Debt Counselling for Depression in Primary Care: an adaptive randomised controlled pilot trial (DeCoDer study)

Depression is estimated to affect 5-19% of adults at any one time, is a common presentation to primary care and, as part of the mild to moderate mental health problems category, is a major contribution to absenteeism. It is estimated that 16% of the UK population is struggling with debt, and debt is particularly common among people with depression. The pilot trial reported here was the first phase of an adaptive trial funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) programme to investigate the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of specialist debt counselling in primary care over usual care for adults with depression and debt. As the study failed to reach its recruitment target, it was terminated early during the internal pilot phase and, therefore, did not progress to the main trial. This report describes the study rationale, methods and findings of the pilot phase of this study, and implications for future research in this area.