Internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy for chronic health conditions: self-guided versus team-guided

S H Mehta, M Nugent, V Peynenburg, D Thiessen, G La Posta, N Titov, B F Dear, H D Hadjistavropoulos, S H Mehta, M Nugent, V Peynenburg, D Thiessen, G La Posta, N Titov, B F Dear, H D Hadjistavropoulos

Abstract

There is growing interest in offering Internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy (ICBT) to individuals with chronic health conditions, with this process often being guided by a single clinician. Due to lack of full time personnel, it is sometimes necessary to have multiple clinicians offer guidance or for no guidance to be offered. In this randomized trial, we compared team-guided ICBT (n = 90) to self-guided ICBT (n = 88). Participants completed measures at pre-, post-, and 3-months post-ICBT. Both groups showed similar rates of treatment completion and large improvements on depression and anxiety at post-treatment and follow-up. Unexpectedly, more participants in the self-guided versus team-guided condition showed clinically significant improvement on depression at post-treatment (76.5% vs 49.2%) and follow-up (70% vs 45.6%). Thus, team-guided ICBT may not provide significant benefits compared to self-guided ICBT. However, it may be an alternative approach to consider among a population of high risk individuals that wants or requires closer monitoring of symptoms.Trail registration TRN: NCT03500237; Date: April 18, 2018.

Keywords: Anxiety; Chronic conditions; Depression; Internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare relevant to the content of this article. Dr. Blake Dear and Professor Nickolai Titov are developers of the Chronic Conditions Course, but derive no personal or financial benefit from it.

© 2022. The Author(s).

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Patient flow from screening to 3 months follow-up

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