FACT effectiveness in primary care: A single visit RCT for depressive symptoms

Patients with depressive symptoms are common in primary care. Brief, simple therapies are needed.

Is a focussed acceptance and commitment therapy (FACT) intervention more effective than the control group for patients with depressive symptoms in primary care at one week follow up?

Design and setting: A randomised, blinded controlled trial at a single primary care clinic in Auckland, New Zealand.

Patients presenting to their primary care practice for any reason were recruited from the clinic waiting room. Eligible patients who scored ≥2 on the PHQ-2 indicating potential depressive symptoms were randomised using a remote computer to intervention or control groups. Both groups received a psychosocial assessment using the “work-love-play” questionnaire. The intervention group received additional FACT-based behavioural activation activities. The primary outcome was the mean PHQ-8 score at one week.

57 participants entered the trial and 52 had complete outcome data after one week. Baseline PHQ-8 scores were similar for intervention (11.0) and control (11.7). After one week, the mean PHQ-8 score was significantly lower in the intervention group (7.4 vs 10.1 for control; p<0.039 one sided and 0.078 two sided). The number needed to treat to achieve a PHQ-8 score ≤6 was 4.0 on intention to treat analysis (p = 0.043 two sided). There were no significant differences observed on the secondary outcomes.

This is the first effectiveness study to examine FACT in any population. The results suggest that it is effective compared with control, at one week, for patients with depressive symptoms in primary care.