Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38300701›Full record

Trial reportJournal of medical Internet research2024

The Evaluation of the GET.ON Nationwide Web-Only Treatment Service for Depression- and Stress-Related Symptoms: Naturalistic Trial.

Anne Etzelmueller, Elena Heber, Hanne Horvath, Anna Radkovsky, Dirk Lehr, David Daniel Ebert

Open access · goldAbstract readClinical Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in Journal of medical Internet research, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
1.2field-weighted citation impact, top 22% 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

2 citing papers in PubMed, 3 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
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

6 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.

Anne EtzelmuellerDepartment of Sports and Health Sciences, Professorship Psychology and Digital Mental Health Care, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-8833-6067
Elena HeberHelloBetter, GET.ON Institut für Online Gesundheitstrainings GmbH, Hamburg / Berlin, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-3438-0756
Hanne HorvathHelloBetter, GET.ON Institut für Online Gesundheitstrainings GmbH, Hamburg / Berlin, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-5594-754X
Anna RadkovskyDepartment of Psychology, Philipps University Marburg, Marburg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-3461-4487
Dirk LehrDepartment of Health Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Lüneburg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-5560-3605
David Daniel EbertDepartment of Sports and Health Sciences, Professorship Psychology and Digital Mental Health Care, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-6820-0146
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg · DELeuphana University of Lüneburg · DEPhilipps University of Marburg · DETechnical University of Munich · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundGET.ON (HelloBetter) treatment interventions have been shown to be efficacious in multiple randomized controlled trials.

objectiveThis study evaluated the effectiveness of 2 GET.ON interventions, GET.ON Mood Enhancer and GET.ON Stress, in a national digital mental health service implemented across Germany.

methodsFollowing an initial web-based questionnaire, participants were allocated to either intervention based on their baseline symptom severity and personal choice and received a semistandardized guided, feedback-on-demand guided, or self-guided version of the treatment. Uncontrolled routine care data from 851 participants were analyzed using a pretest-posttest design. Half of the participants (461/851, 54.2%) were allocated to the stress intervention (189/461, 41% semistandardized; 240/461, 52% feedback on demand; and 32/461, 6.9% self-guided), and almost all participants in the mood intervention (349/352, 99.2%) received semistandardized guidance.

resultsResults on depression-related symptom severity indicated a reduction in reported symptoms, with a large effect size of d=-0.92 (95% CI -1.21 to -0.63). Results on perceived stress and insomnia indicated a reduction in symptom severity, with large effect sizes of d=1.02 (95% CI -1.46 to -0.58) and d=-0.75 (95% CI -1.10 to -0.40), respectively. A small percentage of participants experienced deterioration in depression-related symptoms (11/289, 3.8%), perceived stress (6/296, 2%), and insomnia (5/252, 2%). After completing treatment, 51.9% (150/289) of participants showed a clinically reliable change in depression-related symptoms, whereas 20.4% (59/289) achieved a close to symptom-free status. Similar improvements were observed in perceived stress and insomnia severity. Guidance moderated the effectiveness of and adherence to the interventions in reducing depressive symptom severity. Effect sizes on depression-related symptom severity were d=-1.20 (95% CI -1.45 to -0.93) for the semistandardized group, d=-0.36 (95% CI -0.68 to -0.04) for the feedback-on-demand group, and d=-0.83 (95% CI -1.03 to -0.63) for the self-guided group. Furthermore, 47.6% (405/851) of the participants completed all modules of the intervention. Participant satisfaction was high across all patient groups and both interventions; 89.3% (242/271) of participants would recommend it to a friend in need of similar help. Limitations include the assignment to treatments and guidance formats based on symptom severity. Furthermore, part of the differences in symptom change between groups must be assumed to be due to this baseline difference in the measures.

conclusionsFuture digital health implementation and routine care research should focus on monitoring symptom deterioration and other negative effects, as well as possible predictors of deterioration and the investigation of individual patient trajectories. In conclusion, this study supports the effectiveness of tailored digital mental health services in routine care for depression- and stress-related symptoms in Germany. The results highlight the importance of guidance in delivering internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy interventions and provide further evidence for its potential delivered as web-only solutions for increasing access to and use of psychological treatments.

Indexed as

Cognitive Behavioral TherapySleep Initiation and Maintenance DisordersAffectDepressionDigital HealthHumansdepressiondigitaleffectivenessinternetroutine carestress

Identifiers

PMID38300701
PMCPMC10870208
OpenAlexW4391450236

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.