Internet Interventions-The Application of Information Technology in Mental and Behavioural Health最新文献

{"title":"What therapists do during guidance in individually tailored internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy for depressive symptoms: A content analysis","authors":"Victoria Aminoff ,&nbsp;Laura Luisa Bielinski ,&nbsp;Matilda Berg ,&nbsp;Thomas Berger ,&nbsp;Gerhard Andersson","doi":"10.1016/j.invent.2025.100875","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.invent.2025.100875","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><div>Therapist-supported internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT) can be effective for individuals with depressive symptoms. However, it remains unclear how therapists act when guiding individually tailored ICBT. This study examined therapist behaviors in guided ICBT where therapists choose participant modules, focusing on the proportions of behaviors and behaviors' associations with depressive symptoms and negative treatment effects.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Content analysis was employed to examine 1055 messages sent from six therapists to 62 participants. <em>Z</em>-tests for proportions were used to compare therapist behaviors in the current study to those reported in studies on non-tailored ICBT. The association between therapist behavior frequencies and changes in depressive symptoms and negative effects were assessed using Spearman's rho correlation. Residual change scores were calculated for depressive symptoms.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>All but two therapist behaviors identified in prior research on non-tailored ICBT were observed in this study. Certain behaviors such as <em>clarifying the framework and administrative aspects</em> were more common than in non-tailored ICBT for depressive symptoms. Other behaviors, such as <em>empathetic utterances,</em> were less common. The frequency of <em>reinforcing</em> correlated significantly with a decrease in depressive symptoms (<em>r</em>_s = −0.33, <em>p</em> = .033) and <em>unsupportive tone</em> correlated significantly with negative effects (<em>r</em>_s = 0.35, <em>p</em> = .022).</div></div><div><h3>Discussion</h3><div>Almost all therapist behaviors observed in previous studies on non-tailored ICBT are also present in individually tailored ICBT, although the proportions of behaviors differ. Furthermore, the results indicate that <em>reinforcing</em> may be associated with improved treatment outcomes, while therapist <em>unsupportive tone</em> could be linked to negative effects.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48615,"journal":{"name":"Internet Interventions-The Application of Information Technology in Mental and Behavioural Health","volume":"42 ","pages":"Article 100875"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145158471","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Prevention of mental health issues in the young: A randomised controlled evaluation of an e-mental health application for young adults to enhance mental health literacy","authors":"Olivia Krokos ,&nbsp;Isabel Brandhorst ,&nbsp;Caterina Gawrilow ,&nbsp;Johanna Löchner","doi":"10.1016/j.invent.2025.100874","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.invent.2025.100874","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>The mental health of young adults is deteriorating. Reasons for this are manifold, ranging from biological factors (e.g. entering a vulnerable developmental phase) to crisis-related external events (e.g. COVID-19 pandemic). Accordingly, easily accessible and universal prevention for the young is needed. Mobile Health (mHealth) interventions are on the rise and especially promising for this age group, due to numerous benefits, such as low threshold, temporal and local flexibility and high scalability. However, the effectiveness and acceptance of mHealth interventions as prevention measures are missing empirical evidence.</div></div><div><h3>Method</h3><div>In a two-arm randomised controlled trial design, this study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a mental health app, the ‘Mental Health Guide’, primarily on mental health literacy as well as secondary mental health outcomes. <em>N</em> = 322 Participants (81.99 % female, M = 25.55 years, SD = 9.63 years, age range: 15 to 59 years) were either assigned to the intervention group (<em>n</em> = 158), using the Mental Health Guide for 12 weeks, or the wait-list control group (<em>n</em> = 164).</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>The results show a significant intervention effect on mental health literacy for the intervention group in the post assessment (<em>p</em> = .047, <em>d</em> = 0.20), but no at later follow-up time points. Further variables related to mental health indicate various effects, such as improved problematic (<em>p</em> = .018, <em>d</em> = 0.20) and prosocial behaviour (<em>p</em> = .008, <em>d</em> = 0.23) in the intervention group and improved emotion regulation capacities for both groups (<em>p</em> &lt; .001, <em>d</em> = 0.20). Overall, there was a high drop-out rate in the study (up to 80 %), especially in the intervention group.