Abstract
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is prevalent within the general population. Studies have shown that stress and anxiety co-exist with IBS. Young Taiwanese women commonly exhibit physical and psychological health problems caused by academic stress. The purpose of our current study was to evaluate the efficacy of short-term Internet-delivered cognitive-behavioral therapy (ICBT) on female nursing students in practicum. We performed a cluster randomized controlled trial comprised of 160 participants who met the inclusion criteria, which were divided into three groups: (1) ICBT, (2) expressive writing (EW), and (3) wait-list control. Treatment interventions lasted for 6 weeks. Levels of anxiety, depression, and IBS symptoms were assessed at four time points, baseline assessment at T0, 2 weeks after T0 (T1), at the end of practicum (T2), and at 3-month follow-up (T3). The results showed that ICBT and EW groups exhibited a significant, yet small, reduction in anxiety and depression at T2 and T3 compared to the wait-list control group. The EW group exhibited significantly greater reduction in anxiety and depression compared to the ICBT group at T2. However, the ICBT group demonstrated greater improvements in alleviating anxiety and depression at T3 compared to the EW group. These data indicate that ICBT and EW groups exhibited small effects on anxiety and depression reduction at T2 and T3 compared to the wait-list control group, with no effects on IBS symptoms in young Taiwanese female nursing students.
Highlights
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is one of the most common gastrointestinal disorders with symptoms such as changes in defecation habits, defecation-related abdominal discomfort and pain, bowel dysfunction, and abdominal bloating, which occur in the absence of any structural abnormality [1]
In the Bowel Symptom Severity Scale (BSSS) analysis, the Internet-delivered cognitive-behavioral therapy (ICBT) group had a mean score of 24.96 ± 14.27, the expressive writing (EW) group had a mean score of 19.07 ± 11.16, and the wait-list control group had a mean score of 32.00 ± 15.94 at baseline (T0)
On the 18th week, the ICBT group and EW group exhibited considerable improvements compared to the wait-list control group as assessed using BSSS, while remaining statistically insignificant (ICBT: β = −2.87, p = 0.136; EW: β = −1.18, p = 0.569)
Summary
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is one of the most common gastrointestinal disorders with symptoms such as changes in defecation habits, defecation-related abdominal discomfort and pain, bowel dysfunction, and abdominal bloating, which occur in the absence of any structural abnormality [1]. Empirical studies have shown that women with IBS exhibit relatively high levels of stress, with stronger emotional reactions, including those related to anxiety and depression [13]. Previous systematic reviews have indicated that, despite its consistently positive outcomes in reducing IBS symptoms [18], CBT remains inferior when compared to other psychological treatments [19,24]. This population was selected due to the aforementioned gender differences in incidence and age at IBS onset. We compared the effectiveness of ICBT and EW in the treatment of female nursing practicum students with IBS. The hypothesis is that ICBT exhibits better outcomes compared to other psychological treatments, or wait-list controls, in reducing IBS-related symptoms
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
