Effectiveness of an Internet-Based Self-Help Intervention versus Public Mental Health Advice to Reduce Worry during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Pragmatic, Parallel-Group, Randomized Controlled Trial.
Psychother Psychosom
; 91(6): 398-410, 2022.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1633163
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
The mental health burden for the general population due to the COVID-19 pandemic has been highlighted. Evidence on effective, easily accessible public health interventions to reduce worry, a major transdiagnostic risk-factor for, e.g., anxiety and depression, is scarce.OBJECTIVE:
In a pragmatic randomized controlled trial, we aimed to assess whether an internet cognitive-behavioral self-help intervention could reduce worry more than public mental health advice in the general population.METHODS:
Eligible internet users above the age of 18 were recruited from the German general population and randomly assigned, to either get.calm-move.on (GCMO), a 10-day unguided, internet-based self-help intervention, or mental health advice waiting group (MHA-W, receiving officially endorsed mental health recommendations). The primary outcome was level of worry, using the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ), 2 weeks after randomization. Baseline assessment and 2-month and 6-month follow-ups were conducted. The trial was registered at the German Clinical Trials Registry (DRKS00021153).RESULTS:
Between April 7, 2020 and December 11, 2020, we randomly assigned 351 individuals to receive either GCMO (n = 175) or MHA-W (n = 176). Participants receiving GCMO (PSWQ = 46.6; change -10.3) reported significantly less worrying at post-intervention (F1,219 = 12.9; p < 0.001; d = 0.38) than MHA-W controls (PSWQ = 51.6; change -5.1). Improvements were also seen on most secondary outcomes, including symptoms of anxiety and depression, general well-being, resiliency, and emotion regulation skills. Improvements made from baseline were stable until the 6-month follow-up.CONCLUSIONS:
This internet-based self-help intervention providing cognitive-behavioral techniques to cope with the threatening pandemic situation is effective in reducing worry in the general population and should complement existing and potentially effective mental health recommendations.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Internet-Based Intervention
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Psychother Psychosom
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
000521302
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