The effect of e-mental health interventions on academic performance in university and college students:A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Background: Mental health symptoms are common among college and university students and these can affect their academic performance. E-mental health interventions have proven effective in addressing mental health complaints but their effect on academic performance has not been synthesized yet. Objectives: To synthesize the evidence from randomized controlled trials for the effectiveness of e-mental health interventions on academic performance in college and university students compared to inactive controls. Data sources and eligibility criteria: We searched six databases (PubMed, Cochrane library, CINAHL, ERIC, PsycINFO, Web of Science) during the period January 2000 until September 2019 for randomized controlled trials that reported on e-mental health interventions (guided or unguided) for college and university students and measured academic performance (e.g. grade point average). Study appraisal and synthesis methods: Study and participant characteristics and the academic performance measures at post-intervention were extracted. The latter were pooled and Hedges' g was calculated as the effect size. Heterogeneity and publication bias were investigated. Results: Six studies containing 2428 participants were included in the meta-analysis. These focussed on either mood and anxiety or alcohol and tobacco use. The pooling of data resulted in a small but non-significant effect of g = 0.26 (95% CI, −0.00, 0.52; p = .05) on academic performance, favouring e-mental health interventions over inactive controls. Interventions had positive effects on depression (g = −0.24) and anxiety (g = −0.2). Heterogeneity was high. Discussion: Despite the small and non-significant effect, our meta-analysis points to a promising direction for the effectiveness of e-mental health interventions on academic performance. Yet, these results must be interpreted with caution, as heterogeneity was high and few studies on the effectiveness of e-mental health interventions for students reported academic performance measures

Guided internet-based transdiagnostic individually tailored Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for symptoms of depression and/or anxiety in college students: A randomized controlled trial

Pathways through Adolescenc

Attempt to Estimate Total Number of Inhabitants in Kalnik Archdeaconry from the End of 16th - beginning of 18th cent

Autor na osnovi objavljenih i neobjavljenih izvora i literature pokušava rekonstruirati ukupni broj stanovnika na teritoriju koji je obuhvaćao Kalnički arhiđakonat - od Medvednice i Ivančice na zapadu, Kalnika na sjeveru, Bilogore na istoku i rijeke Cesme (Cazme) najugu. Krajem 16. stoljećaje na prostoru Kalničkog arhidakonata zivjelo 745 katoličkih obitelji, a vjerojatno je broj katolika ostao isti i početkom 17. stoljeća. Pribrojimo li ovom broju 616 pravoslavnih Vlaha, dobivamo podatak da je početkom 17. stoljeća na tom prostoru zivjela 1361 obitelj. U članku je donesena procjena prema kojoj je na istrazivanom području živjelo oko 5420 pravoslavnih Vlaha te oko 5500 stanovnika ka-toličke vjere. Po ovoj procjeni bi na istrazivanom području živjelo oko 10.000 popisom procijenjenih stanovnika, a prema tome, omjer izmedu katoličkog i pravoslavnog popisanog stanovnistva je početkom 17. stoljeća bio približno podjednak. Pravoslavno stanovnistvo je u pravilu bilo koncentrirano na istoku, a katoličko na zapadu istrazivanog područja, iako ima i iznimaka. Treba spomenuti da dio stanovnistva u spomenutim popisima nije zapisan, kao npr. nepoznati broj katoličkih Slavonaca Hi Slovenaca koji su zivjeli pomijesani s pravoslavnim vlaskim stanovnistvom, te stanovnika Križevaca i okolice koji očito povećavaju procijenjeni broj stanovnika i mijenjaju omjer izmedu katolika i pravo¬slavnih. U razdoblju odkraja 16., odnosno početka 17. stoljeća do početka 18. stoljeća broj katolika je gotovo upeterostručen, dokje broj pravoslavnog stanovnistva porastao za 2,5 puta. Prema tome, rast katoličkog stanovnistva u odnosu na pravoslavno, bio je duplo veći.The author tries to reconstruct total number of inhabitants on the territory of Kalnik Archdeaconry that spread from Medvednica and Ivančica in the west, Kalnik in the north, Bilogora in the east and the river Česma (Čazma) in the south. At the end of the 16th century 745 Catholic families lived in the area. Their number probably did not change at the beginning of the 17th century. If 616 Orthodox Vlach/Morloc families are added, the number of families in¬creases to 1361. It is estimated that about 5420 Orthodox Vlachs and 5500 Catholics lived there, which, according to the census of the time makes around 10.000 people almost evenly distributed in two religious groups. Orthodox population mostly settled in the east, whereas the Catholics went to the west, with some exceptions.Not all inhabitants were registered in the census, though: for example an unknown number of Slavonians or Slovenians who mixed with Orthodox population or some inhabitants of Križevci and neighbouring villages were not included. The number of Catholics increased from the end of the 16th century to the beginning of the 18th century five times compared to only 2,5 times bigger number of Orthodox population

