Coach-Facilitated Web-Based Therapy Compared With Information About Web-Based Resources in Patients Referred to Secondary Mental Health Care for Depression: Randomized Controlled Trial

By Sarah MacLean, Daniel J Corsi, Sadie Litchfield, Julia Kucharski, Kira Genise, Zeynep Selaman, Valerie Testa and Simon Hatcher

Depression is a common mental disorder that has a significant impact on quality of life as well as a high social burden. Many of those with depression go on to self-harm or die by suicide. Due to long wait times for face-to-face therapy, treatment is often limited to drug therapies despite recommendations that counselling should be a first-line treatment for those with mild to moderate levels of depression.

To address this, we conducted a clinic trial to test the efficacy of combining online therapy program for depression (The Journal) with the use of a telephone coach. Participants completed the online program over a period of 12 weeks and had weekly telephone calls with the coach who would help them progress through the program. This was compared to a group of patients who received usual care as well as an information leaflet with web-based resources.

We evaluated the impact that this had on depressive symptoms, suicidal thoughts, quality of life, and health service use. While this study did not show significant differences between the two groups in terms of depression, this study found that those who completed more lessons in the online therapy were more likely to experience a meaningful reduction in their depression symptoms.

To read this article in full, please visit: https://www.jmir.org/2020/6/e15001/