Guided self-help on the Internet for Turkish migrants with depression: the design of a randomized controlled trial.
BACKGROUND
The Turkish population living in The Netherlands has a high prevalence of psychological complaints and has a high threshold for seeking professional help for these problems. Seeking help through the Internet can overcome these barriers. This project aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a guided self-help problem-solving intervention for depressed Turkish migrants that is culturally adapted and web-based.


METHODS
This study is a randomized controlled trial with two arms: an experimental condition group and a wait list control group. The experimental condition obtains direct access to the guided web-based self-help intervention, which is based on Problem Solving Treatment (PST) and takes 6 weeks to complete. Turkish adults with mild to moderate depressive symptoms will be recruited from the general population and the participants can choose between a Turkish and a Dutch version. The primary outcome measure is the reduction of depressive symptoms, the secondary outcome measures are somatic symptoms, anxiety, acculturation, quality of life and satisfaction. Participants are assessed at baseline, post-test (6 weeks), and 4 months after baseline. Analysis will be conducted on the intention-to-treat sample.


CONCLUSIONS
This study evaluates the effectiveness of a guided problem-solving intervention for Turkish adults living in The Netherlands that is culturally adapted and web-based.


BACKGROUND
Nederlands Trial Register: NTR2303.
Department of Clinical Psychology, VU University, van der Boechorstraat 1, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands. b.unlu@psy.vu.nl
Burçin
B
Unlü
Heleen
H
Riper
Annemieke
A
van Straten
Pim
P
Cuijpers
D000328:Adult; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D003863:Depression / Q000208:ethnology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D057226:Information Seeking Behavior; D020407:Internet; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012107:Research Design; D012648:Self Care; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013997:Time Factors; D014171:Transients and Migrants / Q000523:psychology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014421:Turkey / Q000208:ethnology