Trial reportBehaviour research and therapy2023
Self-guided online treatment of disturbed grief, posttraumatic stress, and depression in adults bereaved during the COVID-19 pandemic: A randomized controlled trial.
Trial report in Behaviour research and therapy, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 2 of them syntheses 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
24 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 53 citations in OpenAlex.
- Global prevalence of prolonged grief disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic under standardized diagnostic frameworks: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Psychological medicine · 2026Pooled it
- The effectiveness of web-based grief intervention for adults who lost a loved one: A systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC palliative care · 2025Pooled it
- Ayahuasca-assisted meaning reconstruction therapy as an early resource for bereavement: a non-randomized clinical trial.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- The Efficacy and Usability of an Unguided Web-Based Grief Intervention for Adults Who Lost a Loved One During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Trial
- Internet Cognitive Therapy for Prolonged Grief Disorder (iCT-PG): a developmental case series.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Article
- Perceived opportunities and risks of using deepfake technology in grief treatment: a qualitative study among Dutch bereaved people and mental health care workers.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Article
- Feasibility, acceptability and potential effects of internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy for prolonged grief.Internet interventions · 2026Article
- COVID-19-associated neurological and psychological manifestations.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2025Review
- Acceptability and feasibility of an internet-based intervention for bereaved Chinese with prolonged grief: a mixed methods study.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Article
- Co-production ofEuropean journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Article
- Exploring reactivity effects of self-monitoring prolonged grief reactions in daily life: A randomized waitlist-controlled trial using experience sampling methodology.Internet interventions · 2025Article
- Article
- Internet-Delivered Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (iCBT) for Spanish-Speaking Adults with Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD): A Randomized Feasibility Trial.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Unraveling attachment - A network analysis of the cognitive pathways linking attachment and prolonged grief.Psychological medicine · 2025Article
- The Potential Role of Palliative Care and Hospice in Addressing Prolonged Grief Disorder in the United States.Journal of pain and symptom management · 2025Article
- A rapid review of the evidence for online interventions for bereavement support.Palliative medicine · 2025Review
- State of the Science: Psychotherapeutic Interventions for Prolonged Grief Disorder.Behavior therapy · 2024Review
- ICD-11 andThe Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry · 2024Article
- The self-help app My Grief: Bereaved parents' experiences of helpfulness, satisfaction and usability.Internet interventions · 2024Article
- Prevalence and correlates of ICD-11-based prolonged grief disorder in a representative Slovakian sample of recently bereaved adults.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThis randomized-waitlist controlled trial is the first study examining short-term effects of a self-guided online grief-specific cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in reducing early persistent complex bereavement disorder (PCBD), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression symptoms in adults bereaved during the COVID-19 pandemic.
methodSixty-five Dutch adults, bereaved at least three months earlier during the pandemic, with clinically-relevant PCBD, PTSD, and/or depression symptoms, were allocated to a treatment (n = 32) or waitlist condition (n = 33). Telephone interviews were conducted to assess PCBD, PTSD, and depression symptoms (using validated instruments) at baseline, post-treatment, and post-waiting period. Participants received an eight-week self-guided online grief-specific CBT including exposure, cognitive restructuring, and behavioral activation assignments. Analyses of covariance were performed.
resultsIntention-to-treat analyses indicated that people in the intervention condition showed significantly lower PCBD (d = 0.90), PTSD (d = 0.71), and depression (d = 0.57) symptom-levels post-treatment relative to waitlist controls post-waiting, while taking baseline symptom-levels and use of professional psychological co-intervention into account.
conclusionsThe online CBT proved to be an effective intervention, reducing PCBD, PTSD, and depression symptoms. Pending replication of these findings, early online interventions may be widely implemented in practice to improve treatments for distressed bereaved people.
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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.