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| Name | Class |
|---|---|
| The University of Hong Kong | OTHER |
| Chinese University of Hong Kong | OTHER |
| Hong Kong Baptist University | OTHER |
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This study evaluates the effects of multi-session transcranial direct current stimulation on loneliness, mood and depressiveness in people with subthreshold depression.
Depression-prone individuals will be invited and allocated to three groups, either the personalised transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) group, the conventional tDCS group, or the sham control group. After screening and at baseline prior to the tDCS sessions, participants will complete tests and questionnaires on depression symptoms, loneliness and mood. Eligible participants will also be invited to receive functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a 3-Tesla MRI scanner. There will be a maximum of 10 sessions to be completed after the screening and baseline measures. For both personalised tDCS group and the conventional tDCS group, tDCS with 2 milliampere (mA) intensity will be delivered for 20 minutes in each session. For sham control group, the protocol will be similar, except that the stimulation only happens in the first 30 seconds in each session. Especially for participants allocated to the personalised tDCS group, the stimulation site for each individual in this group may vary, depending on their brain activations and connectivity. The anodal stimulation sites for participants allocated to the conventional tDCS group and the sham control group will be F3 within the left DLPFC. Immediately after and also 3-months after completing all the tDCS sessions, participants will be invited to complete again tests and questionnaires on depressive symptoms in addition to loneliness and mood. Eligible participants will also be invited to receive functional MRI scanning in the 3T MRI scanner again. Participants will also be prompted to self-report daily their loneliness and mood levels throughout the study.
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| Label | Type | Description | Intervention Names |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personalised tDCS group | Experimental | Participants who are assigned to the personalised group will receive anodal tDCS over a individualized stimulation site. |
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| Conventional tDCS group | Experimental | Participants who are assigned to the Conventional group will receive anodal tDCS over F3. |
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| Sham control group | Sham Comparator | Participants who are assigned to the Conventional group will receive sham tDCS. The active stimulation will be delivered for the first 30 seconds only. |
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| Name | Type | Description | Arm Group Labels | Other Names |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personalized Experimental Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) | Device | This study will deliver tDCS sessions for a maximum of ten sessions in two weeks' time. Participants will receive 20 minutes of active stimulation with a 2mA intensity over personalized brain regions based on the particular neural correlates of socio-affective processing. |
| Measure | Description | Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
| Changes in self-reported loneliness | Loneliness is assessed based on the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) loneliness scale and single item, in which higher scores indicate greater degrees of loneliness. | From baseline to after the last tDCS session; from baseline to 3 months after the last tDCS session |
| Measure | Description | Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
| Changes in depressive symptoms | Depressive symptoms are assessed based on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, a 14-item scale assessing severity of depressive and anxiety symptom (score range 0 - 21 for both subscale), with a higher scores indicating higher severity | From baseline to after the last tDCS session; from baseline to 3 months after the last tDCS session |
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Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria:
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| Name | Role | Phone | Extension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nichol ML Wong, PhD | Contact | 852-29487431 | nmlwong@eduhk.hk |
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Nichol ML Wong, PhD | Education University of Hong Kong | Principal Investigator |
| Facility | Status | City | State | ZIP | Country | Contacts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Education University of Hong Kong | Recruiting | Hong Kong | Hong Kong |
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| Sham Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) | Device | This study will deliver tDCS sessions for a maximum of ten sessions in two weeks' time. Participants assigned to the sham control group will only receive 30 seconds of active stimulation. |
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| Conventional Experimental Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) | Device | This study will deliver tDCS sessions for a maximum of ten sessions in two weeks' time. Participants will receive 20 minutes of active stimulation with a 2mA intensity with anode placed over F3. |
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| Changes in anxiety symptoms | Anxiety symptoms are assessed based on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, a 14-item scale assessing severity of depressive and anxiety symptom (score range 0 - 21 for both subscale), with a higher scores indicating higher severity | From baseline to after the last tDCS session; from baseline to 3 months after the last tDCS session |
| Changes in self-reported mood | Mood is assessed based on the Chinese Affect Scale, a 20-item 5-point Likert scale where participants rate the degree to which they currently feel the listed affects (scoring for each item: 0 = no at all; 4 = very). | From baseline to after the last tDCS session; from baseline to 3 months after the last tDCS session |
| Changes in brain activation and connectivity | Neural activities and connectivity in Ventral Attention Network, Frontoparietal Network, and Default Mode Network are assessed by functional MRI | From baseline to after the last tDCS session; from baseline to 3 months after the last tDCS session |