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Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Mental Health

Date Submitted: Jul 26, 2018
Open Peer Review Period: Jul 29, 2018 - Sep 23, 2018
Date Accepted: Jan 23, 2019
(closed for review but you can still tweet)

The final, peer-reviewed published version of this preprint can be found here:

Use of a Mobile Phone App to Treat Depression Comorbid With Hypertension or Diabetes: A Pilot Study in Brazil and Peru

Menezes P, Quayle J, Garcia Claro H, da Silva S, Brandt LR, Diez-Canseco F, Miranda JJ, Price LN, Mohr DC, Araya R

Use of a Mobile Phone App to Treat Depression Comorbid With Hypertension or Diabetes: A Pilot Study in Brazil and Peru

JMIR Ment Health 2019;6(4):e11698

DOI: 10.2196/11698

PMID: 31025949

PMCID: 6658291

Use of smartphone application to treat comorbidity depression with hypertension or diabetes I: a pilot study in Brazil and Peru

  • Paulo Menezes; 
  • Julieta Quayle; 
  • Heloísa Garcia Claro; 
  • Simone da Silva; 
  • Lena R. Brandt; 
  • Francisco Diez-Canseco; 
  • J. Jaime Miranda; 
  • LeShawndra N. Price; 
  • David C. Mohr; 
  • Ricardo Araya

ABSTRACT

Background:

Depression is underdiagnosed and undertreated in primary health care. When associated with chronic physical disorders, it worsens outcomes. There is a clear gap in the treatment of depression in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where specialists and funds are scarce. Interventions supported by m-health technologies might help to reduce this gap. Mobile phones are widely used in LMICs offering potentially feasible and affordable alternatives for the management of depression among individuals with chronic disorders.

Objective:

To explore the potential effectiveness of a m-health intervention to help people with depressive symptoms and comorbid hypertension and/or diabetes and to explore the feasibility of conducting large randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

Methods:

Emotional Control (CONEMO) is a low-intensity psychoeducational 6-week intervention delivered via mobile phones assisted by a nurse for reducing depressive symptoms among individuals with diabetes and/or hypertension. CONEMO was tested in three pilot studies, one in São Paulo, Brazil, and two in Lima, Peru. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the PHQ-9 at enrollment and at six-week follow up.

Results:

The three pilot studies included a total of 66 people. Most participants were female between 41 and 60 years old. There was a reduction in depressive symptoms as measured by PHQ-9 in all pilot studies. 38/66 participants reached treatment success rate (PHQ9<10): 13 from São Paulo, 13 from first Lima pilot and 12 from second Lima pilot study. The intervention, the app and the support offered by nurse and nurse assistants were well received by participants in both settings.

Conclusions:

The intervention is feasible in both settings. Clinical data suggest that CONEMO might help to decrease participants’ depressive symptoms. The findings also indicate that it is possible to conduct RCTs in these settings.


 Citation

Please cite as:

Menezes P, Quayle J, Garcia Claro H, da Silva S, Brandt LR, Diez-Canseco F, Miranda JJ, Price LN, Mohr DC, Araya R

Use of a Mobile Phone App to Treat Depression Comorbid With Hypertension or Diabetes: A Pilot Study in Brazil and Peru

JMIR Ment Health 2019;6(4):e11698

DOI: 10.2196/11698

PMID: 31025949

PMCID: 6658291

Per the author's request the PDF is not available.

© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.