A study of the social media perceptions and guest satisfaction concerning recent changes related to the Genie+ system in the Walt Disney World theme parks

This study examines the social media perceptions and guest satisfaction rates concerning recent changes related to the introduction of the Genie+ system in the Walt Disney World theme parks. Social media has allowed the public to share these opinions about changes in the Walt Disney World theme parks, but it is not known how these opinions compare to the lived guest experience. It is said that with the introduction of a paid standby queue bypass system the Walt Disney Company is making that aspect of its parks less accessible than in the past (Austin, 2022). This study uses a mixed methods approach of qualitative and quantitative questions including a Likert-type scale, to measure participants’ satisfaction rates and opinions against the Genie+ system’s perceptions via social media comments. The data has shown that social media is significantly more negative than the guests\u27 experience rates found in the surve

The GoodNight study—online CBT for insomnia for the indicated prevention of depression: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) delivered through the Internet is effective as a treatment in reducing insomnia in individuals seeking help for insomnia. CBT-I also lowers levels of depression in this group. However, it is not known if targeting insomnia using CBT-I will lower depressive symptoms, and thus reduce the risk of major depressive episode onset, in those specifically at risk for depression. Therefore, this study aims to examine whether Internet delivery of fully automated self-help CBT-I designed to reduce insomnia will prevent depression. METHOD/DESIGN A sample of 1,600 community-dwelling adults (aged 18-64), who screen positive for both subclinical levels of depressive symptoms and insomnia, will be recruited via various media and randomised to either a 9-week online insomnia treatment programme, Sleep Healthy Using The internet (SHUTi), or an online attention-matched control group (HealthWatch). The primary outcome variable will be depression symptom levels at the 6-month post-intervention on the Patient Heath Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). A secondary outcome will be onset of major depressive episodes assessed at the 6-month post-intervention using 'current' and 'time from intervention' criteria from the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. DISCUSSION This trial is the first randomised controlled trial of an Internet-based insomnia intervention as an indicated preventative programme for depression. If effective, online provision of a depression prevention programme will facilitate dissemination. TRIAL REGISTRATION Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR), Registration number: ACTRN12611000121965.This study is supported by a grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia (GNT1005867)

Effectiveness of MH-Guru, a brief online mental health program for the workplace: A randomised controlled trial

Background: Depression and anxiety interferewith an individual's quality of life and result in substantial economic costs to the workplace through lost productivity. The internet offers an unparalleled opportunity for the large scale, cost-effective delivery of mental health awareness and destigmatisation programs in the workplace. However, to date high quality assessments of the effectiveness of such workplace programs have been confined to health professional settings. The current study reports the effectiveness of Mental Health Guru (MH-Guru), a two-module online mental health workplace induction program. Methods: A total of 507 employees from a large multi-departmental government workplace were randomised to a 2-week online depression and anxiety educational program (Mental Health Guru; MH-Guru), or a Wait List Control condition. Participants completed online surveys at baseline, 1 week post-intervention and at 6-month follow-up. Primary outcome measures included depression and anxiety literacy, personal stigma about depression and anxiety, and help seeking intentions for anxiety and depression at post-test. Secondary measures included helpseeking attitudes and self-reported help seeking behaviour. Satisfaction measures were also collected. Results: Dropout at post intervention was 26.7% and 21.0% for the MH-Guru and Control conditions respectively. Relative to Control,MH-Guru participants showed significantly greater improvements in depression and anxiety literacy at post intervention. Between group standardized effect sizes at post-test and 6-months were 0.78 and 0.81 for depression literacy and 0.80 and 0.79 for anxiety literacy. Compared to the Control participants, the MH-Guru groupalso showed significantly greater reductions in depression and anxiety personal stigma. Between group effect sizes in stigma for depression were −0.56 and −0.47 at post-test and 6-months respectively and −0.42 at both time points for anxiety. The MH-Guru intervention was not associated with a differentially greater increase in anxiety or depression help-seeking intentions or improvement in help seeking attitudes compared to the Control group. However, self-reported help-seeking behaviour was significantly greater in the MH-Guru group at posttest. In addition, the MH-Guru group showed greater intentions to seek help for depression from the Internet at 6-month follow-up. Satisfaction items suggested that the program was acceptable to employees. Conclusions: Brief online programs such asMH-Guru have the potential to play an important role in increasing mental health awareness and decreasing stigmatizing attitudes in the workplace, and by extension the general community

Online cognitive behaviour training for the prevention of postnatal depression in at-risk mothers: a randomised controlled trial protocol

