lists 7 linked publications.
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 12 Feb 2021.