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>This study contributes valuable insights into the potential effectiveness of mHealth prevention in young adults and gives insights on how such applications are used under very naturalistic settings, laying a foundation for future research in this field. However, generalisability is limited due to selective sample characteristics and a rather high drop-out rate over time.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48615,"journal":{"name":"Internet Interventions-The Application of Information Technology in Mental and Behavioural Health","volume":"42 ","pages":"Article 100874"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145105923","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evaluating visual feedback of experience sampling data for mental health practitioners","authors":"Maarten Piot ,&nbsp;Egon Dejonckheere ,&nbsp;Anke Tuinstra ,&nbsp;Imke Tijs ,&nbsp;Peter Kuppens ,&nbsp;Stijn Verdonck","doi":"10.1016/j.invent.2025.100873","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.invent.2025.100873","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>The Experience Sampling Method (ESM) allows to capture and quantify people's daily experiences, thoughts, and behaviors in real-world contexts. While ESM holds great promise for informing case conceptualization and improving therapeutic targeting in mental health care, visualizations of self-reported ESM data remain largely tailored to researchers and are often not easy to interpret for mental health practitioners. To what extent such visualizations can assist practitioners within their context of mental health care remains still unclear.</div></div><div><h3>Objective</h3><div>This study investigates the effect of including uncertainty information in visualizations of ESM feedback on practitioners' decision-making processes.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We recruited 40 Belgian mental health practitioners and students in their last year of psychology or educational science studies to take part in an experiment that assessed their proficiency in interpreting ESM feedback based on reality-inspired clinical cases. Three variables (i.e., interactive hover function, error bars, and textual descriptions about effect size and confidence interval) were manipulated in a balanced factorial design to determine their effects on correct data interpretation.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>The results indicate that providing textual descriptions about effect size and confidence intervals increased practitioners' confidence levels and accuracies compared to error bars alone. Furthermore, practitioners want to integrate ESM feedback into treatment. When ESM feedback was associated with low confidence, they preferred to further explore the clinical case. In contrast, when ESM feedback was associated with high confidence, they opted for more action-oriented interventions.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>These findings underscore the importance of including textual descriptions in graphical visualizations as they help to improve practitioners' decision-making processes in mental health care.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48615,"journal":{"name":"Internet Interventions-The Application of Information Technology in Mental and Behavioural Health","volume":"42 ","pages":"Article 100873"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145109553","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of a brief online self-compassion training on perfectionism, self-criticism, and social anxiety: A randomized controlled trial","authors":"Kira S.A. Borgdorf ,&nbsp;Corina Aguilar-Raab ,&nbsp;Daniel V. Holt","doi":"10.1016/j.invent.2025.100870","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.invent.2025.100870","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This randomized controlled trial evaluates the effects of a brief online self-compassion training (SCT) on self-compassion, self-criticism, perfectionism, social anxiety, and psychological health in comparison to a generic stress-reduction training (SRT). Both training courses consisted of six brief, format-matched, unsupervised, online sessions with various exercises, and took place in a self-paced manner over 2 to 4 weeks. We collected self-report data on self-compassion, self-criticism, perfectionism, social anxiety, and psychological health. Participants were 200 healthy adults (85.5 % female, <em>M</em>_age = 30 years), randomly allocated to the SCT or the SRT. In pre-post comparison, effect sizes for the SCT were moderate for self-compassion (<em>dz</em> = 0.49, 95 % CI [0.26, 0.72]), self-criticism (<em>dz</em> = −0.50, 95 % CI [−0.72, −0.28]), and perfectionism (<em>dz</em> = −0.41, 95 % CI [−0.62, −0.20]), but close to zero for social anxiety (<em>dz</em> = −0.01, 95 % CI [−0.21, 0.18]). Only small differences emerged between the conditions immediately after the training, except for self-compassion (<em>d</em> = 0.49, 95 % CI [0.02, 0.58]). At 4 weeks follow-up the effects of both trainings on the target variables, including self-compassion, were very similar. However, intervention-specific effects were pronounced and enduring for participants with high initial levels of self-criticism. The results indicate that both training courses