Telehealth Family Psychoeducation for Major Depressive Disorder: A Protocol for Intervention Co-Design and...

Background/Objectives: Limited access to mental health services contributes to poorer outcomes among individuals with mental health conditions, including major depressive disorder (MDD). Nurse-led interventions serve as a strategic model of care to improve mental health service delivery and enhance patient outcomes. This project aims to co-design a nurse-led telehealth family psychoeducation (FPE) for MDD and primarily assess its feasibility by evaluating the recruitment and retention rates. Methods: A multi-methods study encompassing a co-design phase (Study Phase 1) and a feasibility study (Study Phase 2). Study Phase 1 will involve semi-structured interviews with individuals with MDD and their families or significant others, as well as surveys and focus groups with mental health professionals to develop telehealth FPE for MDD. Study Phase 2 will evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention, which comprises three biweekly FPE sessions and a six-week follow-up with patient-family dyads using a single-group pre-post design. The primary outcomes comprise the feasibility and acceptability of intervention. Exploratory secondary outcomes include personal recovery, medication necessity beliefs and concerns, antidepressant adherence, and depression severity, measured at baseline, immediately post-intervention, and at 6-week follow-up using validated measures. Data analysis will primarily involve descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. The TIDieR checklist will be followed in reporting the intervention development. Conclusions: Findings from the proposed study will inform the design and protocol for a future randomised trial of telehealth FPE for improving clinical and non-clinical outcomes in MDD. The feasibility study was prospectively registered with the ClinicalTrial.gov on 8 June 2025 (NCT07014241).