Background Postnatal depression (PND) is the most common disorder of the puerperium with serious consequences for both mother and child if left untreated. While there are effective treatments, there are many barriers for new mothers needing to access them. Prevention strategies may offer a more acceptable means of addressing the problem. Internet interventions can help overcome some barriers to reducing the impact of PND. However, to date there are no published studies that investigate the efficacy of internet interventions for the prevention of PND. Methods/Design The proposed study is a two-arm double blind randomised controlled trial. 175 participants will be recruited in the immediate postnatal period at an Australian community hospital. Women who meet inclusion criteria (internet access, email address, telephone number, over 18, live birth, fluent English) will complete the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Those with a score above 9 will undertake the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM Disorders (SCID). Those with a clinical diagnosis of depression, or a lifetime diagnosis of bipolar disorder or psychosis on the SCID will be excluded. Following completion of the baseline battery women will be randomised using a computer-generated algorithm to either the intervention or control condition. The intervention will consist of 5 modules of automated, interactive cognitive behaviour training (CB training), completed weekly with email reminders. The control will replicate the level of contact participants experience with the intervention, but the content will be of a general health nature. Participants will complete questionnaires immediately post-intervention (6 weeks) and 3-, 6- and 12 months follow-up. There will also be a second SCID delivered via telephone at 6 months. We hypothesise that relative to the control group, the intervention group will show a greater reduction in postnatal distress on the EPDS (primary outcome measure). We also hypothesise that the intervention group will demonstrate lower levels of anxiety and stress and higher levels of parenting confidence than the control group following intervention and/or follow-up. Discussion The proposed study addresses a number of limitations of earlier trials

Protocol for a randomised controlled trial investigating the effectiveness of an online e health application for the prevention of Generalised Anxiety Disorder

BACKGROUND Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is a highly prevalent psychiatric disorder. Effective prevention in young adulthood has the potential to reduce the prevalence of the disorder, to reduce disability and lower the costs of the disorder to the community. The present trial (the WebGAD trial) aims to evaluate the effectiveness of an evidence-based online prevention website for GAD. METHODS/DESIGN The principal clinical question under investigation is the effectiveness of an online GAD intervention (E-couch) using a community-based sample. We examine whether the effect of the intervention can be maximised by either human support, in the form of telephone calls, or by automated support through emails. The primary outcome will be a reduction in symptoms on the GAD-7 in the active arms relative to the non active intervention arms. DISCUSSION The WebGAD trial will be the first to evaluate the use of an internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) program contrasted with a credible control condition for the prevention of GAD and the first formal RCT evaluation of a web-based program for GAD using community recruitment. In general, internet-based CBT programs have been shown to be effective for the treatment of other anxiety disorders such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Social Phobia, Panic Disorder and stress in clinical trials; however there is no evidence for the use of internet CBT in the prevention of GAD. Given the severe shortage of therapists identified in Australia and overseas, and the low rates of treatment seeking in those with a mental illness, the successful implementation of this protocol has important practical outcomes. If found to be effective, WebGAD will provide those experiencing GAD with an easily accessible, free, evidence-based prevention tool which can be promoted and disseminated immediately

The ANU WellBeing study: a protocol for a quasi-factorial randomised controlled trial of the effectiveness of an Internet support group and an automated Internet intervention for depression

BACKGROUND Recent projections suggest that by the year 2030 depression will be the primary cause of disease burden among developed countries. Delivery of accessible consumer-focused evidenced-based services may be an important element in reducing this burden. Many consumers report a preference for self-help modes of delivery. The Internet offers a promising modality for delivering such services and there is now evidence that automated professionally developed self-help psychological interventions can be effective. By contrast, despite their popularity, there is little evidence as to the effectiveness of Internet support groups which provide peer-to-peer mutual support. METHODS/DESIGN Members of the community with elevated psychological distress were randomised to receive one of the following: (1) Internet Support Group (ISG) intervention, (2) a multi-module automated psychoeducational and skills Internet Training Program (ITP), (3) a combination of the ISG and ITP, or (4) an Internet Attention Control website (IAC) comprising health and wellbeing information and question and answer modules. Each intervention was 12 weeks long. Assessments were conducted at baseline, post-intervention, 6 and 12 months to examine depressive symptoms, social support, self-esteem, quality of life, depression literacy, stigma and help-seeking for depression. Participants were recruited through a screening postal survey sent to 70,000 Australians aged 18 to 65 years randomly selected from four rural and four metropolitan regions in Australia. DISCUSSION To our knowledge this study is the first randomised controlled trial of the effectiveness of a depression ISG. TRIAL REGISTRATION Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN65657330.This study was funded by a National Health and Medical Research Council Project Grant 471435 to KG, HC and AM. KG is supported by NHMRC Fellowship No. 525413 and HC is supported by Fellowship No. 525411

