The Efficacy of Treatments to Improve Self-esteem

NCT06101810 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: GGZNHN23EJ
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 70
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of this study is to examine the effectivity of two self-esteem interventions (COMET (Korrelboom) and CBT (De Neef)) in a general psychiatric population. The main questions it aims to answer are:

• is there a difference between the two interventions in effectiveness on increasing self-esteem?
• is there a difference between the two interventions in effect on levels of anxiety, depression and general mental health?
• are found effects on levels of anxiety, depression and general mental health associated with changes in self-esteem?
• is the ability to use imagination a moderator for outcomes in both conditions? Participants are randomised over both conditions. At baseline (T0), end of treatment (T1) and follow-up at 6 months (T2) several outcome measures are conducted, such as RSES, DASS and MHC-SF.

Conditions

Self Esteem

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Rosenberg self-esteem scale (RSES)

  Rosenberg self-esteem scale assesses global selfesteem on a 10-item questionnaire, items to be answered on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (strongly agree) to 3 (strongly disagree). Total scores range from 0 up to 30, with higher scores indicating a higher global self-esteem.

  Baseline (T0), end of treatment (T1)(one week after the last intervention session), follow-up (T2 at 6 months)

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS)

  Baseline (T0), end of treatment (T1)(one week after the last intervention session), follow-up (T2 at 6 months)

• Mental Health Continuum - Short Form (MHC-SF)

  Baseline (T0), end of treatment (T1)(one week after the last intervention session), follow-up (T2 at 6 months)

• Plymouth Sensory Imagery Questionnaire (PsiQ-NL-35)

  Baseline (T0)

Other Outcomes (5)

• Demographics

  Baseline (T0)

• DSM-5 classifications

  Baseline (T0)

• Medication (type)

  Measured from start of treatment until end of treatment (T1)(one week after the last intervention session), and from end of treatment (T1)(one week after the last intervention session) until follow-up (T2 at 6 months)

Study Arms (2)

COMET (Korrelboom)

EXPERIMENTAL

Korrelbooms' Competitive Memory Training (2011) (abbreviated COMET) is a cognitive behavioral therapy based on counter-conditioning. It uses positive self-verbalizations, imagination, posture and facial expression and music in a protocolized intervention consisting of 8 weekly group sessions of 90 minutes. For this study the protocol is extended with 1 session, to 9 sessions, in concertation with the author.

Behavioral: COMET

CBT (De Neef)

EXPERIMENTAL

The cognitive behavioural protocol by De Neef (2010; 2018) has not been specifically named but is commonly referred to as 'the whitebook method' or 'cognitive behavioral therapy' (CBT). For convenience, this intervention will be addressed to as CBT in the current study. This intervention relies heavily on positive data logging to specifically focus on evidence that is contradictory to the negative core belief. Patients keep a positive data log (the 'whitebook') to write down positive events and positive qualities of themselves to achieve cognitive bias modification. They also receive psycho-education and practice on alternative behavior such as receiving compliments (which is also regarded as exposure), lowering perfectionist behavior and receiving criticism. In this protocolized intervention patients receive 9 to 11 weekly group sessions of 90 minutes. for this study a version of the protocol with 9 sessions is used.

Behavioral: CBT

Interventions

COMET BEHAVIORAL

information already included in arm/group descriptions.

COMET (Korrelboom)

CBT BEHAVIORAL

information already included in arm/group descriptions.

CBT (De Neef)

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 65 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• \- A self-perceived low self-esteem established by both patient and caregiver by means of (consent to) referral for self-esteem treatment.

You may not qualify if:

• severe suicidality for which hospitalization or other forms of crisis care is necessary,
• acute psychosis,
• current manic episode,
• current alcohol or drug abuse,
• insufficient knowledge of the Dutch language,
• illiteracy
• being unable to identify at least one positive aspect of oneself, which does not need to be felt as convincing for the participant. The latter is an excluding criterium formulated by the COMET protocol.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• GGZ Noord-Holland-Noord: lead

Study Sites (1)

Stichting GGZ Noord-Holland-Noord

Heerhugowaard, North Holland, 1703WC, Netherlands

RECRUITING

Study Officials

• Eva Velthorst, PhD

  GGZ-NHN

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Ellen de Jonge, MSc

CONTACT

(0031) 06 12526264; e.dejonge@ggz-nhn.nl

Eva Velthorst, PhD

CONTACT

(0031) 06 18644345; e.velthorst@ggz-nhn.nl

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 14, 2023
• First Posted: October 26, 2023
• Study Start: November 1, 2023
• Primary Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2026
• Last Updated: January 29, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-01

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

NL (1)