ArticleBehaviour research and therapy2021
The effect of depression and anxiety symptom severity on clinical outcomes and app use in digital mental health treatments: Meta-regression of three trials.
Article in Behaviour research and therapy, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- Associations Between Baseline Severity and Treatment Effects in Digital Interventions for Eating Disorders: A Meta-Regression.European eating disorders review : the journal of the Eating Disorders Association · 2026Pooled it
- Who engages? Machine learning insights into digital mindfulness-based intervention for generalized anxiety disorder.Journal of affective disorders · 2026Trial
- Message-Based vs Video-Based Psychotherapy for Depression: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2025Trial
- Design Preferences for Mental Health Apps Among Nondigitally Native Adults With Chronic Pain: Qualitative Analysis.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2026Article
- Optimizing Usability of Digital Health Interventions for Nondigitally Native Adults: A Framework-Based Approach to Develop Just-in-Time Adaptive Interventions (JITAIs) and Other Adaptations.JMIR human factors · 2026Article
- Real-World Implementation and Evaluation of a Digitally Enabled Care Pathway to Improve Depression Management in Primary Care: Controlled Pre-Post Analysis of the Pathway Platform.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Article
- Online Racism, Digital Mental Health Tools, and Online Mental Health Communication Among Black Young Adults With and Without Depression or Anxiety: Cross-Sectional Quantitative Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- From Efficacy to Scale: Addressing Digital Health's Original Sin.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Evaluating and Optimizing Just-in-Time Adaptive Interventions in a Digital Mental Health Intervention (Wysa for Chronic Pain) for Middle-Aged and Older Adults With Chronic Pain: Protocol for a Series of Randomized Trials.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- Health Care Workers' Experience With a Psychological Self-Monitoring App During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Mixed Methods Study.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2025Article
- Professional and service-user perspectives regarding the future of mental healthcare in Israel.Israel journal of health policy research · 2025Article
- Developing a Behavioral Phenotyping Layer for Artificial Intelligence-Driven Predictive Analytics in a Digital Resiliency Course: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- Mental Health Clinicians as Advocates for Effective, Equitable, Accessible, and Safe Digital Mental Health Services.Focus (American Psychiatric Publishing) · 2025Article
- Evaluating User Experience and Satisfaction in a Concussion Rehabilitation App: Usability Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- Improvements in physical activity and depression symptoms: an observational study of users of a multi-modal digital mental health platform.Frontiers in digital health · 2025Article
- Management of Depression and Anxiety in Perioperative Medicine.Anesthesiology · 2024Review
- Nudges and Prompts Increase Engagement in Self-Guided Digital Health Treatment for Depression and Anxiety: Results From a 3-Arm Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- Demographic and clinical characteristics associated with anxiety and depressive symptom outcomes in users of a digital mental health intervention incorporating a relational agent.BMC psychiatry · 2024Article
- The Effect of a Digital Mental Health Program on Anxiety and Depression Symptoms: Retrospective Analysis of Clinical Severity.JMIR formative research · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
A large number of trials have consistently shown that guided digital mental health treatments (DMHTs) are effective for depression and anxiety. As DMHTs are adopted by healthcare organizations, payers, and employers, they are often considered most appropriate for people with mild-to-moderate levels of symptom severity. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine the effects of symptom severity on depression and anxiety outcomes and app use across three trials of a guided DMHT, IntelliCare. Participants were categorized into mild, moderate, moderately severe, and severe symptom severity groups on depression and anxiety. All symptom severity groups showed significant reductions in depression and anxiety in a clear ordinal pattern, with the mild symptom severity group showing the smallest changes and the severe symptom group showing the largest improvements. Those with the lowest levels of educational attainment showed the largest symptom improvement. Baseline symptom severity was not significantly related to app use. App use was significantly related to depression and anxiety outcomes. These findings suggest that depression and anxiety symptom severity is not useful in determining who should be referred to a guided DMHT.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.