yielded similar psychological effect patterns. Effects of the SCT were not specific to self-compassion and conceptually opposite variables like perfectionism or self-criticism. These findings highlight the importance of understanding core mechanisms of self-compassion interventions and identifying appropriate target groups in future research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48615,"journal":{"name":"Internet Interventions-The Application of Information Technology in Mental and Behavioural Health","volume":"42 ","pages":"Article 100870"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145050092","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The development of an online intellectual humility intervention for religious or spiritual conflict","authors":"Arcadia K. Lee,&nbsp;Brandon Wong,&nbsp;Elizabeth J. Krumrei-Mancuso","doi":"10.1016/j.invent.2025.100871","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.invent.2025.100871","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Interpersonal religious/spiritual (R/S) conflicts are relatively common and have serious mental health implications. Recent theories suggest that intellectual humility might mitigate R/S conflict and ameliorate negative outcomes. This paper delineates the development and implementation of <em>Grounded to Grow</em>, an asynchronous online intervention designed to help individuals navigate R/S conflicts and to minimize associated psychological distress. This paper outlines the theoretical framework used to create the intervention, describes the intervention, and highlights the planned methods for examining the effectiveness of the intervention. <em>Grounded to Grow</em> is appropriate for religious, spiritual, non-religious, and non-spiritual individuals. This secular, yet spiritually-sensitive approach to addressing R/S conflicts offers inclusive and personalized support, with the potential to enhance well-being across psychological, social, and spiritual domains.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48615,"journal":{"name":"Internet Interventions-The Application of Information Technology in Mental and Behavioural Health","volume":"42 ","pages":"Article 100871"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145050093","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Treatment expectations and depressive symptoms in an internet-based intervention for depression. A secondary analysis","authors":"Gwendolyn Wälchli ,&nbsp;Laura Luisa Bielinski ,&nbsp;Oliver Thomas Bur ,&nbsp;Tobias Krieger ,&nbsp;Jan Philipp Klein ,&nbsp;Thomas Berger","doi":"10.1016/j.invent.2025.100869","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.invent.2025.100869","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Treatment expectations are known to influence therapy outcomes, but their role in internet-based interventions (IBIs) for depression remains unclear. While previous research has primarily focused on expectations as a <em>pre-treatment predictor</em> (PTP), emerging evidence suggests that <em>early process predictors</em> (EPPs), including evolving expectations during treatment, may provide more relevant insights into therapeutic outcomes.</div></div><div><h3>Objective</h3><div>This secondary analysis of a factorial trial (Bur et al., 2022) investigates the role of treatment expectations as both a <em>pre-treatment predictor</em> and <em>early process predictor</em> in an internet-based intervention for mild to moderate depression. It also explores the temporal relationship between expectations and depressive symptoms, assessing whether earlier expectations predict later symptom severity and whether depressive symptoms influence subsequent expectations.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Treatment expectancy was measured using the Credibility and Expectancy Questionnaire (CEQ-8; Devilly &amp; Borkovec, 2000; German version: Walach et al. 2008) at baseline (T0), two weeks (T1), and four weeks (T2), while depressive symptoms were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9; Kroenke et al., 2001) at the same time points as well as post-treatment (T3). To analyze the relationship between treatment expectations (CEQ-8) and depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 post-treatment), simple regression models were conducted while controlling for baseline PHQ-9 scores. Multiple regression analyses were then used to examine whether CEQ-8 predicted PHQ-9 or vice versa. In addition, as a sensitivity analysis, a cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) was estimated to account for the repeated-measures structure of the data.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Baseline treatment expectations did not significantly predict depressive symptoms at post-treatment. However, expectations measured at two weeks (T1) and four weeks (T2) significantly predicted depressive symptoms at T3. The results of the multiple regression analyses indicate that treatment expectations can predict changes in depressive symptoms, whereas the reverse relationship was not observed. The CLPM yielded results that were consistent with the regression analyses, supporting the robustness of the findings.