Therapist-guided Internet-delivered Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Summary

Depression and anxiety are prevalent and disabling conditions that often go untreated. Internet-delivered Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (ICBT) is a relatively new approach to treatment that is a convenient way for patients to access care. ICBT is typically highly standardized and involves patients reviewing weekly lessons over the Internet. Patients also receive brief weekly support from a therapist via secure emails or phone calls. Past research shows that \~75% of patients complete ICBT and report large symptom improvements. Although these results are very promising, research also suggests that ICBT could potentially be improved by being more personalized in terms of amount of therapist contact, especially for clients with more severe symptoms. The current trial will involve therapists who work in a clinic that specializes in ICBT. Over one year, 440 patients with depression and/or anxiety will be randomized to either receive standardized (5 lessons completed in 8 weeks; once week therapist contact) or personalized ICBT (5 lessons completed in 8 weeks; personalized therapist contact depending on needs of patient). Psychosocial outcomes of patients in the two treatment arms will be compared post-treatment and at 3-month, 6-month, and 1-year follow-up from enrollment. Data on intervention usage, satisfaction measures, and costs will also be assessed.

Conditions

• Anxiety
• Depression

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Personalized ICBT

An 8-week transdiagnostic internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy (ICBT) will be delivered to participants. All clients will receive support from registered social workers, psychologists or supervised graduate students, with experience delivering ICBT, with contact depending upon group allocation. In addition to the online program, therapists, registered social workers, psychologists or supervised graduate students, with experience delivering ICBT will provide support within one business day of client emails. Amount of contact will be personalized to patients' needs.

BEHAVIORAL

Standard ICBT

An 8-week transdiagnostic internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy (ICBT) will be delivered to participants. All clients will receive support from registered social workers, psychologists or supervised graduate students, with experience delivering ICBT, with contact depending upon group allocation. In addition to the online program, therapists, registered social workers, psychologists or supervised graduate students, with experience delivering ICBT will provide support by email only once a week. Therapist will spend approximately 15 minutes per week/per client.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• University of Regina

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Heather D Hadjistavropoulos, PhD · University of Regina

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2017-10-11

Primary Completion

2019-10-15

Completion

2019-10-15

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations