Cited by 190Digital Mental Health InterventionsAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive ProcessesMental Health Treatment and Access

Clinical effectiveness of online computerised cognitive–behavioural therapy without support for depression in primary care: randomised trial

Open access
de Graaf, L. E., Gerhards, S. A. H., Arntz, A., Riper, H., Metsemakers, J. F. M., Evers, S. M. A. A., Severens, J. L., Widdershoven, G. +1 more·2009·British Journal of Psychiatry

Abstract

Background: Computerised cognitive–behavioural therapy (CCBT) might offer a solution to the current undertreatment of depression. Aims: To determine the clinical effectiveness of online, unsupported CCBT for depression in primary care. Method: Three hundred and three people with depression were randomly allocated to one of three groups: Colour Your Life; treatment as usual (TAU) by a general practitioner; or Colour Your Life and TAU combined. Colour Your Life is an online, multimedia, interactive CCBT programme. No assistance was offered. We had a 6-month follow-up period. Results: No significant differences in outcome between the three interventions were found in the intention-to-treat and per protocol analyses. Conclusions: Online, unsupported CCBT did not outperform usual care, and the combination of both did not have additional effects. Decrease in depressive symptoms in people with moderate to severe depression was moderate in all three interventions. Online CCBT without support is not beneficial for all individuals with depression.

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Crossref · 10.1192/bjp.bp.108.054429

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  • Difficulties in recruiting patients are a well-known problem in clinical trials, and long recruitment periods seem common.

    “Finally, difficulties in recruiting patients is a well-known problem in clinical trials (Clarke et al., 2005; De Graaf et al., 2009; Mead et al., 2005) and long recruitment periods seem to be a common problem.”

    From Internet-Based Therapy for Mild to Moderate Depression in Swedish Primary Care: Short Term Results from the PRIM-NET Randomized Controlled Trial (2014) · cites this paper as De Graaf et al., 2009

    The Methodological considerations section (page unavailable) reports that only 0.14% of the original recruitment population entered the trial and describes its low response rate, supporting recruitment difficulty in this study. It does not say that recruitment difficulties are a well-known problem across clinical trials or that long recruitment periods are common. (LLM, conf=0.83)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • The number of modules completed was found to correlate with outcomes in interventions that targeted cigarette smoking, depression, and anxiety disorders.

    “The number of modules completed was found to correlate with outcomes in interventions that targeted cigarette smoking [42,46,47], depression [45,48-51], and anxiety disorders [52-57].”
  • Several studies categorized participants into adherent or not, or usage categories such as low, medium, and high, while others used continuous variables or a combination of these.

    “Several studies categorized participants into adherent or not [49,54,57,75], or usage categories such as low, medium, and high [60], while others used continuous variables [23,24,33-36,38-41,43-45,50-52,55,56,58,59,61,76] or a combination of these [42,46,53,64-66,77].”
  • There are important differences between the therapist-supported intervention in the study by Kessler et al. [28] and the nonguided intervention in the study by de Graaf et al. [19].

    “However, despite similar delivery context and study design, there are important differences between the therapist-supported intervention in the study by Kessler et al. [28] and the nonguided intervention in the study by de Graaf et al. [19].”

    From Internet-based psychological treatments for depression (2012) · cites this paper as [19]

  • In another study, adding ICBT to CAU did not improve the outcome.

    “In another study, adding ICBT to CAU did not improve the outcome [19].”

    From Internet-based psychological treatments for depression (2012) · cites this paper as [19]

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Cites

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1 of the 62 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 6

  1. Van der Does AJW. De Nederlandse versie van de Beck Depression Inventory -second edition (BDI-II-NL): Handleiding (in Dutch) [The Dutch Version of the Beck Depression Inventory -Second Edition (BDI-II-NL): A Manual]. The Psychological Corporation, 2002.
  2. Robins LN, Wing J, Wittchen HU, Babor TF, Burke J, Farmer A, et al. The Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1988; 45: 1069-77.
  3. Van Marwijk HWJ, Grundmeijer HGLM, Bijl D, van Gelderen MG, de Haan M, van Weel-Baumgarten, et al. NHG-standaard depressieve stoornis (in Dutch) [Depression guideline of the Dutch College of General Practitioners]. Huisarts Wet 2003; 46: 614-23.
  4. Arrindell WA, Ettema H. Dimensionele sctructuur, betrouwbaarheid en validiteit van de Nederlandse bewerking van de Symptom Checklist (SCL-90); gegevens gebaseerd op een fobische en een 'normale' populatie (in Dutch) [Dimensional structure, reliability and validity of the Dutch version fo the Symptom Checklist (SCL-90): findings based on a phobic and a 'normal' population]. Ned Tijdschr Psychol 1981; 36: 77-108.
  5. Weissman A. The Dysfunctional Attitude Scale: a validation study. Diss Abs Int 1979; 40: 1389-90.
  6. De Graaf LE, Roelofs J, Huibers MJH. Measuring dysfunctional attitudes in the general population: the DAS-A revised. Cog Ther Res 2009; in press.

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Authors
de Graaf, L. E., Gerhards, S. A. H., Arntz, A., Riper, H., Metsemakers, J. F. M., Evers, S. M. A. A., Severens, J. L., Widdershoven, G., & Huibers, M. J. H.
Affiliations
  • Maastricht University (NL)
  • Trimbos Institute (NL)
  • Maastricht University Medical Centre (NL)
Venue
British Journal of Psychiatry
Published
2009-07
Volume
195
Issue
1
Pages
73-80
ISSN
  • 0007-1250 (ISSN-L)
  • 1472-1465
OpenAlex
W2144014514
Cited by
190
References
62
Citations by year
2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 21 · 2012: 15
FWCI
22.76
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • The British Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • VU Research Portal (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • Pure Amsterdam UMC (submittedVersion)
  • Amsterdam UMC (VU Amsterdam) - Institutional Repository (submittedVersion)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Research Publications (Maastricht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Digital Academic REpository of VU University Amsterdam (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • ZonMw (945-04-417)
  • Care and Public Health Research Institute, Universiteit Maastricht
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 › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
Keywords
computerized cognitive behavioral therapy, online therapy, depression, primary care, untreated depression, multimedia intervention, depressive symptoms, general practitioner care, usual care
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Depressive Disorder, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Primary Health Care, Therapy, Computer-Assisted, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Treatment Outcome, Internet, Young Adult

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