Cognitive therapy or behavioral activation for major depressive disorder in Dutch mental health care: Pilot effectiveness and process trial

Few studies have investigated the association between psychotherapeutic approaches and their processes in routine psychological practice. We compared cognitive therapy (CT) and behavioral activation (BA) on their effectiveness and change processes. Forty-three depressed patients participated in our trial. Scores on depression and specific and nonspecific factors were collected at seven time points and analyzed using RM-ANOVA and multiple linear regressions. No differences in depression reduction emerged between conditions. Most processes changed during therapy. Only measures of negative cognitions and behavioral activation interacted with treatment condition. Change on the processes did not predict symptom alleviation. Similarly, reductions in depression were not followed by change on any of the process measures. Both psychotherapeutic approaches led to significant and comparable symptom reduction. There was no clear evidence of differential change with respect to purported underlying mechanisms. The results are discussed in the context of therapy and research

Challenges in Recruiting University Students for Web-Based Indicated Prevention of Depression and Anxiety: Results From a Randomized Controlled Trial (ICare Prevent)

©Felix Bolinski, Annet Kleiboer, Koen Neijenhuijs, Eirini Karyotaki, Reinout Wiers, Lisa de Koning, Corinna Jacobi, Anna-Carlotta Zarski, Kiona K Weisel, Pim Cuijpers, Heleen Riper.Background: Depression and anxiety are common mental health conditions in college and university student populations. Offering transdiagnostic, web-based prevention programs such as ICare Prevent to those with subclinical complaints has the potential to reduce some barriers to receiving help (eg, availability of services, privacy considerations, and students’ desire for autonomy). However, uptake of these interventions is often low, and accounts of recruitment challenges are needed to complement available effectiveness research in student populations. Objective: The aims of this study were to describe recruitment challenges together with effective recruitment strategies for ICare Prevent and provide basic information on the intervention’s effectiveness. Methods: A 3-arm randomized controlled trial was conducted in a student sample with subclinical symptoms of depression and anxiety on the effectiveness of an individually guided (human support and feedback on exercises provided after each session, tailored to each participant) and automatically guided (computer-generated messages provided after each session, geared toward motivation) version of ICare Prevent, a web-based intervention with transdiagnostic components for the indicated prevention of depression and anxiety. The intervention was compared with care as usual. Descriptive statistics were used to outline recruitment challenges and effective web-based and offline strategies as well as students’ use of the intervention. A basic analysis of intervention effects was conducted using a Bayesian linear mixed model, with Bayes factors reported as the effect size. Results: Direct recruitment through students’ email addresses via the central student administration was the most effective strategy. Data from 35 participants were analyzed (individually guided: n=14, 40%; automatically guided: n=8, 23%; care as usual: n=13, 37%). Use of the intervention was low, with an average of 3 out of 7 sessions (SD 2.9) completed. The analyses did not suggest any intervention effects other than anecdotal evidence (all Bayes factors10≤2.7). Conclusions: This report adds to the existing literature on recruitment challenges specific to the student population. Testing the feasibility of recruitment measures and the greater involvement of the target population in their design, as well as shifting from direct to indirect prevention, can potentially help future studies in the field. In addition, this report demonstrates an alternative basic analytical strategy for underpowered randomized controlled trials. Trial Registration: International Clinical Trials Registry Platform NTR6562; https://tinyurl.com/4rbexzrk International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): RR2-10.1186/s13063-018-2477-

