A pilot randomized controlled trial of a stepped care intervention package for depression in primary care in Nigeria

Background Depression is common in primary care and is often unrecognized and untreated. Studies are needed to demonstrate the feasibility of implementing evidence-based depression care provided by primary health care workers (PHCWs) in sub-Saharan Africa. We carried out a pilot two-parallel arm cl...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Oladeji, Ayodele, Kola, Lola, Abiona, Taiwo, Montgomery, Alan A.
Format: Article
Published: BioMed Central 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44856/
_version_ 1848797014536486912
author Oladeji, Ayodele
Kola, Lola
Abiona, Taiwo
Montgomery, Alan A.
author_facet Oladeji, Ayodele
Kola, Lola
Abiona, Taiwo
Montgomery, Alan A.
author_sort Oladeji, Ayodele
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Background Depression is common in primary care and is often unrecognized and untreated. Studies are needed to demonstrate the feasibility of implementing evidence-based depression care provided by primary health care workers (PHCWs) in sub-Saharan Africa. We carried out a pilot two-parallel arm cluster randomized controlled trial of a package of care for depression in primary care. Methods Six primary health care centers (PHCC) in two Local Government Areas of Oyo State, South West Nigeria were randomized into 3 intervention and 3 control clinics. Three PHCWs were selected for training from each of the participating clinics. The PHCWs from the intervention clinics were trained to deliver a manualized multicomponent stepped care intervention package for depression consisting of psychoeducation, activity scheduling, problem solving treatment and medication for severe depression. Providers from the control clinics delivered care as usual, enhanced by a refresher training on depression diagnosis and management. Outcome measures Patient’s Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), WHO quality of Life instrument (WHOQOL-Bref) and the WHO disability assessment schedule (WHODAS) were administered in the participants’ home at baseline, 3 and 6 months. Results About 98% of the consecutive attendees to the clinics agreed to have the screening interview. Of those screened, 284 (22.7%) were positive (PHQ-9 score ≥ 8) and 234 gave consent for inclusion in the study: 165 from intervention and 69 from control clinics. The rates of eligible and consenting participants were similar in the control and intervention arms. In all 85.9% (92.8% in intervention and 83% in control) of the participants were successfully administered outcome assessments at 6 months. The PHCWs had little difficulty in delivering the intervention package. At 6 months follow up, depression symptoms had improved in 73.0% from the intervention arm compared to 51.6% control. Compared to the mean scores at baseline, there was improvement in the mean scores on all outcome measures in both arms at six months. Conclusion The results provide support for the feasibility of conducting a fully-powered randomized study in this setting and suggest that the instruments used may have the potential to detect differences between the arms.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T19:57:08Z
format Article
id nottingham-44856
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T19:57:08Z
publishDate 2015
publisher BioMed Central
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-448562020-05-04T17:05:29Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44856/ A pilot randomized controlled trial of a stepped care intervention package for depression in primary care in Nigeria Oladeji, Ayodele Kola, Lola Abiona, Taiwo Montgomery, Alan A. Background Depression is common in primary care and is often unrecognized and untreated. Studies are needed to demonstrate the feasibility of implementing evidence-based depression care provided by primary health care workers (PHCWs) in sub-Saharan Africa. We carried out a pilot two-parallel arm cluster randomized controlled trial of a package of care for depression in primary care. Methods Six primary health care centers (PHCC) in two Local Government Areas of Oyo State, South West Nigeria were randomized into 3 intervention and 3 control clinics. Three PHCWs were selected for training from each of the participating clinics. The PHCWs from the intervention clinics were trained to deliver a manualized multicomponent stepped care intervention package for depression consisting of psychoeducation, activity scheduling, problem solving treatment and medication for severe depression. Providers from the control clinics delivered care as usual, enhanced by a refresher training on depression diagnosis and management. Outcome measures Patient’s Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), WHO quality of Life instrument (WHOQOL-Bref) and the WHO disability assessment schedule (WHODAS) were administered in the participants’ home at baseline, 3 and 6 months. Results About 98% of the consecutive attendees to the clinics agreed to have the screening interview. Of those screened, 284 (22.7%) were positive (PHQ-9 score ≥ 8) and 234 gave consent for inclusion in the study: 165 from intervention and 69 from control clinics. The rates of eligible and consenting participants were similar in the control and intervention arms. In all 85.9% (92.8% in intervention and 83% in control) of the participants were successfully administered outcome assessments at 6 months. The PHCWs had little difficulty in delivering the intervention package. At 6 months follow up, depression symptoms had improved in 73.0% from the intervention arm compared to 51.6% control. Compared to the mean scores at baseline, there was improvement in the mean scores on all outcome measures in both arms at six months. Conclusion The results provide support for the feasibility of conducting a fully-powered randomized study in this setting and suggest that the instruments used may have the potential to detect differences between the arms. BioMed Central 2015-05-01 Article PeerReviewed Oladeji, Ayodele, Kola, Lola, Abiona, Taiwo and Montgomery, Alan A. (2015) A pilot randomized controlled trial of a stepped care intervention package for depression in primary care in Nigeria. BMC Psychiatry, 15 (96). pp. 1-11. ISSN 1471-244X Depression Primary care Clinical trial Stepped care intervention https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-015-0483-0 doi:10.1186/s12888-015-0483-0 doi:10.1186/s12888-015-0483-0
spellingShingle Depression
Primary care
Clinical trial
Stepped care intervention
Oladeji, Ayodele
Kola, Lola
Abiona, Taiwo
Montgomery, Alan A.
A pilot randomized controlled trial of a stepped care intervention package for depression in primary care in Nigeria
title A pilot randomized controlled trial of a stepped care intervention package for depression in primary care in Nigeria
title_full A pilot randomized controlled trial of a stepped care intervention package for depression in primary care in Nigeria
title_fullStr A pilot randomized controlled trial of a stepped care intervention package for depression in primary care in Nigeria
title_full_unstemmed A pilot randomized controlled trial of a stepped care intervention package for depression in primary care in Nigeria
title_short A pilot randomized controlled trial of a stepped care intervention package for depression in primary care in Nigeria
title_sort pilot randomized controlled trial of a stepped care intervention package for depression in primary care in nigeria
topic Depression
Primary care
Clinical trial
Stepped care intervention
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44856/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44856/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44856/