Published in:
01-01-2007 | Original paper
A Telephone-Based Intervention for Depression in HIV Patients: Negative Results from a Randomized Clinical Trial
Authors:
Michael D. Stein, Debra S. Herman, Duane Bishop, Bradley J. Anderson, Elizabeth Trisvan, Rosalie Lopez, Timothy Flanigan, Ivan Miller
Published in:
AIDS and Behavior
|
Issue 1/2007
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Abstract
To determine if a telephone support behavioral intervention improves depressive symptoms among HIV positive outpatients, we enrolled 177 persons with Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores scores of ≥10. Participants were randomized to receive up to 12 scheduled psycho-educational calls over 6 months or to an assessment-only control condition. Co-enrolled informal caregivers of HIV patients received the same telephone intervention in parallel. Among the 160 (90.4%) participants who were re-interviewed at 6 months, 56% were male, and 41% were Caucasian, with a mean baseline BDI score of 22.7. Overall, participants’ mean BDI scores improved 5.3 points from baseline, but intervention group differences on depression outcomes including 50% or greater reduction in BDI scores and depression remission were not statistically significant. In the full cohort, men were significantly more likely to improve than women. We conclude that a psycho-educational telephone support intervention did not reduce depressive symptoms for HIV patients more than an assessment-only control condition.