Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41030013›Full record

ArticleBJPsych open2025

Unguided self-help to bridge waiting time for face-to-face therapy in a university student mental health service: interrupted time series analysis.

Matilda Floris, Giovanni Bruno, Marianna Purgato, Irene Cammilli, Gioia Bottesi, Silvia Salcuni, Andrea Spoto, Claudio Gentili, Ioana Alina Cristea

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Article in BJPsych open, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

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

9 authors.

Matilda FlorisPhD Student, Padova Neuroscience Center (PNC), University of Padua, Padua, Italy.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0004-3916-769X
Giovanni BrunoAssistant Professor, Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2526-880X
Marianna PurgatoAssociate Professor, Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, Section of Psychiatry, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3783-8195
Irene CammilliDepartment of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0007-3196-9470
Gioia BottesiAssociate Professor, Department of General Psychology and University Centre for Clinical Psychological Services, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8411-8887
Silvia SalcuniAssociate Professor, Department of Developmental and Social Psychology and University Centre for Clinical Psychological Services, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1798-5761
Andrea SpotoFull Professor and University Centre for Clinical Psychological Services, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7580-544X
Claudio GentiliFull professor, Department of General Psychology and University Centre for Clinical Psychological Services, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2579-8755
Ioana Alina CristeaAssociate Professor, Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9854-7076

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMarked increases in mental health services utilisation across university settings mean that students often spend long periods waiting for evaluation and treatment.

aimsTo assess whether digital unguided self-help delivered while waiting for face-to-face therapy could reduce anxiety and depression and improve functioning in university students.

methodWe retrospectively analysed routinely collected data from the student mental health service at the University of Padua, Italy. From June 2022, all students waiting for clinical evaluation and treatment received a self-help stress management booklet (The World Health Organization's

resultsSeven hundred and forty-nine Italian students (77% women, median age 23 years) were included; of these, 411 (55%) received the intervention and 338 (45%) did not. ITS indicated that the intervention introduction coincided with immediate and sharp decreases in depression (level change,

conclusionsIn the absence of a control group, no causal inferences about intervention effects could be drawn. DWM should be studied as a promising candidate for bridging waiting time for face-to-face treatment.

Indexed as

interrupted time seriesself-helpstudent mental healthUniversity studentswaiting list

Identifiers

PMID41030013
PMCPMC12529338

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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.