E-mental health implementation in inpatient care: Exploring its potential and future challenges

2022 Van Assche, Bonroy, Mertens, Van den Broeck, Desie, Bolinski, Amarti, Kleiboer, Riper and Van Daele.Background: There is a great evidence base today for the effectiveness of e-mental health, or the use of technology in mental healthcare. However, large-scale implementation in mental healthcare organisations is lacking, especially in inpatient specialized mental healthcare settings. Aim: The current study aimed to gain insights into the factors that promote or hinder the implementation of e-mental health applications on organisational, professional and patient levels in Belgium. Methods: Four Belgian psychiatric hospitals and psychiatric departments of general hospitals invited their professionals and patients to use Moodbuster, which is a modular web-based platform with a connected smartphone application for monitoring. The platform was used in addition to treatment as usual for three to four months. The professionals and patients completed pre- and post-implementation questionnaires on their reasons to participate or to decline participation and experiences with the Moodbuster platform. Results: Main reasons for the organisations to participate in the implementation study were a general interest in e-mental health and seeing it is a helpful add-on to regular treatment. The actual use of Moodbuster by professionals and patients proved to be challenging with only 10 professionals and 24 patients participating. Implementation was hindered by technical difficulties and inpatient care specific factors such as lack of structural facilities to use e-mental health and patient-specific factors. Professionals saw value in using e-mental health applications for bridging the transition from inpatient to outpatient care. Twenty-two professionals and 31 patients completed the questionnaire on reasons not to participate. For the patients, lack of motivation because of too severe depressive symptoms was the most important reason not to participate. For professionals, it was lack of time and high workload. Conclusions: The current implementation study reveals several important barriers to overcome in order to successfully implement e-mental health in inpatient psychiatric care

Challenges in Recruiting University Students for Web-Based Indicated Prevention of Depression and Anxiety: Results From a Randomized Controlled Trial (ICare Prevent)

Background: Depression and anxiety are common mental health conditions in college and university student populations. Offering transdiagnostic, web-based prevention programs such as ICare Prevent to those with subclinical complaints has the potential to reduce some barriers to receiving help (eg, availability of services, privacy considerations, and students’ desire for autonomy). However, uptake of these interventions is often low, and accounts of recruitment challenges are needed to complement available effectiveness research in student populations.  Objective: The aims of this study were to describe recruitment challenges together with effective recruitment strategies for ICare Prevent and provide basic information on the intervention’s effectiveness.  Methods: A 3-arm randomized controlled trial was conducted in a student sample with subclinical symptoms of depression and anxiety on the effectiveness of an individually guided (human support and feedback on exercises provided after each session, tailored to each participant) and automatically guided (computer-generated messages provided after each session, geared toward motivation) version of ICare Prevent, a web-based intervention with transdiagnostic components for the indicated prevention of depression and anxiety. The intervention was compared with care as usual. Descriptive statistics were used to outline recruitment challenges and effective web-based and offline strategies as well as students’ use of the intervention. A basic analysis of intervention effects was conducted using a Bayesian linear mixed model, with Bayes factors reported as the effect size. , Results : Direct recruitment through students’ email addresses via the central student administration was the most effective strategy. Data from 35 participants were analyzed (individually guided: n=14, 40%; automatically guided: n=8, 23%; care as usual: n=13, 37%). Use of the intervention was low, with an average of 3 out of 7 sessions (SD 2.9) completed. The analyses did not suggest any intervention effects other than anecdotal evidence (all Bayes factors10≤2.7).   Conclusions : This report adds to the existing literature on recruitment challenges specific to the student population. Testing the feasibility of recruitment measures and the greater involvement of the target population in their design, as well as shifting from direct to indirect prevention, can potentially help future studies in the field. In addition, this report demonstrates an alternative basic analytical strategy for underpowered randomized controlled trial