Adaptation of Memory Specificity Training (MeST) to routine clinical practices in Flanders
| ISRCTN | ISRCTN10144349 |
|---|---|
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN10144349 |
| Secondary identifying numbers | G 2014 12 113 |
- Submission date
- 21/01/2019
- Registration date
- 22/01/2019
- Last edited
- 27/02/2023
- Recruitment status
- No longer recruiting
- Overall study status
- Completed
- Condition category
- Other
Plain English Summary
Background and study aims
Accumulating evidence shows that a cognitive factor associated with a worsening of depressive symptoms amongst people with and without diagnoses of depression – reduced Autobiographical Memory (rAMS) – can be ameliorated by a group cognitive training protocol referred to as Memory Specificity Training (MeST). When transporting interventions such as MeST from research to routine clinical practices (RCPs), modifications are inevitable, with potentially a decrease in effectiveness, so called voltage drop. We examined the transportability of MeST to RCPs as an add-on to treatment as usual with depressed in- and out- patients.
Who can participate?
Adult people who are currently being treated in the participating Routine Clinical Practices, and who show reduced autobiographical memory specificity as assessed by the Autobiographical Memory Test.
What does the study involve?
The study involves the group training Memory Specificity Training. In this training, people train in getting better at retrieving personal memories and retrieving more details.
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
Participating in this study might impact the cognitive vulnerabiltiy factor, which can have a concomitant effect on depressive symptoms and related processes as rumination. No side effects or risks are known. Retrieving unpleasant autobiographical memories and noticing that people lack this skill might be experienced as inconvenient.
Where is the study run from?
This study is run from the KU Leuven. Routine Clinical Settings in Flanders can participate after which local clinicians are trained so that MeST can be offered to patients as a part of the standard routine care, after adapting MeST.
When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
The study runs from 1/1/2015 to 30/12/2018.
Who is funding the study?
The study is funded by the KU Leuven Program Funding Grant PF/10/005.
Who is the main contact?
Kris Martens
kris.martens@kuleuven.be
Contact information
Public
Tiensestraat 102 - box 3712
Leuven
3000
Belgium
 ORCID ID |
0000-0002-8162-4979 |
|---|---|
| Phone | 0032486911758 |
| kris.martens@kuleuven.be |
Study information
| Study design | Multicentre, non-randomsied, interventional. The intervention was included in the routine care, and thus no allocation, masking, control or specific assignment was used. |
|---|---|
| Primary study design | Interventional |
| Secondary study design | Non randomised study |
| Study setting(s) | Hospital |
| Study type | Treatment |
| Participant information sheet | No participant information sheet available. |
| Scientific title | Remediating reduced autobiographical memory specificity in Routine Clinical Practices in Flanders by adaptation and implementation of Memory Specificity Training: an uncontrolled implementation study. |
| Study acronym | MeSTRCP |
| Study hypothesis | Adapting the Memory Specificity Training (MeST) and training clinicians in routine clinical practices in delivering MeST will result in an increase in the skill of retrieving specific autobiographical memory. |
| Ethics approval(s) | Social and Societal Ethics Committee of the University of Leuven, 18/12/2014, ref. G 2014 12 113. |
| Condition | Overgeneral autobiographical memory |
| Intervention | A group training protocol called Memory Specificity Training. Session 1 of MeST focuses on psycho-education regarding memory problems linked to depression. Three main memory problems are described: reduced levels of concentration, a bias in retrieving mainly negative memories and rAMS. It is explained to participants, within a group setting, that only rAMS can be considered as a risk factor for depression and that training can remediate rAMS to some extent. After this psycho-education, two specificity exercises are conducted within the group. Exercises consist of a presented cue word after which participants are encouraged to retrieve a specific memory and as many details as possible. After each participant writes down their memory, participants help each other with becoming more specific by asking for more details. The session ends by introducing a homework assignment: to re-read the psycho-education, to write down one specific memory for each of ten (positive & neutral) words and to write down one memory of the day at the end of each day. In Session 2, after briefly repeating the psycho-education, homework assignments are discussed. Next, some exercises are conducted together within the group wherein participants need to retrieve two memories for one cue word. Homework assignments after this session consist of writing down two memories for each of ten (neutral & positive) cue words and writing down two memories of the day each day. Session 3 has a similar structure but the exercises now offer word pairs of two opposing valences (e.g. skilful and clumsy). The homework assignment contains two memories for each of ten words (neutral, positive but also negative) and writing down two memories of the day each day. In the fourth and last session, after evaluating the homework assignments, a psycho-education on the STOP-model is given. The aim here is that participants learn to notice when they are overgeneralizing by: signalling to themselves when they are thinking at an overgeneral level; trying to think back to the specific event that prompted the overgeneral thinking; to obtain and generate specific details about that event as much as possible; and, as a last step, try to find an opposite example. After this, some more exercises with opposing cue words are conducted |
| Intervention type | Other |
| Primary outcome measure | The ability to retrieve specific autobiographical memories was measured using the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) pre-intervention and post-intervention. |
| Secondary outcome measures | Depressive symptoms were assessed pre- and post-intervention using questionnaires chosen by the practitioners such as the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) and the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II). |
| Overall study start date | 01/09/2014 |
| Overall study end date | 30/12/2018 |
Eligibility
| Participant type(s) | Patient |
|---|---|
| Age group | Adult |
| Lower age limit | 18 Years |
| Sex | Both |
| Target number of participants | 100 |
| Participant inclusion criteria | 1. Overgeneral autobiographical memory, as assessed with the Autobiographical memory test 2. Aged 18 years or older. |
| Participant exclusion criteria | N/A |
| Recruitment start date | 01/01/2015 |
| Recruitment end date | 30/12/2018 |
Locations
Countries of recruitment
- Belgium
Study participating centres
3000
Belgium
Leuven
3000
Belgium
Dufel
2570
Belgium
Heusden-Zolder
3550
Belgium
Hasselt
3500
Belgium
Aalst
9300
Belgium
Sint-Truiden
3800
Belgium
Sponsor information
University/education
Oude Markt 13 - bus 5500
Leuven
3000
Belgium
| Website | https://www.kuleuven.be/english/research/integrity/smec#procedure |
|---|---|
"ROR" |
https://ror.org/05f950310 |
Funders
Funder type
University/education
No information available
Results and Publications
| Intention to publish date | 01/03/2019 |
|---|---|
| Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to share | Yes |
| IPD sharing plan summary | Available on request |
| Publication and dissemination plan | The manuscript is accepted in BMC Psychology but regardless of the approval we obtained at the Social and Societal Ethics Committee of the University of Leuven, it needed to be registered as a clinical trial. |
| IPD sharing plan | The datasets generated during and analysed during the current study will be available upon request from Kris Martens (kris.martens@kuleuven.be). Individual de-identified participant data (IPD) will be available from 1/2019 on and will be available to other researchers upon request. Informed consent from participants was obtained. The datasets per setting and analyses of pre-post differences will be included in subsequent results publication. |
Study outputs
| Output type | Details | Date created | Date added | Peer reviewed? | Patient-facing? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Results article | results | 01/02/2019 | Yes | No | |
| Dataset | 01/02/2019 | 27/02/2023 | No | No |
Editorial Notes
27/02/2023: Dataset added.
04/02/2019: Publication reference added.
