ABSTRACT
Online psychological interventions (OPI) are evidence-based programs that provide mental health treatment over the internet. Meta-analytic data suggests that OPI's effectively treat emotional symptomatology. RNT-focused ACT consider psychological inflexibility and RNT as trans-diagnostic process that significantly predict emotional symptomatology. The present study analyzed the effect of a self-help OPI which contents have previously shown content validity, user feasibility and effectivity. This is an open trial design with repeated measures of emotional symptomatology and behavioral change processes. Bayesian analysis of variance for repeated measures was conducted with JASP for each variable, Bayes Factors (BF10) determined how much the evidence favored OPI effect. Effect sizes, reliable and significant change and moderation analyses were also conducted. 18 cisgender women around 30 years old mostly heterosexual, single and unemployed finished the OPI. There is decisive evidence for OPI effect on emotional symptomatology and behavioral change processes (experiential avoidance, cognitive fusion and RNT). There is also anecdotal evidence for the moderating role of the number of hierarchical RNT triggers ( private events), their type and intimate partner relationship distress as well as anecdotal evidence against the moderating role of being a psychologist. Results need to be considered in the context of the study limitations and future research should explore the program's feasibility and effect in other populations and cultures. However, the program is feasible and efficacious for the treatment of emotional symptomatology at least for young cisgender women in Colombia.
ABSTRACT
Telehealth strategies have become essential for responding to the sanitary emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this context, developing online psychological interventions (OPIs) that can treat and prevent psychological difficulties is gaining more relevance. This article describes an acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) based OPI focused on repetitive negative thinking (RNT). This OPI is called Disentangled, Aware, and Committed (DAC) and represents an attempt to adapt previous RNT-focused ACT protocols to this format type. Study 1 evaluated content validity through the assessment of four experts in ACT regarding clarity, utility, pertinence, conceptual adjustment, and therapeutic goal fulfillment for each component of the DAC program. In Study 2, forty-one undergraduate clinical psychology trainees rated the components of the DAC program according to its clarity and perceived utility. These participants were enrolled in a randomized controlled trial that analyzed the efficacy of the DAC to prevent the usually observed increase in emotional symptoms and RNT among this population. Expert reviewers in Study 1 rated all DAC components as clear and useful for potential users, following a logical order, theoretically coherent with the ACT model, and successfully fulfilling its stated goals. In Study 2, the participants also rated the DAC components as clear and potentially useful for their lives. In conclusion, the DAC appears to be a feasible transdiagnostic OPI for treating and preventing emotional symptoms, which warrants further studies analyzing its efficacy.
ABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the online psychological intervention offered to users by the Applied Psychology Service during the health alert period decreed by COVID-19. In addition, we quantified the satisfaction and effectiveness perceived by the user after the intervention. Sixty adults (70.4% female) with an average age of 41.49 years were included. The instruments used pre-and post-intervention were the abbreviated versions of the Symptom Checklist (SA-45), the Clinical Outcome Measure (CORE-OM), the Coping Inventory (COPE-28) and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISK). The Client Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ-8) and the Perceived Intervention were completed after the end of the intervention. This intervention was designed with the objectives of decreasing initial symptomatology through psychoeducation and brief regulation exercises to enhance positive coping strategies and resilience. The results showed a significant decrease (p <.05) in the initial symptomatology on all the dimensions analyzed and a significant improvement on the coping strategies and resilience. A high overall score was observed in the users' satisfaction and perceived efficacy. In conclusion, our results point to a high efficacy of an online brief psychological intervention in a lockdown context.