Depression Trial

The dataset named ‘ECTdepression.sav’ contains the data from a RCT assessing the effect of ECT on depression scores and insomnia.

To be eligible to enter the study patients had to fulfill examination criteria for depression with retardation. Patients were randomly assigned to one of three groups; one treatment group received real ECT therapy, one group received a simulated ECT therapy and the 3rd received no treatment. The trial was double blind.

The Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDR) was used to assess the participants at baseline and follow-up readings were taken at 4 and 28 weeks. A higher score on the HDR scale indicates a worse condition. The HDR levels between treatment groups were not significantly different at baseline.

The researchers also measured the number of nights of troubled sleep in the previous week at baseline and after 4 weeks of treatment.

Seventy eight patients fulfilled the examination criteria, of these 26 were allocated to simulated ECT, 30 to real ECT and 22 were allocated to no treatment. Of these patients 14 were considered as treatment failures (due to not receiving the full treatment schedule).

The SPSS dataset contains 9 variables as follows:

Variable Description
obs Observation
group Treatment group: 0=simulated ECT, 1=real ECT, 2=no treatment
hdr00 HDR reading at baseline
hdr04 HDR reading at 4 weeks
hdr28 HDR reading at 28 weeks
Insom00 No of sleep disturbed nights in week prior to study
Insom05 No of sleepless nights in week following 4th week of treatment
sf Treatment success or failure: 0=failure, 1= success

Analysis

1. Assess the effect of ECT on the number of sleep disturbed nights pre and post treatment for all groups combined.

2. Is there a difference in the HDR readings at four weeks between the Real ECT group, the Simulated ECT group and those who received no treatment?

3. Is there a difference in the success rates between the real ECT group and the simulated ECT group?

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You should present your analysis (descriptive and inferential statistics), findings and conclusions as a 1,500 word report including the following:

• Hypotheses for each question
• Justification of the use of any statistical tests & their assumptions
• Analysis of the data using the appropriate tests
• Presentation and interpretation of findings in an appropriate manner using and graphs and/or tables as appropriate.

Assessment Criteria
You will be assessed on your ability to:
• Justify choice of data analysis methods as appropriate to the data set provided.
• Demonstrate accurate execution of the chosen data-analysis method.
• Comprehensively and critically discuss interpretation of the findings.
• Adhere to the School of Health & Life Science guidelines for presentation and referencing

Part 2 should be submitted using the drop box on Blackboard by Week 12