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Treatment expectations evolve throughout therapy and appear to function as an independent predictor of symptom improvement rather than merely reflecting symptom severity. Monitoring and addressing patient expectations early in treatment may enhance intervention outcomes. These findings support the inclusion of expectation-based strategies in IBIs to optimize engagement and effectiveness.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48615,"journal":{"name":"Internet Interventions-The Application of Information Technology in Mental and Behavioural Health","volume":"42 ","pages":"Article 100869"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144922573","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How do we know that they actually use it? Exploring measures of adherence to stress management strategies in university students: A systematic review","authors":"Laurianne Bastien ,&nbsp;Sohyun Cho ,&nbsp;Julia Petrovic ,&nbsp;Bassam Khoury ,&nbsp;Elana Bloom ,&nbsp;Nancy Heath","doi":"10.1016/j.invent.2025.100868","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.invent.2025.100868","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>University students are reporting high levels of stress that interfere with their academic performance and daily functioning. In response, higher education institutions have increasingly implemented digital, self-guided stress management resources to provide students with accessible mental health support. While these interventions show promise for improving student wellness, there is a significant gap in our understanding of how students use the strategies taught as part of these resources. This systematic review therefore examined if and how adherence (i.e., strategy use) has been measured in the context of digital self-guided stress management interventions, as well as its associations with stress and other wellness outcomes. Of the 40 studies that met eligibility criteria for the present review, 33 measured adherence (82.5 %). Specifically, nine studies measured frequency (27.2 %), eight measured completion rates (24.2 %), two measured duration (6.1 %), 12 used a combination of these approaches (36.4 %), and two (6.1 %) did not specify which approach was used. Surprisingly, although the majority of studies collected data on adherence, the associations between adherence and stress or other wellness outcomes were scarcely examined. Across studies, adherence was measured using digital analytics and/or self-report; however, barriers were identified in using these methods, including technological issues and challenges in measurement accuracy. Quality assessments revealed a moderate risk of bias. Future research should explore different approaches to enhance adherence measurement accuracy and further examine the link between adherence and wellness outcomes to determine the optimal dose of strategy use for enhancing wellness among university students.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48615,"journal":{"name":"Internet Interventions-The Application of Information Technology in Mental and Behavioural Health","volume":"41 ","pages":"Article 100868"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144858470","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Development and initial evaluation of an ultra-brief digital treatment for perinatal depression and anxiety symptoms","authors":"Madelyne A. Bisby ,&nbsp;Noni Jervis ,&nbsp;Alana Fisher ,&nbsp;Amelia J. Scott ,&nbsp;Nickolai Titov ,&nbsp;Blake F. Dear","doi":"10.1016/j.invent.2025.100866","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.invent.2025.100866","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Psychological treatments for perinatal depression and anxiety are effective when delivered in-person or remotely. However, new and expectant mothers face considerable barriers to receiving mental health care, especially on an ongoing basis or when delivered in-person. Very brief digital treatments may be able to support women during this time using less time than existing treatments. The current study reports the development and initial evaluation of a therapist-guided digital ultra-brief treatment for perinatal depression or anxiety. The treatment included one online lesson, supporting resources (e.g., practice exercises), and an optional consultation (telephone or secure messaging) with a clinical psychologist. We examined acceptability, satisfaction, and preliminary efficacy in a single-group trial of women with perinatal depression or anxiety symptoms (<em>N</em> = 47). This was accompanied by focus groups of women with lived experience (<em>N</em> = 9) and semi-structured feedback interviews with treatment participants (<em>N</em> = 7). The treatment was feasible to deliver and associated with high completion (90 %) and satisfaction (85 %) rates. Most participants (61 %) completed the treatment without therapist guidance. At 5-weeks post-baseline, participants reported significant reductions in depression (<em>d</em> = 0.79) and anxiety (<em>d</em> = 0.44), noting that the sample reported mild baseline symptom severity. Several areas of improvement to treatment content, delivery, and look and feel were identified. The study supports ultra-brief digital treatments as an acceptable and potentially efficacious way to support women with perinatal depression or anxiety symptoms.