The DOI matches its Crossref record; 21 of the 22 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Randomized controlled trial of computerized cognitive behavioural therapy for depressive symptoms: effectiveness and costs of a workplace intervention
Open accessAbstract
Background: Depression and anxiety are major causes of absence from work and underperformance in the workplace. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) can be effective in treating such problems and online versions offer many practical advantages. The aim of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of a computerized CBT intervention (MoodGYM) in a workplace context. Method: The study was a phase III two-arm, parallel randomized controlled trial whose main outcome was total score on the Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS). Depression, anxiety, psychological functioning, costs and acceptability of the online process were also measured. Most data were collected online for 637 participants at baseline, 359 at 6 weeks marking the end of the intervention and 251 participants at 12 weeks post-baseline. Results: In both experimental and control groups depression scores improved over 6 weeks but attrition was high. There was no evidence for a difference in the average treatment effect of MoodGYM on the WSAS, nor for a difference in any of the secondary outcomes. Conclusions: This study found no evidence that MoodGYM was superior to informational websites in terms of psychological outcomes or service use, although improvement to subthreshold levels of depression was seen in nearly half the patients in both groups.
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“but this evidence does not translate to online CBT-based stress management programmes delivered within a workplace context”
In the citing paper
“The large improvements on depressive symptoms in the CAU group were also found in 2 studies with comparable target groups of non-sick-listed employees [28,66].”
From Long-Term Results of a Web-Based Guided Self-Help Intervention for Employees With Depressive Symptoms: Randomized Controlled Trial (2014) · cites this paper as [66]
In the citing paper
“Both studies did not report significant effects in favor of the intervention at follow-up (either 3 or 6 months) and showed the same pattern of improvement as was found in this study: substantial improvements between baseline and posttreatment which sustained at follow-up in both groups.”
From Long-Term Results of a Web-Based Guided Self-Help Intervention for Employees With Depressive Symptoms: Randomized Controlled Trial (2014) · cites this paper as [66]
In the citing paper
“One study of web-based CBT52) reported no significant improvement compared with controls on scores of health, quality of life, or subjective work-related performance.”
From Web-based interventions for the management of stress in the workplace: Focus, form, and efficacy (2017) · cites this paper as [52]
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Citations
Cites
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“Secondary outcomes rated were: depression, using the PHQ-9 (Kroenke & Spitzer, 2002); Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation (CORE10; Evans et al. 2002); and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD; Spitzer et al. 2006).”
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BackgroundMethodInfluentialThe Work and Social Adjustment Scale: a simple measure of impairment in functioning
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“Besides having face validity in relation to employers ’ concerns, given the workplace focus of this trial, the WSAS is a brief, reliable and valid test, which has high correlations between clinician and self-report versions (Mundt et al. 2002).”
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Evans, C., Connell, J., Barkham, M., Margison, F., McGrath, G., Mellor-Clark, J., & Audin, K. (2002) · British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.180.1.51 · Cited by 934 · cited 2×
“Secondary outcomes rated were: depression, using the PHQ-9 (Kroenke & Spitzer, 2002); Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation (CORE10; Evans et al. 2002); and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD; Spitzer et al. 2006).”
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“Nonetheless, our sample showed greater commitment than the community-based participants in a MoodGYM trial by Christensen et al. (2006), which found that only 30% of those individuals who complied with the baseline assessment completed even one module of the programme.”
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“Based on estimates of withdrawal, refusal and loss to the study on a previous large trial of MoodGYM (Mackinnon et al. 2008) it was anticipated that 60% of those eligible to participate would be retained over 6 months.”
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Andrews, G., Basu, A., Cuijpers, P., Craske, M. G., McEvoy, P., English, C. L., & Newby, J. M. (2018) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2018.01.001 · Cited by 922
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“However, recent large trials foundarangeofeffects,varying from small to moderate effect sizes(12,13) to no effect.(14,15) These contradicting findings drewmuch attention and raised concerns about the benefits of these interventions.”
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Fernandez, E., Salem, D., Swift, J. K., & Ramtahal, N. (2015) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/ccp0000044 · Cited by 551
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“Seventeen (81%) of the interventions included in the studies used a website as their primary means of delivering the intervention [42-54,56-59], 2 (10%) delivered the intervention via a computer application [41,60], 1 (5%) via email [39], and one (5%) through a standalone computer [55].”
Influential
Metadata
- Authors
- Phillips, R., Schneider, J., Molosankwe, I., Leese, M., Foroushani, P. S., Grime, P., McCrone, P., Morriss, R., & Thornicroft, G.
- Affiliations
- King's College London (GB)
- University of Nottingham (GB)
- UNSW Sydney (AU)
- Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Schneider, J.
- Venue
- Psychological Medicine
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2013-06-24
- Volume
- 44
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 741-752
- ISSN
- 0033-2917 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-8978
- PMC
- PMC3898729
- OpenAlex
- W2141180159
- Cited by
- 110
- References
- 22
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 7.64
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Psychological Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Portal (King's College London) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Repository@Nottingham (University of Nottingham) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- London School of Economics and Political Science Research Online (London School of Economics and Political Science) (acceptedVersion)
- Nottingham ePrints (University of Nottingham) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Repository@Nottingham (University of Nottingham) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Spiral (Imperial College London) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- National Institute for Health and Care Research (NF-SI-0611-10053, MET-08-08-101)
- British Occupational Health Research Foundation
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Workplace Health and Well-being
- Keywords
- MoodGYM, work-related depression, depressive symptoms, online intervention, Work and Social Adjustment Scale, treatment effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, informational websites, attrition, subthreshold depression, psychological functioning, anxiety, service utilization
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Costs and Cost Analysis, Depression, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Patient Education as Topic, Social Adjustment, Stress, Psychological, Reproducibility of Results, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Occupational Health, Treatment Outcome, Workplace, Internet
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