Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-mwwwr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-22T16:46:55.288Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

One-year follow-up results of a randomized controlled clinical trial on internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy for subthreshold depression in people over 50 years

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 January 2008

V. Spek ,
P. Cuijpers ,
I. Nyklíček ,
N. Smits ,
H. Riper ,
J. Keyzer  and
V. Pop
V. Spek*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Health, Tilburg University, The Netherlands
P. Cuijpers
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
I. Nyklíček
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Health, Tilburg University, The Netherlands
N. Smits
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
H. Riper
Affiliation:
Trimbos-instituut, Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction, The Netherlands
J. Keyzer
Affiliation:
Diagnostic Centre Eindhoven, The Netherlands
V. Pop
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Health, Tilburg University, The Netherlands
*
*Address for correspondence: Dr V. Spek, Tilburg University, PO Box 90153, 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands. (Email: v.r.m.spek@uvt.nl)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

Internet-based cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is a promising new approach for the treatment of depressive symptoms. The current study had two aims: (1) to determine whether, after 1 year, an internet-based CBT intervention was more effective than a waiting-list control group; and (2) to determine whether the effect of the internet-based CBT differed from the group CBT intervention, 1 year after the start of treatment.

Method

A total of 191 women and 110 men (mean age=55 years, s.d.=4.6) with subthreshold depression were randomized into internet-based treatment, group CBT (Lewinsohn's Coping with Depression Course), or a waiting-list control condition. The main outcome measure was treatment response after 1 year, defined as the difference in pretreatment and follow-up scores on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Missing data were imputed using the multiple imputation procedure of data augmentation. Analyses were performed using multiple imputation inference.

Results

In the waiting-list control group, we found a pretreatment to follow-up improvement effect size of 0.69, which was 0.62 in the group CBT condition and 1.22 with the internet-based treatment condition. Simple contrasts showed a significant difference between the waiting-list condition and internet-based treatment (p=0.03) and no difference between both treatment conditions (p=0.08).

Conclusions

People aged over 50 years with subthreshold depression can still benefit from internet-based CBT 1 year after the start of treatment.

Keywords

Cognitive behaviour therapydepressioninternet

Information

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 38 , Issue 5 , May 2008 , pp. 635 - 639
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Allart-Van Dam, E, Hosman, CMH, Hoogduin, CAL, Schaap, CPDR (2003). The Coping with Depression course: short-term outcomes and mediating effects of a randomized controlled trial in the treatment of subclinical depression. Behavior Therapy 34, 381–396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allart-Van Dam, E, Hosman, CMH, Hoogduin, CAL, Schaap, CPDR (2007). Prevention of depression in subclinically depressed adults: follow-up effects on the ‘Coping with Depression’ course. Journal of Affective Disorders 97, 219–228.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Andersson, G, Bergström, J, Holländare, F, Carlbring, P, Kaldo, V, Ekselius, L (2005). Internet-based self-help for depression: randomised controlled trial. British Journal of Psychiatry 187, 456–461.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Andrews, G, Issakidis, C, Sanderson, K, Corry, J, Lapsley, H (2004). Utilising survey data to inform public policy: comparison of the cost-effectiveness of treatment for ten mental disorders. British Journal of Psychiatry 184, 526–533.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beck, AT, Steer, RA, Brown, GK (1996). Beck Depression Inventory Manual, 2nd edn. Psychological Corporation: San Antonio, TX.Google Scholar
Christensen, H, Griffiths, KM, Jorm, AF (2004). Delivering interventions for depression by using the Internet: randomised controlled trial. British Medical Journal 328, 265–267.Google Scholar
Clarke, G, Eubanks, D, Reid, E, Kelleher, C, O'Connor, E, DeBarr, L, Lynch, F, Nunley, S, Gullion, C (2005). Overcoming depression on the internet (ODIN) (2): a randomised trial of a self-help depression skills program with reminders. Journal of Medical Internet Research 7, e16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, J (1988). Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences, 2nd edn. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Hillsdale, NJ.Google Scholar
Cox, JL, Chapman, G, Murray, D, Jones, P (1996). Validation of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) in non-postnatal women. Journal of Affective Disorders 39, 185–189.Google Scholar
Cox, JL, Holden, JM, Sagovsky, R (1987). Detection of postnatal depression: Development of the 10-item Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. British Journal of Psychiatry 150, 782–786.Google Scholar
Cuijpers, P (1998). A psychoeducational approach to the treatment of depression: a meta-analysis of Lewinsohn's ‘Coping with Depression’ course. Behavior Therapy 29, 521–533.Google Scholar
Haringsma, R, Engels, GI, Cuijpers, P, Spinhoven, P (2005). Effectiveness of the Coping With Depression (CWD) course for older adults provided by the community-based mental health care system in the Netherlands: a randomized controlled trial. International Psychogeriatrics 17, 1–19.Google Scholar
Lewinsohn, PM, Munoz, RF, Youngren, MA, Zeiss, AM (1992). Control Your Depression. Fireside: New York, NY.Google Scholar
Murray, L, Carothers, AD (1990). The validation of the Edinburgh Post-natal Depression Scale on a community sample. British Journal of Psychiatry 157, 288–290.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schafer, JL (1999). norm: multiple imputation of incomplete multivariate data under a normal model. Software for S-PLUS 4.0 for Windows (www.stat.psu.edu/~jls/misoftwa.html).Google Scholar
Spek, V, Cuijpers, I, Nyklíček, I, Riper, H, Keyzer, J, Pop, V (2007 b). Internet-based cognitive behaviour therapy for symptoms of depression and anxiety: a meta-analysis. Psychological Medicine 37, 319–328.Google Scholar
Spek, V, Nyklíček, I, Smits, N, Cuijpers, P, Riper, H, Keyzer, J, Pop, V (2007 a). Internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy for subthreshold depression in people over 50 years old: a randomized controlled trial. Psychological Medicine 37, 1797–1806.Google Scholar
Statistics Netherlands (CBS) (2005). Education level in Dutch population increasing (www.cbs.nl/en-GB/menu/themas/onderwijs/publicaties/artikelen/archief/2005/2005-1745-wm.htm). Accessed 21 December 2007.Google Scholar
Van der Does, AJW (2002). Manual of the Dutch Version of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II-NL). Ipskamp: Enschede, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
WHO (1997). Composite International Diagnostic Interview, version 2.1. World Health Organization: Geneva.Google Scholar