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Cited by 42Digital Mental Health InterventionsAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive ProcessesPsychological Treatments and Assessments

Internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety among university students: A systematic review and meta-analysis

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Oliveira, Cláudia, Pacheco, Mara, Borges, Janete, Meira, Liliana, Santos, Anita·2023·Internet Interventions
DOI 10.1016/j.invent.2023.100609PMC PMC9982642
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Abstract

University years are marked by multiple stressors. Consequently, university students often report anxiety symptoms or disorders, but most remain untreated. Internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT) has been proposed as an alternative to address known help-seeking barriers, which were aggravated during the COVID-19 pandemic. This meta-analysis aims to evaluate the efficacy of ICBT for university students with anxiety. A systematic search on three databases, EBSCOhost, PubMed, and Web of Science, and a manual search were performed. Fifteen studies were identified, including a total of 1619 participants. Seven studies evaluated ICBT treatment for both anxiety and depression, three for social anxiety, two for generalized anxiety, while the remaining (k = 3) only targeted anxiety, test anxiety, and comorbidity between anxiety and insomnia. Analyses were performed based on a random-effects model using the metafor package in R. The results indicated that ICBT had a significant and positive effect on university students with anxiety compared to controls at post-test (g = −0.48; 95 % CI: −0.63, −0.27; p < .001, I2 = 67.30 %). Nevertheless, more research is required to determine the intervention components that are more relevant for therapeutic change, how much guidance is required to produce better outcomes, and how patient engagement can be improved.

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  • Some studies combined internet technology with CBT and applied this approach to the treatment of SAD among undergraduate students.

    “Some studies combined internet technology with CBT and applied this approach to the treatment of SAD among undergraduate students [19].”

    From Advancing Undergraduate Student Mental Healthcare of Social Anxiety Disorder: Evaluating the Acceptance of AR-Assisted Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Through TAM-Based Constructs. (2026) · cites this paper as [19]

    The Introduction describes internet-delivered CBT, and Results > Studies characteristics reports three included studies targeting social anxiety disorder among university students. The paper does not establish that the participants in those studies were specifically undergraduates; “undergraduate students” appears in its search terms, not as a description of those samples. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.82)

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Authors
Oliveira, C., Pacheco, M., Borges, J., Meira, L., & Santos, A.
Affiliations
  • Universidade do Porto (PT)
  • Instituto Superior da Maia (PT)
Corresponding author
Santos, Anita
ORCID
Venue
Internet Interventions
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2023-03
Volume
31
Pages
100609
ISSN
2214-7829 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.invent.2023.100609
PMC
PMC9982642
OpenAlex
W4321760764
Cited by
42
References
82
Citations by year
2026: 16 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 4
FWCI
1.43
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Internet Interventions (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (UIDP/00050/2020, 2021.04914)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychological Treatments and Assessments
Keywords
internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy, anxiety, university students, student mental health, social anxiety, generalized anxiety disorder, test anxiety, insomnia comorbidity, depression, help-seeking barriers, COVID-19 pandemic, treatment efficacy

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