Evaluating the Effectiveness of an E-Mental Health Intervention for People Living in Lebanon: Protocol for Two Randomized Controlled Trials

The lack of availability of evidence-based services for people exposed to adversity globally has led to the development of psychological interventions with features that will likely make them more scalable. The evidence for the efficacy of e-mental health from high-income countries is compelling, and the use of these interventions could be a way to increase the coverage of evidence-based psychological interventions in low- and middle-income countries. Step-by-Step is a brief (5-session) intervention proposed by the World Health Organization as an innovative approach to reducing the suffering and disability associated with depression.

This paper describes the protocol for 2 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a locally adapted version of Step-by-Step with Syrian nationals (trial 1) and Lebanese nationals and other populations residing in Lebanon (trial 2).

If the intervention proves to be effective, this will inform future scale-up of this and similar interventions in Lebanon and in other settings across the world.