What will happen if you take part?

All the study visits will take place at home.

You will meet with the study team via a video call using Microsoft Teams. If you prefer you can be seen in person at the research site.

How long is the study for?

The study is around 10 months from your first visit with us.

The visits would be every few weeks for the first 10 weeks, then every couple of months for up to 9 months.

What happens in the study?

You will be randomly assigned to one of two groups. This is done randomly, like the toss of a coin, so that everyone has the same chance of being in either group.

If you are in the tDCS group, you would carry on with your usual treatment and also have tDCS sessions for 10 weeks. Each session is 30 minutes. There will be 5 sessions per week for the first 3 weeks, then 3 sessions per week for the next 7 weeks.

If you are in the usual treatment group, you will continue with your usual treatment.

We will follow up with everyone in both groups at regular visits.

After 6 months, everyone taking part will be offered a tDCS device to keep.

Supervision and Assessment

You will be seen regularly by the same member of the study team as much as possible. We will show you how to use the tDCS device and we will support you if you experience any side effects.

We will also check in with you regularly to see how you are doing and ask about your mood and symptoms. You can contact us at any time if you have any questions or concerns.

Reimbursement

We will reimburse participants by vouchers for each visit. Participants will be reimbursed £20 in vouchers for each of the following study visits after randomisation: Baseline, weeks 1, 4, 7, 10 and months 4, 6 and 9.

Participants that travel to the research centre will be reimbursed for their travel expenses, up to a total of £20 in vouchers per visit.

After the trial, participants will be able to keep the tDCS device if they would like to.

Participants will not be reimbursed for attending the screening visit.