TY - JOUR

T1 - Guided online treatment in routine mental health care

T2 - an observational study on uptake, drop-out and effects.

AU - Kenter, Robin

AU - Warmerdam, Lisanne

AU - Brouwer-Dudokdewit, Christine

AU - Cuijpers, Pim

AU - Van Straten, Annemieke

PY - 2013/1/31

Y1 - 2013/1/31

N2 - BackgroundDue to limited resources patients in the Netherlands often have to wait for a minimum of six weeks after registration for mental health care to receive their first treatment session. Offering guided online treatment might be an effective solution to reduce waiting time and to increase patient outcomes at relatively low cost. In this study we report on uptake, drop-out and effects of online problem solving treatment that was implemented in a mental health center.MethodsWe studied all 104 consecutive patients aged 18–65 years with elevated symptoms of depression, anxiety and/or burnout who registered at the center during the first six months after implementation. They were offered a five week guided online treatment. At baseline, five weeks and twelve weeks we measured depressive (BDI-II), anxiety (HADS-A) and burnout symptoms (MBI).ResultsA total of 55 patients (53%) agreed to start with the online treatment. Patients who accepted the online treatment were more often female, younger and lower educated than those who refused. There were no baseline differences in clinical symptoms between the groups. There were large between group effect sizes after five weeks for online treatment for depression (d = 0.94) and anxiety (d = 1.07), but not for burnout (d = −.07). At twelve weeks, when both groups had started regular face-to-face treatments, we no longer found significant differences between the groups, except for anxiety (d = 0.69).ConclusionThe results of this study show that the majority of patients prefer online guided online treatment instead of waiting for face-to-face treatment. Furthermore, online PST increases speed of recovery and can therefore be offered as a first step of treatment in mental healthcare.

AB - BackgroundDue to limited resources patients in the Netherlands often have to wait for a minimum of six weeks after registration for mental health care to receive their first treatment session. Offering guided online treatment might be an effective solution to reduce waiting time and to increase patient outcomes at relatively low cost. In this study we report on uptake, drop-out and effects of online problem solving treatment that was implemented in a mental health center.MethodsWe studied all 104 consecutive patients aged 18–65 years with elevated symptoms of depression, anxiety and/or burnout who registered at the center during the first six months after implementation. They were offered a five week guided online treatment. At baseline, five weeks and twelve weeks we measured depressive (BDI-II), anxiety (HADS-A) and burnout symptoms (MBI).ResultsA total of 55 patients (53%) agreed to start with the online treatment. Patients who accepted the online treatment were more often female, younger and lower educated than those who refused. There were no baseline differences in clinical symptoms between the groups. There were large between group effect sizes after five weeks for online treatment for depression (d = 0.94) and anxiety (d = 1.07), but not for burnout (d = −.07). At twelve weeks, when both groups had started regular face-to-face treatments, we no longer found significant differences between the groups, except for anxiety (d = 0.69).ConclusionThe results of this study show that the majority of patients prefer online guided online treatment instead of waiting for face-to-face treatment. Furthermore, online PST increases speed of recovery and can therefore be offered as a first step of treatment in mental healthcare.

KW - Health sciences

KW - E-mental health

KW - implementation

KW - mental healthcare

KW - Depression

KW - Anxiety

KW - Burnout

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84873044253&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/18c765ae-9f5e-34c2-a693-b4a409493593/

U2 - 10.1186/1471-244X-13-43

DO - 10.1186/1471-244X-13-43

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 23368894

VL - 13

JO - BMC Psychiatry

JF - BMC Psychiatry

SN - 1471-244X

M1 - 43

ER -