Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29175809›Full record

Trial reportJournal of medical Internet research2017

Two Novel Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-Based Mobile Apps for Agoraphobia: Randomized Controlled Trial.

Marina Christoforou, José Andrés Sáez Fonseca, Elias Tsakanikos

Open access · goldAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Journal of medical Internet research, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
23citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
3.8field-weighted citation impact, top 6% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

23 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 55 citations in OpenAlex.

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  19. Mobile Mental Health Apps in China: Systematic App Store Search.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Marina ChristoforouDivision of Psychiatry, University College London, London, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0003-4841-2736
José Andrés Sáez FonsecaDivision of Psychiatry, University College London, London, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-0373-3213
Elias TsakanikosDepartment of Psychology, University of Roehampton, London, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-7792-5402
University College London · GBUniversity of Roehampton · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundDespite the large body of literature demonstrating the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral treatments for agoraphobia, many patients remain untreated because of various barriers to treatment. Web-based and mobile-based interventions targeting agoraphobia may provide a solution to this problem, but there is a lack of research investigating the efficacy of such interventions.

objectiveThe objective of our study was to evaluate for the first time the effectiveness of a self-guided mobile-based intervention primarily targeting agoraphobic symptoms, with respect to a generic mobile app targeting anxiety.

methodsA Web-based randomized controlled trial (RCT) compared a novel mobile app designed to target agoraphobia (called Agoraphobia Free) with a mobile app designed to help with symptoms of anxiety in general (called Stress Free). Both interventions were based on established cognitive behavioral principles. We recruited participants (N=170) who self-identified as having agoraphobia and assessed them online at baseline, midpoint, and end point (posttreatment) over a period of 12 weeks. The primary outcome was symptom severity measured by the Panic and Agoraphobia Scale.

resultsBoth groups had statistically significant improvements in symptom severity over time (difference -5.97, 95% CI -8.49 to -3.44, P<.001 for Agoraphobia Free and -6.35, 95% CI -8.82 to -3.87, P<.001 for Stress Free), but there were no significant between-group differences on the primary outcome (difference 0.38, 95% CI -1.96 to 3.20, P=.64).

conclusionsThis is, to our knowledge, the first RCT to provide evidence that people who identify as having agoraphobia may equally benefit from a diagnosis-specific and a transdiagnostic mobile-based intervention. We also discuss clinical and research implications for the development and dissemination of mobile mental health apps.

trial registrationInternational Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN): 98453199; http://www.isrctn.com /ISRCTN98453199 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6uR5vsdZw).

Indexed as

AdultAgoraphobiaCognitive Behavioral TherapyFemaleHumansInternetMaleMobile ApplicationsTelemedicineagoraphobiaanxietycomputerized interventionseHealthmobile applicationsrandomized controlled trialRCT

Identifiers

PMID29175809
PMCPMC5722980
OpenAlexW2769826289

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.