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to significantly increase the prevalence of mental health problems, thus raising the need for psychological support interventions around the world. Online psychological interventions have already been shown to be an effective solution to promote psychological treatments. Nevertheless, planning and developing an online intervention, involving possible stakeholders, might facilitate the dissemination of, willingness to use, and success of the future intervention. This study aims to explore and compare the experiences that Italians living in Italy and abroad had with available support services during the COVID-19 pandemic, their needs, and attitudes, as well as possible barriers to online psychological interventions. A sample of 1024 Italians (F = 69.8%; mean age = 41.3; SD = 15.3) was recruited through social media platforms and personal contacts and they were asked to complete an online survey. Results showed that perceived psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic improved. In Europe, psychological support was delivered mainly in person (69.0%), while online interventions were primarily used in extra-European countries (57%). Then, only 44% of the total sample was interested in trying an online psychological intervention. Various advantages and disadvantages were defined by stakeholders: The main advantages were the reduction in geographical distances, economic reasons, and the reduction in the waiting list; The main disadvantages were problems with technology, low motivation of users, and privacy/safety reasons. These data made it possible to improve the knowledge regarding the views and attitudes that Italians have about online psychological interventions, and shed light on how to increase the uptake of digital health.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Internet-Based Intervention , Adult , COVID-19/epidemiology , Humans , Mental Health , Pandemics , Psychosocial InterventionABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of online mental health treatments have grown exponentially. Additionally, it seems inevitable that this technical resource is here to stay at health centers. However, there is still very little scholarly literature published on this topic, and therefore, the impact of the changes that have had to be dealt with in this regard has not been studied. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to evaluate the differences in the establishment of the therapeutic alliance (TA) based on the intervention modality (online or face-to-face), the type of attachment, and diagnosis. METHODS: A total of 291 subjects participated in the study, 149 (51.2%) of whom were men and 142 were (48.8%) women between the ages of 18 and 30 years. The instruments used were sociodemographic data, SOFTA-o (System for Observing Family Therapeutic Alliances-observational), and Relationship Questionnaire. RESULTS: The results show that the treatments conducted face-to-face obtain significantly better scores in the creation of the TA than those conducted online (t=-42.045, df=289, P<.001). The same holds true with attachment, in that users with secure attachment show a better TA than those with insecure attachment (t=6.068, P<.001,), although there were no significant differences with the diagnosis (F=4.566, P=.44), age (r=0.02, P=.70), and sex (t=0.217, P=.33). CONCLUSIONS: We believe that professionals are not yet prepared to conduct remote treatment with a degree of efficacy similar to that of face-to-face. It is essential for professionals to receive training in this new technical resource and to understand and incorporate the variants it entails into their daily practice.
ABSTRACT
On March 10, 2020, Italy announced its lockdown caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and home confinement exposed individuals to a stressful situation of unknown duration. Our study aimed to analyze the emotional and cognitive experiences and the psychopathological symptoms of young Italian University students seeking help from our University student Counseling and Consultation Service during the COVID-19 lockdown. Also, our study aimed to identify the predictors of traumatic psychological distress, investigating variables that could influence the students' well-being, related to their socio-demographic and clinical condition, to the "exposition" to the social distancing, and related to their cognitive thinking style. One-hundred and three University students were included in our study. The traumatic impact was assessed by the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R). A digital platform was used in our study, focused on narrative dimensions analyses. Our results showed that 21.4% of our help-seeking students experienced lockdown as a traumatic experience. The main stressful factors reported by students were: adjustment to the new academic activities (23.3 %), lack of autonomy (19.4%), and conflicts with family members (6.8%). The three main areas impaired were: changes in the sleeping pattern (68%), difficulty in concentration (67%), and loss of energy (58.6%). Furthermore, 36% of our student sample reported being suffering from anxiety symptoms, whereas 26% showed depressive symptomatology. Students having previous psychological and psychiatric contacts with mental health services (23%) showed a more severe traumatic and depressive symptomatology. The problematic thinking style "all or nothing" was predominantly associated with psychological distress, anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic symptoms. "Everything Will Be Fine" could be identified by the "optimistic style" (27.2%), inversely correlated with the psychopathological measures and concentration problems. The results of the logistic regression analysis indicated that the length of home confinement (second month) seemed to increase by over 3 times the likelihood of experience posttraumatic symptomatology, and a thinking style "all or nothing" was the final strongest predictor increasing the risk by over 5 times. The implementation of psychological interventions to improve the mental health of vulnerable young subgroups to contain the structuring of psychopathological profiles represent a fundamental challenge.