Screening for health problems and emotional distress in GP clinics

• Register: ISRCTN
• Last refreshed on: 17 October 2016
• Main ID: ISRCTN84692657
• Date of registration: 28/09/2007
• Prospective Registration: No
• Primary sponsor: Record Provided by the NHSTCT Register - 2007 Update - Department of Health
• Public title: Screening for health problems and emotional distress in GP clinics
• Scientific title: Screening for suicidal ideation: a randomised trial
• Date of first enrolment: 01/07/2006
• Target sample size: 429
• Recruitment status: Completed
• URL: http://isrctn.com/ISRCTN84692657
• Study type: Interventional
• Study design: Randomised controlled trial (Screening)
• Phase: Not Specified

Countries of recruitment

United Kingdom

Contacts

• Name: Priya Bajaj

Key inclusion & exclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: A. Inclusion criteria (for the randomised trial and patient survey)
1. Aged 18 years and above
2. Willingness to provide written informed consent to participate in the study
3. Have a contact telephone number where they can be contacted for a baseline and follow-up interview 7-10 days after the baseline interview

B. Inclusion Criteria (for the survey among GP and primary care workers): all GP and primary care workers in primary care clinics in north and west London.
Exclusion criteria: Exclusion criteria (for the randomised trial and patient survey):
1. Those who decline to provide consent to participate in the study
2. All those presenting to the surgery for emergency medical problems
3. All those who have insufficient command of English to complete the baseline interview. As one of the researchers is fluent in Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi and Marathi, all patients who can only speak these languages will also be included.

B. Exclusion criteria (for the survey among GP and primary care workers): all those who decline to participate

Age minimum:
Age maximum:
Gender: Both

Health Condition(s) or Problem(s) studied

Mental and Behavioural Disorders: Distress
Mental and Behavioural Disorders
Distress

Intervention(s)

The study involves a multi-method evaluation incorporating three linked components:
A. A survey of 100 GP and other primary care workers working in North and West London
B. A randomised trial examining the impact of screening for suicidal ideation on the subsequent incidence of suicidal ideation
C. A survey of the first 100 patients who participate in the trial

A. Survey of GPs and Primary Care workers
The lead GP in all GP surgeries in Brent and Westminster will be contacted and invited to help with the study. All GPs and primary care nurses working in selected GP surgeries will be invited to complete a short questionnaire in which they are asked their views about screening for suicidal ideation and behaviour among their patients. Arrangements will then be made to recruit up to 15 patients attending each of these surgeries

B. Randomised controlled trial
Patients attending the surgery with non-urgent medical problems will be approached by the GP during the consultation and be given written and verbal information about the study. Patients who agree to be contacted by a member of the research team will be provided with a copy of the Patient Information Sheet, and asked to sign a consent form and a short screening questionnaire to identify whether they have signs of depression (using the screening tool devised by Arroll et al 2003) and provide the researcher with details of how and when they can be contacted. They will also be given a sealed envelope in which they can place the completed questionnaire and the consent form. The sealed envelopes will be collected from the surgeries. Among them, all patients who describe feeling down, depressed or hopeless during the last four weeks or state that they have been bothered by little interest or pleasure in doing things, will be contacted by telephone within one week and asked to consider participating in the study.

Patients who answer no to both screening questions will be contacted to thank them for their help with t

Primary Outcome(s)

Level of thinking life is not worth living

Secondary Outcome(s)

1. Attitudes of GPs and other primary care workers to screening for suicidal ideation and factors that promote and hinder screening in primary care
2. Patients' attitudes about screening for suicidal ideation and behaviour
3. Impact of screening for depression and suicidal ideation on the incidence of feelings that life is not worth living

Secondary ID(s)

N0179192264

Source(s) of Monetary Support

Brent Primary Care Trust (UK)