Goreis Andreas, Felnhofer Anna, Kafka Johanna Xenia, Probst Thomas, Kothgassner Oswald D
Department for Clinical and Health Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Outpatient Unit for Research, Teaching and Practice, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Front Neurosci. 2020 Jan 24;14:3. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2020.00003. eCollection 2020.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are prevalent in both civilian and military service members. As the number of smartphone-based applications (apps) grows rapidly in health care, apps are also increasingly used to help individuals with subthreshold PTSD or full PTSD. Yet, if the apps are self-managed, the feasibility and efficacy of such interventions are still rather unclear in these two populations with PTSD symptoms. Hence, the present meta-analysis set out to evaluate the effect of self-management smartphone-based apps on PTSD and depressive symptoms in populations with subthreshold PTSD or full PTSD. Studies were included if they conducted randomized controlled trials or pre-post comparisons. Six studies ( = 2 randomized controlled trials) were identified for meta-analysis. In pre-post comparisons, = 209 participants were included in the analyses. In randomized controlled trials, = 87 participants received smartphone-based self-management interventions and = 82 participants were in waitlist control conditions. Meta-analysis for pre-post comparisons concluded an effect of = 0.55 ( < 0.001) regarding the overall reduction in PTSD symptoms ( = 6) and = 0.45 ( < 0.001) for reduction in depressive symptoms ( = 5). Yet, in randomized controlled trials, no significant difference was found between app-based treatment and waitlist control groups ( = 0.09, = 0.574). The duration of the interventions did not significantly influence the results. Overall, despite positive pre-post effects, current results indicate that smartphone-apps for PTSD patients are not significantly more effective than waitlist control conditions. Nevertheless, a combined smartphone and standard therapy approach may be a fruitful field for future research.
创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）症状在平民和军人中都很普遍。随着基于智能手机的应用程序（应用）在医疗保健领域的数量迅速增长，应用也越来越多地用于帮助患有亚阈值PTSD或完全PTSD的个体。然而，如果这些应用是自我管理的，那么在这两类有PTSD症状的人群中，此类干预措施的可行性和有效性仍相当不明确。因此，本荟萃分析旨在评估基于智能手机的自我管理应用对亚阈值PTSD或完全PTSD人群的PTSD和抑郁症状的影响。如果研究进行了随机对照试验或前后比较，则纳入研究。确定了六项研究（ = 2项随机对照试验）进行荟萃分析。在前后比较中， = 209名参与者纳入分析。在随机对照试验中， = 87名参与者接受基于智能手机的自我管理干预， = 82名参与者处于等待名单对照条件。前后比较的荟萃分析得出，PTSD症状总体减轻的效应值为 = 0.55（ < 0.001）（ = 6），抑郁症状减轻的效应值为 = 0.45（ < 0.001）（ = 5）。然而，在随机对照试验中，基于应用的治疗组和等待名单对照组之间未发现显著差异（ = 0.09， = 0.574）。干预的持续时间对结果没有显著影响。总体而言，尽管前后效应呈阳性，但目前的结果表明，用于PTSD患者的智能手机应用并不比等待名单对照条件显著更有效。尽管如此，智能手机与标准治疗相结合的方法可能是未来研究的一个富有成果的领域。
