TY - JOUR
T1 - Guided internet-based transdiagnostic individually tailored Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for symptoms of depression and/or anxiety in college students
T2 - A randomized controlled trial
AU - Karyotaki, Eirini
AU - Klein, Anke M.
AU - Ciharova, Marketa
AU - Bolinski, Felix
AU - Krijnen, Lisa
AU - de Koning, Lisa
AU - de Wit, Leonore
AU - van der Heijde, Claudia M.
AU - Ebert, David D.
AU - Riper, Heleen
AU - Batelaan, Neeltje
AU - Vonk, Peter
AU - Auerbach, Randy P.
AU - Kessler, Ronald C.
AU - Bruffaerts, Ronny
AU - Struijs, Sascha
AU - Wiers, Reinout W.
AU - Cuijpers, Pim
N1 - Funding Information: Participants in the TAU group received detailed information about the available regular care services in the community (i.e., primary and secondary mental health services delivered by the student counseling services/general practitioners/psychologists/psychiatrists). This is in line with existing routine care practices in the Dutch universities, where students with mental health problems are advised to seek help through community services. In contrast, university counseling services are meant to manage study-related issues (e.g., exam anxiety). Thus, the present control reflected existing routine care practices in the universities where the study was conducted. It should be noted that info about the available services was also provided to participants in the intervention group. However, students in the TAU group were strongly advised to seek support, but they were free to decide whether they would follow this advice or not. We recorded the use of such services in both the intervention and control group throughout the trial assessments.This trial was funded by ZonMw, Research Program GGz, grant number 636110005. We thank all student representatives as well as the university stakeholders of the Vrije Universiteit (VU) of Amsterdam and the Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA) for their great help during the development of our study. Moreover, we thank the e-coaches and research assistants who worked hard throughout this trial. Funding Information: This trial was funded by ZonMw , Research Program GGz, grant number 636110005 . We thank all student representatives as well as the university stakeholders of the Vrije Universiteit (VU) of Amsterdam and the Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA) for their great help during the development of our study. Moreover, we thank the e-coaches and research assistants who worked hard throughout this trial. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors
PY - 2022/3/1
Y1 - 2022/3/1
N2 - Common mental disorders, such as depression and anxiety, often emerge in college students during the transition into early adulthood. Mental health problems can seriously impact students' functioning, interpersonal relationships, and academic achievement. Actively reaching out to college students with mental health problems and offering them internet-based interventions may be a promising way of providing low-threshold access to evidence-based treatment in colleges. This randomized controlled trial aimed to assess the effectiveness of a guided web-based transdiagnostic individually tailored Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (iCBT) in treating college students with depression and/or anxiety symptoms. Through an online survey that screened college students’ mental health, we recruited 100 college students aged ≥18 years who reported mild to moderate depression and/or anxiety symptoms and were attending colleges in the Netherlands. Participants were randomly allocated to guided iCBT (n = 48) or treatment as usual (TAU) control (n = 52). Primary outcomes were symptoms of depression and anxiety measured at post-treatment (7 weeks post-randomization). We also measured all outcomes at 6- and 12-months post-randomization. All analyses were based on the intention-to-treat principle and were repeated using the complete-case sample. We found no evidence of a difference between the effects of guided iCBT and TAU in any of the examined outcomes (i.e., symptoms of depression and anxiety, quality of life, educational achievement, and college dropout) across all time points (p > .05). There was no evidence that effects of iCBT were associated with treatment satisfaction and adherence. More research into transdiagnostic individually tailored iCBT is necessary. Further, future studies should recruit larger samples to investigate possible smaller but clinically relevant effects of internet-based interventions for college students with depression and/or anxiety.
AB - Common mental disorders, such as depression and anxiety, often emerge in college students during the transition into early adulthood. Mental health problems can seriously impact students' functioning, interpersonal relationships, and academic achievement. Actively reaching out to college students with mental health problems and offering them internet-based interventions may be a promising way of providing low-threshold access to evidence-based treatment in colleges. This randomized controlled trial aimed to assess the effectiveness of a guided web-based transdiagnostic individually tailored Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (iCBT) in treating college students with depression and/or anxiety symptoms. Through an online survey that screened college students’ mental health, we recruited 100 college students aged ≥18 years who reported mild to moderate depression and/or anxiety symptoms and were attending colleges in the Netherlands. Participants were randomly allocated to guided iCBT (n = 48) or treatment as usual (TAU) control (n = 52). Primary outcomes were symptoms of depression and anxiety measured at post-treatment (7 weeks post-randomization). We also measured all outcomes at 6- and 12-months post-randomization. All analyses were based on the intention-to-treat principle and were repeated using the complete-case sample. We found no evidence of a difference between the effects of guided iCBT and TAU in any of the examined outcomes (i.e., symptoms of depression and anxiety, quality of life, educational achievement, and college dropout) across all time points (p > .05). There was no evidence that effects of iCBT were associated with treatment satisfaction and adherence. More research into transdiagnostic individually tailored iCBT is necessary. Further, future studies should recruit larger samples to investigate possible smaller but clinically relevant effects of internet-based interventions for college students with depression and/or anxiety.
KW - Anxiety
KW - College students
KW - Depression
KW - Internet-based CBT
KW - Transdiagnostic
KW - e-health
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=85123093255&origin=inward
UR - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35066365
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85123093255&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/93285092/1_s2.0_S0005796721002278_mmc1.doc
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2021.104028
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2021.104028
M3 - Article
C2 - 35066365
SN - 0005-7967
VL - 150
JO - Behaviour Research and Therapy
JF - Behaviour Research and Therapy
M1 - 104028
ER -