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48615,"journal":{"name":"Internet Interventions-The Application of Information Technology in Mental and Behavioural Health","volume":"42 ","pages":"Article 100866"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144908154","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Do people residing in low socioeconomic areas engage with and benefit from digital mental health services?","authors":"Lauren G Staples, Blake F Dear, Olav Nielssen, Nickolai Titov","doi":"10.1016/j.invent.2025.100865","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.invent.2025.100865","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>People who are socioeconomically disadvantaged have higher rates of mental disorder and are more likely to face barriers to evidence-based psychological services. Barriers include the cost of treatment, limited availability of local services, and the burden of psychosocial difficulties. Psychological treatment delivered via the internet can overcome some of these barriers.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This study was a retrospective analysis of data collected from 21,561 patients accessing online psychological assessment and treatment. Residential postcodes were used to assign patients to a socioeconomic group (low, mid, or high SES), based on the Index of Economic Resources published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The low SES group comprised 34.1 % of the sample and the mid SES group comprised 35.7 %. A perceived lack of local or affordable mental health services was the main reason given for accessing online mental health assessment and treatment. There were small but significant demographic differences between groups at assessment, and baseline symptoms of depression and anxiety were slightly higher for the low and mid SES groups. Despite these differences, there were no group differences in treatment outcomes. All groups showed large symptom reductions on measures of depression (PHQ-9) and anxiety (GAD-7), with Cohen's d effect sizes between 1.36 and 1.47. Reliable deterioration rates were low, and satisfaction rates were high.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This study shows that people residing in low socioeconomic areas engage with and benefit from digital mental health services. Results suggest that scalable digital psychological services can improve the equity of access to mental health care.</p>","PeriodicalId":48615,"journal":{"name":"Internet Interventions-The Application of Information Technology in Mental and Behavioural Health","volume":"41 ","pages":"100865"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12357260/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144876031","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Anxiety unplugged: Effectiveness of an unguided, transdiagnostic, web-based intervention for anxiety disorders—A randomized controlled trial","authors":"Anna Baumeister ,&nbsp;Lea Schuurmans ,&nbsp;Steffen Moritz","doi":"10.1016/j.invent.2025.100867","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.invent.2025.100867","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background and aim</h3><div>Anxiety disorders are the most common psychiatric condition, yet few patients receive adequate treatment, primarily due to high barriers to treatment (e.g., long waiting times, fear of stigmatization). Internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) programs have emerged as a promising approach to addressing this treatment gap, demonstrating effectiveness across various anxiety disorders. However, only a few studies have specifically addressed unguided iCBT. This trial investigated a six-week transdiagnostic unguided iCBT intervention designed to reduce anxiety and related symptoms.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Randomized to an intervention group and a waitlist control group with care as usual, 318 participants were included in the analyses, which used ANCOVAs to assess changes in symptom severity of anxiety (primary) and related secondary outcomes (stress, depression and anxiety, quality of life, self-esteem).</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Significant post-intervention reductions in anxiety, stress, and depression were found in the intervention group compared to controls at small to medium effect sizes (|Hedges's <em>g</em>| = 0.27–0.35). Concurrent ongoing psychotherapy negatively modified the treatment effect.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>The iCBT program proved effective overall in reducing anxiety and anxiety-related symptoms compared to care as usual. However, the program did not appear to have an add-on effect for individuals who were simultaneously receiving conventional psychotherapy. Further research is needed to investigate the effects in this subgroup in more detail.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48615,"journal":{"name":"Internet Interventions-The Application of Information Technology in Mental and Behavioural Health","volume":"41 ","pages":"Article 100867"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144830580","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}