Trial reportJMIR mental health2024
Web-Based, Human-Guided, or Computer-Guided Transdiagnostic Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in University Students With Anxiety and Depression: Randomized Controlled Trial.
Trial report in JMIR mental health, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Harnessing large language models in virtual CBT for university students' academic anxiety: a preliminary randomized trial.Frontiers in public health · 2026Trial
- Experiences with a guided trauma-focused internet- and mobile-based intervention: a qualitative study of youth's perspectives.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Article
- A systematic review on personalization of treatment components in IBIs for mental disorders.Internet interventions · 2025Review
- Dropout and completion in iCBT for university students: Insights from a thematic analysis.Internet interventions · 2025Article
- From Mind to Liver: Exploring the Causal Relationship Between Anxiety Disorders and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Through Mendelian Randomization and UK Biobank Validation.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2025Article
- Current status and influencing factors of test anxiety of senior one students in Yanji, China: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in psychology · 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
19 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundInternet-based cognitive behavioral interventions (iCBTs) are efficacious treatments for depression and anxiety. However, it is unknown whether adding human guidance is feasible and beneficial within a large educational setting.
objectiveThis study aims to potentially demonstrate the superiority of 2 variants of a transdiagnostic iCBT program (human-guided and computer-guided iCBT) over care as usual (CAU) in a large sample of university students and the superiority of human-guided iCBT over computer-guided iCBT.
methodsA total of 801 students with elevated levels of anxiety, depression, or both from a large university in the Netherlands were recruited as participants and randomized to 1 of 3 conditions: human-guided iCBT, computer-guided iCBT, and CAU. The primary outcome measures were depression (Patient Health Questionnaire) and anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale). Secondary outcomes included substance use-related problems (Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test and Drug Abuse Screening Test-10 items). Linear mixed models were used to estimate the effects of time, treatment group, and their interactions (slopes). The primary research question was whether the 3 conditions differed in improvement over 3 time points (baseline, midtreatment, and after treatment) in terms of depression and anxiety symptoms. Results were analyzed according to the intention-to-treat principle using multiple imputation. Patients were followed exploratively from baseline to 6 and 12 months.
resultsIn both short-term and long-term analyses, the slopes for the 3 conditions did not differ significantly in terms of depression and anxiety, although both web-based interventions were marginally more efficacious than CAU over 6 months (P values between .02 and .03). All groups showed significant improvement over time (P<.001). For the secondary outcomes, only significant improvements over time (across and not between groups) were found for drug use (P<.001). Significant differences were found in terms of adherence, indicating that participants in the human-guided condition did more sessions than those in the computer-guided condition (P=.002).
conclusionsThe transdiagnostic iCBT program offers a practical, feasible, and efficacious alternative to usual care to tackle mental health problems in a large university setting. There is no indication that human guidance should be preferred over technological guidance. The potential preference of human support also depends on the scale of implementation and cost-effectiveness, which need to be addressed in future trials.
trial registrationInternational Clinical Trials Registry Platform NL7328/NTR7544; https://trialsearch.who.int/Trial2.aspx?TrialID=NL-OMON26795.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.