Online interventions for problem gamblers with and without co-occurring mental health symptoms: protocol for a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND Comorbidity between problem gambling and depression or anxiety is common. Further, the treatment needs of people with co-occurring gambling and mental health symptoms may be different from those of problem gamblers who do not have a co-occurring mental health concern. The current randomized controlled trial (RCT) will evaluate whether there is a benefit to providing access to mental health Internet interventions (G + MH intervention) in addition to an Internet intervention for problem gambling (G-only intervention) in participants with gambling problems who do or do not have co-occurring mental health symptoms. METHODS Potential participants will be screened using an online survey to identify participants meeting criteria for problem gambling. As part of the baseline screening process, measures of current depression and anxiety will be assessed. Eligible participants agreeing (N = 280) to take part in the study will be randomized to one of two versions of an online intervention for gamblers – an intervention that just targets gambling issues (G-only) versus a website that contains interventions for depression and anxiety in addition to an intervention for gamblers (G + MH). It is predicted that problem gamblers who do not have co-occurring mental health symptoms will display no significant difference between intervention conditions at a six-month follow-up. However, for those with co-occurring mental health symptoms, it is predicted that participants receiving access to the G + MH website will display significantly reduced gambling outcomes at six-month follow-up as compared to those provided with G-only website. DISCUSSION The trial will produce information on the best means of providing online help to gamblers with and without co-occurring mental health symptoms.This research was funded by the Manitoba Gambling Research Program of Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries

Demographic and psychosocial predictors of major depression and generalised anxiety disorder in Australian university students

Abstract Background Few studies have examined modifiable psychosocial risk factors for mental disorders among university students, and of these, none have employed measures that correspond to clinical diagnostic criteria. The aim of this study was to examine psychosocial and demographic risk factors for major depression and generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) in a sample of Australian university students. Methods An anonymous web-based survey was distributed to undergraduate and postgraduate students at a mid-sized Australian university. A range of psychosocial and demographic risk factors were measured, and logistic regression models were used to examine significant predictors of major depression and GAD. Results A total of 611 students completed the survey. The prevalence of major depression and GAD in the sample was 7.9 and 17.5 %, respectively. In terms of demographic factors, the risk of depression was higher for students in their first year of undergraduate study, and the risk of GAD was higher for female students, those who moved to attend university, and students experiencing financial stress. In terms of psychosocial factors, students with experience of body image issues and lack of confidence were at significantly greater risk of major depression, and feeling too much pressure to succeed, lack of confidence, and difficulty coping with study was significantly associated with risk of GAD. Conclusions University students experience a range of unique psychosocial stressors that increase their risk of major depression and GAD, in addition to sociodemographic risk factors. It is important to examine psychosocial factors, as these are potentially modifiable and could be the focus of university-specific mental health interventions.This project was resourced by the Young and Well CRC (youngandwellcrc.org.au). The Young and Well CRC is established under the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centres Program. KMG is supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council Fellowship (No.1059620)

Internet-delivered interpersonal psychotherapy versus internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy for adults with depressive symptoms: Randomized controlled noninferiority trial

Background: Face-to-face cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) are both effective treatments for depressive disorders, but access is limited. Online CBT interventions have demonstrated efficacy in decreasing depressive

The effectiveness of an online support group for members of the community with depression: a randomised controlled trial

Background: Internet support groups (ISGs) are popular, particularly among people with depression, but there is little high quality evidence concerning their effectiveness. Aim: The study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of an ISG for reducing depressive symptoms among community members when used alone and in combination with an automated Internet-based psychotherapy training program. Method: Volunteers with elevated psychological distress were identified using a community-based screening postal survey. Participants were randomised to one of four 12-week conditions: depression Internet Support Group (ISG), automated depression Internet Training Program (ITP), combination of the two (ITP+ISG), or a control website with delayed access to ecouch at 6 months. Assessments were conducted at baseline, post-intervention, 6 and 12 months. Results: There was no change in depressive symptoms relative to control after 3 months of exposure to the ISG. However, both the ISG alone and the combined ISG+ITP group showed significantly greater reduction in depressive symptoms at 6 and 12 months follow-up than the control group. The ITP program was effective relative to control at post-intervention but not at 6 months. Conclusions: ISGs for depression are promising and warrant further empirical investigation.The trial was funded by a National Health and Medical Research Council Project Grant 471435. KG is supported by NHMRC Fellowship No. 525413 and HC is supported by Fellowship No. 525411. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript