Abstract
BackgroundBlended group therapy (bGT) has been investigated a several times for anxiety and depression, but information on patients’ adherence to and therapists’ perception of the novel format is nonexistent. Furthermore, many studies investigated mainly female and highly educated populations, limiting the validity of previous findings.ObjectiveThis study aimed to reduce the gaps and limitations of the previous findings by evaluating an integrated internet- and mobile-supported bGT format.MethodsA total of 27 patients diagnosed with major depression (14/27, 52% female and 7/27, 25.9% compulsory education) participated in a 7-week treatment at a university outpatient clinic. Furthermore, 8 novice therapists participated in semistructured interviews and a subsequent cross-validation survey.ResultsPrimary symptom reduction was high (d=1.31 to 1.51) and remained stable for the follow-up period. Therapists identified advantages (eg, patient engagement, treatment intensification, and improved therapeutic relation) and disadvantages (eg, increased workload, data issues, and undesired effects) of bGT. The required online guidance time was 10.3 min per patient and week, including guidance on exercises (67% or 6.9 min) and intimate communication (33% or 3.4 min). Concerning patients’ adherence to bGT, tracked completion of all Web-based and mobile tasks was high and comparable with group attendance.ConclusionsResults suggest high feasibility of bGT in a gender-balanced, moderately educated sample. bGT provides group therapists with tools for individual care, resulting in an optimization of the therapy process, and high completion rates of the implemented bGT elements. The limited work experience of the involved therapists restricts the study findings, and potential drawbacks need to be regarded in the development of future bGT interventions.
Highlights
Depression is one of the most prevalent mental disorders and a leading cause of disability
The limited work experience of the involved therapists restricts the study findings, and potential drawbacks need to be regarded in the development of future Blended group therapy (bGT) interventions
The current study investigated the feasibility of a mobile- and web-supported blended group treatment for depression, with a focus on therapists’ perception of and patients’ adherence to the novel format
Summary
Depression is one of the most prevalent mental disorders and a leading cause of disability It imposes suffering and high costs on individuals, societies and health systems [1]. In line with international research priorities [2,3], different forms of mobile- and internet-based interventions constitute innovative and efficient strategies, to deliver evidence-based psychological treatments for common mental health disorders [4,5,6,7,8]. Due to the high degree of automatization, those interventions guarantee standardized treatments to a highly scalable extent These properties make them attractive for mental health care organizations and have led to the launch of the first routine online clinics [11,12,13]. Many studies investigated mainly female and highly-educated populations, limiting validity of previous findings
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