NCT06789523

Friendship Bench for Women Who Use Methamphetamine in Vietnam

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 100 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Hanoi Medical University · Academic / Other
• Sex: Female
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The high comorbidity of mental health issues and meth use in women worsens both their mental health and meth use outcomes. The study team proposes to evaluate the potential of Friendship Bench to be used as a low-threshold, task-shifting mental health intervention among women who use methamphetamine in Vietnam - a lower-middle-income country. The study will provide preliminary data for a R01 trial testing the effectiveness Friendship Bench to improve mental health and methamphetamine use outcomes among women who use methamphetamine in Vietnam.

Detailed description

The specific aims of this research proposal are to: (1) assess the mental health needs of WWUM in Haiphong, (2) adapt Friendship Bench to the specific needs of Vietnamese WWUM and (3) assess the feasibility, fidelity, and acceptability of the adapted Friendship Bench for common mental disorders among WWUM and preliminary indicators of its impact in improving their mental health and methamphetamine use in a two-arm randomized trial, comparing Friendship Bench with usual psychiatric care.

Conditions

• Methamphetamine Use
• Common Mental Disorders (CMD)

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Friendship Bench	The Friendship Bench model comprises 6 weekly, individual sessions with trained peer workers in addition to the usual care. Peer workers will help participants identify problems, outline potential solutions, and implement selected solutions. The adaptation of Friendship Bench for Vietnamese methadone patients made revisions, such as removing the 'Belief in supernatural powers' section, replacing the Shona Symptom Questionnaire with DASS-21, and adding meth use. But this adaptation removed women-focused content on pregnancy and postpartum depression that we plan to include.
BEHAVIORAL	Usual psychiatric care	Usual care includes monthly check-ups by peer workers, referral to hospital-based psychiatric services or other available mental health services if needed. This usual care might surpass standard psychiatric care in other provinces given that peer workers in Haiphong have been well trained on case management skills.

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-06-11
• Primary completion: 2028-12-31
• Completion: 2029-08-31
• First posted: 2025-01-23
• Last updated: 2025-08-08

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Vietnam