Department of Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Front Public Health. 2022 Jun 9;10:835356. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.835356. eCollection 2022.
First evidence suggests that internet-based self-help interventions effectively reduce COVID-19 related psychological distress. However, it is yet unclear which participant characteristics are associated with better treatment outcomes. Therefore, we conducted secondary analyses on data from a randomized controlled trial investigating the efficacy of a 3-week internet-based self-help intervention for COVID-19 related psychological distress. In this exploratory analysis, we examined several predictors ranging from sociodemographic variables to psychological distress, resource-related, and treatment-related variables. This includes, for example, age, motivation, and emotion regulation skills. Treatment outcomes were defined as post-treatment depressive symptoms and post-treatment resilience.
In a total of 107 participants with at least mild depressive symptoms, possible predictor variables and treatment outcomes were assessed using self-report measures. For example, emotion regulation skills were assessed by the Self-report measure for the assessment of emotion regulation skills. In a first step, we performed a separate linear regression analysis for each potential predictor. In a second step, predictors meeting a significant threshold of < 0.05 were entered in linear multiple regression models. Baseline scores of the respective outcome measure were controlled for.
The mean age of the participants was 40.36 years (SD = 14.59, range = 18-81 years) with the majority being female ( = 87, 81.3%). Younger age predicted lower post-treatment depressive symptoms. Additionally, higher motivation to use the intervention and better pre-treatment emotion regulation skills predicted higher post-treatment resilience.
The current study provides preliminary evidence regarding the relationship between participant characteristics and treatment outcome in internet-based self-help interventions for COVID-19 related distress. Our results suggest that under the circumstances surrounding COVID-19 such interventions might be particularly beneficial for young adults regarding depressive symptoms. Moreover, focusing on participants' existing strengths might be a promising approach to promote resilience through internet-based self-help interventions. However, since this was an exploratory analysis in an uncontrolled setting, further studies are needed to draw firm conclusions about the relationship of participant characteristics and treatment outcome in internet-based self-help interventions for COVID-19 related psychological distress.
最初的证据表明，基于互联网的自助干预措施可以有效减轻与 COVID-19 相关的心理困扰。然而，目前尚不清楚哪些参与者特征与更好的治疗效果相关。因此，我们对一项针对 COVID-19 相关心理困扰的为期 3 周的基于互联网的自助干预措施的疗效进行的随机对照试验的数据进行了二次分析。在这项探索性分析中，我们检查了一些预测因子，这些预测因子范围从社会人口统计学变量到心理困扰、资源相关和治疗相关变量。例如，这些预测因子包括年龄、动机和情绪调节技能。治疗结果被定义为治疗后的抑郁症状和治疗后的恢复力。
在总共 107 名至少有轻度抑郁症状的参与者中，使用自我报告的测量方法评估了可能的预测变量和治疗结果。例如，情绪调节技能通过自我报告评估情绪调节技能量表进行评估。在第一步中，我们为每个潜在的预测因子进行了单独的线性回归分析。在第二步中，将达到显著阈值 < 0.05 的预测因子纳入线性多元回归模型。控制了各自结果测量的基线分数。
参与者的平均年龄为 40.36 岁（SD = 14.59，范围为 18-81 岁），其中大多数为女性（n = 87，81.3%）。年轻的年龄预示着治疗后抑郁症状的降低。此外，更高的使用干预措施的动机和更好的治疗前情绪调节技能预示着更高的治疗后恢复力。
本研究初步探讨了参与者特征与 COVID-19 相关困扰的互联网自助干预治疗结果之间的关系。我们的研究结果表明，在 COVID-19 环境下，这种干预措施可能对年轻人的抑郁症状特别有益。此外，关注参与者现有的优势可能是通过互联网自助干预促进恢复力的一种有前途的方法。然而，由于这是在不受控制的环境中进行的探索性分析，因此需要进一步的研究来对 COVID-19 相关心理困扰的互联网自助干预治疗结果与参与者特征之间的关系得出确切的结论。
