An interventional study of Empower@Home: An online cognitive-behavioral therapy self-care program for geriatric depression and Telephone friendly visits in Depression, sponsored by University of Michigan. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 50 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-11-21.
Sponsored by University of Michigan · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
This study is a randomized Type I hybrid effectiveness-implementation trial aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of Empower@Home, an internet-delivered cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) program supported by social service providers, in comparison to enhanced usual care for depression in older adults with ambulatory disabilities. A total of 64 participants with ambulatory disabilities will be randomly assigned to either the treatment group (Empower@Home) or the control group (enhanced usual care) in a 1:1 allocation ratio.
This project addresses the following research questions:
Does the intervention affect individuals' lives in the following expected areas?
This study is a randomized Type I hybrid effectiveness-implementation trial designed to evaluate the clinical effectiveness and implementation process of Empower@Home, an internet-delivered cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) program tailored for homebound older adults with depressive symptoms. The trial compares Empower@Home, supported by aging service providers, to an enhanced usual care condition. The study involves 64 participants with ambulatory disabilities who will be randomly assigned to either the treatment or control group.
Rationale: Depression is a significant public health concern among homebound older adults, with approximately 50% experiencing clinically significant depressive symptoms and 14% facing major depression-rates significantly higher than those of non-homebound counterparts. Homebound older adults often encounter barriers to accessing traditional mental health services, including physical disabilities, socioeconomic disadvantages, and racial or ethnic minority status. Empower@Home addresses these challenges by leveraging the existing workforce of aging service providers to support digital mental health interventions (DMHIs).
Intervention: Empower@Home is a nine-session, computerized CBT program enhanced with entertainment elements to increase engagement. The program is specifically designed for homebound older adults, incorporating age-relevant examples and a simplified user interface. It includes features such as a character-driven storyline, short videos, and interactive exercises to facilitate learning and engagement. The program is supported by lay coaches-aging service providers trained to offer weekly support calls, enhancing program adherence and personalization.
This project addresses the following research questions:
Does the intervention affect individuals' lives in the following expected areas?
Study Design: Participants will be recruited from an aging service agencies that serve as implementation sites. Participants will undergo remote assessments via phone at baseline, post-intervention, and a follow-up at 24 weeks.
Expected Outcomes: The study is expected to demonstrate that Empower@Home, when supported by aging service providers, is more effective than usual care and friendly calls in reducing depressive symptoms and improving social engagement and activities participation. Additionally, the findings will provide valuable insights into the barriers and facilitators to implementing DMHIs in community settings, offering guidance for future scalability and sustainability of such interventions.
Innovation: Empower@Home integrates user-centered design principles, community participatory research, and innovative engagement strategies, such as character-driven storytelling, to enhance user experience and therapeutic outcomes. The use of aging service providers as lay coaches not only addresses the shortage of mental health professionals but also aligns with the existing infrastructure of aging services, making the program highly scalable and sustainable.
This trial will contribute significantly to the growing body of evidence on the effectiveness of DMHIs in real-world settings and inform strategies for broader implementation within community-based aging and disability services.
8,577 studies on the registry are indexed under Depression; 1,720 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 64 is below the median of 81 across 7,063 interventional studies indexed under Depression.
Browse Depression studies →University of Michigan is the lead sponsor of 1,506 studies on the registry; 192 are open to participants now.
Of its 169 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 133 (79%) have results posted.
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Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Participants will be provided with access to a 9-session online program called Empower@Home, a self-help intervention based on cognitive behavioral therapy principles. The intervention has three components: 9 interactive self-paced online sessions, printed workbook that goes along the online sessions for exercises and homework, and telephone coaching by a trained staff from a social service agency serving older adults. Participants will have up to 12 weeks to try to complete the program with the support of a trained coach.
Behavioral: Empower@Home: An online cognitive-behavioral therapy self-care program for geriatric depression
Participants will receive enhanced care as usual, including care as usual from their social service provider and a psycho-educational handout. In addition, they will receive telephone friendly calls from a research staff every other week to mimic the human interactions provided by coaches in the experimental group.
Other: Telephone friendly visits
Empower@Home is an online self-help intervention based on cognitive behavioral therapy principles designed to treat depressive symptoms in older adults. The intervention has three components: 9 interactive self-paced online sessions, printed workbook that goes along the online sessions for exercises and homework, and telephone coaching by a trained staff from a social service agency serving older adults. The online sessions contain entertainment elements in the form of a character-driven story of a homebound older adults, video-based psycho-educational content, voice-over instructions, interactive exercises, and weekly home practice assignments.
Participants in the waitlist control group will receive attention control through biweekly telephone-friendly visitors. Trained project staff will call participants to provide companionship, emotional support, and a friendly conversation. In addition, the callers will conduct a biweekly assessment of depressive symptoms using the patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9), to mirror the biweekly in-app PHQ-9 assessments with the experimental group.
Change in Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9)
Change in 9 item standardized measures of depressive symptom severity. PHQ-9 score ranges from 0 to 27, with a higher score indicating more severe symptoms.
Time frame: Change from Baseline to follow-up assessments at 12 and 24 weeks
Change in Social Engagement and Activities Questionnaire (SEAQ)
Change in 10 item standardized measures of participation in social activities and community participation. The total scores range from 0 to 50, and a higher score suggesting a higher level of participation.
Time frame: Change from Baseline to follow-up assessments at 12 and 24 weeks
Change in Duke Social Support Index (DSSI)-10
Change in 10 item standardized measure for social interaction and satisfaction with social support. Total score ranges from 10 to 30, higher score means higher social support.
Time frame: Change from Baseline to follow-up assessments at 12 and 24 weeks
PDFs hosted by the registry, ClinicalTrials.gov.
Plan to share: Yes — Individual participant data (IPD) will be shared through ICPSR, in compliance with NIDILRR funding requirements. The data will be available to qualified researchers following appropriate data use agreements. All quantitatively collected, non-identifying IPD, along with data dictionaries will be deposited to ICPSR.
Supporting information: Informed consent form
Time frame: Within one year of study conclusion
Access criteria: Apply through ICPSR
Data sharing details ↗ · www.icpsr.umich.edu
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