ATTEND: Adolescents and carers using mindfulness Therapy To END depression. WP3 RCT & WP4 Mechanisms 

( CPMS: 62119, IRAS:  341587)

UPDATED - 27/01/2025

Suffering from depression or anxiety as a teenager is hard and can have a big impact on social and family relationships, and on education and employment. Teenagers who still have symptoms after usual or currently available treatment for depression or anxiety, or who relapse, need more treatment options.

We have developed a new treatment, Mindfulness for Adolescents and Carers (MAC). MAC is a Mindfulness-based Cognitive-Therapy teaching young people skills to help them recognise and respond to early warning signs of depression or anxiety. We want to see if MAC can support 15–18-year-olds who have recurrent depression or anxiety to recover and stay well for longer.

Depression or anxiety often runs in families, so we are asking parents/carers to take part as well, to see if taking part in MAC can be helpful for parents’/carer’s own mental health as well as supporting their child’s.

MAC treatment sessions are group-based (either in-person or online), weekly for 8 weeks. We don’t know if MAC is better than the current treatments available. Therefore, to compare them, the young person will either be assigned to:

Group 1: will take part in a MAC group, while continuing with their current treatment, OR

Group 2: will continue with their current treatment and not take part in a MAC group.

Parents/carers of those assigned to Group 1 are invited to attend sessions with other parents/carers, to work through similar materials.

All young people and parents/carers will be asked to fill out some questionnaires online for 12 months, to measure any changes in how they think and feel. This will help us compare MAC’s effects to the current treatments available.

INCLUSION CRITERIA:

Young People Inclusion

• Aged 15 to 18 years old at the time of recruitment.

• Completed at least one evidence-based treatment for anxiety or depression.

• Primary problem of unresolved or relapsed depression or anxiety: not recovered sufficiently to be discharged, or who have subsequently relapsed and been re-referred for treatment of depression or anxiety. 

• Readiness to engage in a group-based mindfulness-based intervention, which would include the ability to focus and participate in a group for up to 1 hour 45 minutes; capacity to think flexibly and reflect on one's own experiences; and the willingness to practice everyday mindfulness and learn formal meditation for up to 15 minutes per day. Carer Inclusion

• A carer of a young person who has consented to take part in the study.

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

Young People Exclusion 

• Current active management required for suicidal risk, self-harm or eating disorder. 

• Current psychosis or PTSD. Carer Exclusion 

• A carer of a young person who has not consented to take part in the study.

Study Resources

Access for the SystmOne and EMIS study resources can be requested below.

For further guidance on using the resources, please refer to the guidance documents and further useful information on the PRIDES page.

The searches have been created with the study specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. 

If you require any further information or help, please contact the IT Specialists:

Jodie Button – jodie.button@nihr.ac.uk

James Baslington – james.baslington@nhs.net

Disclaimer:

Please note the resources provided are designed to assist with the identification of potentially suitable patients and to appropriately code these patients if required.

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