Taking Part

What happens if I am interested in taking part?

First check that you are eligible then contact us either directly or through your GP. A member of the team will contact you for an initial brief telephone conversation to help decide if you are likely to be eligible and would like to come in for an initial assessment.   

Initial Assessment: This interview will last about 2.5 hours. We will ask you a standard set of questions about your present mood and the history of your depression to include any suicidal thoughts you may have experienced. We will ask for background information about your past experiences, including traumatic events in the past and during childhood, any drugs or medicines you may be taking at the moment and so on. You will also be asked to complete some standard questionnaires. If after this session you are still interested in the research and the psychologist thinks the treatment is likely to be suitable for you, you will be invited to a second research assessment which will take about 2 hours. This will be arranged at a time convenient for you, and will include more questionnaires and short paper and pencil activities.

Following these assessments, providing you are eligible and consent to coming onto the trial you will be randomly allocated to one of two treatment groups or a wait for treatment group. Both the treatment groups last 8 weeks and following this period you will be invited back for five further assessments over the next 15 months. Research assessments will be audio-taped to check they are being carried out consistently and a sample will be checked for accuracy of assessments by an independent psychiatrist. You must also complete a short weekly questionnaire during the initial 8 week study treatment period.

If you are allocated to immediate treatment you will be asked to attend an initial meeting with a teacher, followed by eight weekly sessions, each of about two hours, and to complete activities between the classes at home. The class teacher will be videotaped each week to check that the treatments are being delivered effectively to everyone. If you are in the wait for treatment group you will be asked to speak to a researcher about your role in the study. It is important that you think carefully about whether or not you are willing to make the considerable commitment of time needed for both treatment and research assessments. In total you will need to attend up to 18 times over the research period and because of this, the research trial is most suitable for people who live within one hours travelling time of Bangor.

Please note that:

• You can decide to stop any interview at any point.
  
• You need not answer questions that you do not wish to.
  
• Everything you tell us will be absolutely confidential.
  
• Your name will be removed from the information and it will not be possible to identify anyone from our reports on the study.
  
  

Expenses and payments: Modest expenses are available. For each research assessment attended £5 will be given plus a contribution to travel expenses. For the treatment sessions, a contribution to travel expenses will be paid.
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