Intervention for Improving Psychological Distress in Dialysis

Intervention for Improving Psychological Distress in Dialysis (iDiD) Feasibility Two Arm Randomised Controlled Trial: Online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) Intervention With Therapist Support vs Online CBT Intervention Alone (no Therapist Support)

To explore whether it is feasible to recruit and retain haemodialysis patients into a randomised controlled trial of online cognitive-behavioural therapy to manage distress

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Aged 18 years or over and receive hospital haemodialysis three-times weekly
2. Presence of mild to moderately severe depressive symptoms (based on PHQ-9 scores of 5 to 19 in range; a self-report measure of depression) and/or presence of mild to moderate anxiety symptoms (based on GAD-7 scores of 5-14)
3. Speak English sufficiently well to engage with screening tools
4. Have a basic understanding of how to use the Internet and an email address
5. Have a minimum dialysis vintage of ≥3 months (electronic patient record)

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Hospitalised at the time of assessment or within 1 month prior to the assessment
2. Currently receiving active treatment for depression and/or anxiety. We consider active treatment to be any current psychological treatments (talking therapies) or receipt of a new anti-depressant and/or anti-anxiety medication. A medication is considered new if it is commenced three months prior to the completion of the depression and anxiety screening questionnaire
3. Severe mental health disorders, for example, psychosis, bi-polar disorder
4. Active suicidal thoughts-any participant that scores greater than one on the depression PHQ-9 item "Thoughts that you would be better off dead, or of hurting yourself" will be excluded from the study.
5. Evidence of addiction to alcohol or drugs