Telephone-delivered, interpersonal psychotherapy for HIV-infected rural persons with depression: a pilot trial. A randomized clinical trial study on the effectiveness of a tele-analogy-based problem-solving programme for people with acquired brain injury (ABI).
Rural areas account for approximately 6% of AIDS cases in the United States. Many HIV-infected persons in rural areas live with elevated levels of psychiatric distress, suicidal ideation, and loneliness. This pilot study tested whether brief interpersonal psychotherapy delivered via telephone could reduce psychiatric distress among persons living with HIV-AIDS in rural areas in the United States.
                Seventy-nine participants were assigned randomly to a usual care control condition or to a six-session, telephone-delivered, interpersonal psychotherapy intervention (hereafter referred to as the teletherapy group); participants in the teletherapy group continued to receive standard services available to them in the community. Participants completed self-administered surveys pre- and postintervention that assessed depressive and psychiatric symptoms, perceptions of loneliness, and social support.
                Participants in the teletherapy group evidenced greater reductions in depressive symptoms and in overall levels of psychiatric distress, compared with those in the control group. Nearly one-third of teletherapy participants reported clinically meaningful reductions in psychiatric distress from pre- to postintervention.
                The telephone-delivered interpersonal therapy intervention showed potential to reduce depressive and psychiatric symptoms among HIV-infected persons in rural areas. On the basis of these encouraging findings, additional research examining this intervention with this clinical population is warranted. The present study reports the results of 103 persons with acquired brain injury who were randomly assigned to one of three 20-session analogy problem-solving skill training groups, namely: online training (through computer video conferencing with interactive software); computer-assisted training (through interactive patient-directed software); therapist administered training (face-to-face therapist guided training activities); and a "no-treatment" control group.
                Pre- and post-test quasi-experimental design.
                Individuals' problem-solving skills and self-efficacy in all four groups were assessed over a four-week period. Overall, the training methods were found to be effective in improving problem solving skills regardless of the modes of delivery (except in the case of the control group). The continuous "human touch" characteristics of the therapist-administered group showed significant better improvements in self-efficacy in problem-solving.
                The statistically significantly improvement in problem solving skills in the online-group suggests that this approach could effectively improve cognitive functions of person with ABI and yield training outcomes comparable to other modes of delivery such as the face-to-face training. The conceptualization and applicability of tele-cognitive rehabilitation, its implications for persons with ABI, and future studies in this research area are also discussed.
Using ICT to deliver psychoeducational interventions has no clear effects compared with standard care, other methods of delivering psychoeducation and support, or both. Researchers used a variety of methods of delivery and outcomes, and studies were few and underpowered. ICT remains a promising method of delivering psychoeducation; the equivocal findings of this review should not postpone high-quality research in this area.