Online Computerized Program Group Clinical Trial
Official title:
Efficacy of an Internet-based CBT Program for Adjustment Disorders: A Randomized Controlled Trial
The purpose of this study is to determine the efficacy and effectiveness of a self-help
treatment for adjustment disorders administered through a computerized program applied over
the Internet. This treatment modality will be compared with a waiting list control group.
It is expected that, on the one side, the intervention group will improve significantly
compared to the waiting list control group. On the other side, it is expected the
self-applied online treatment program to be well accepted and valued by the patient.
Adjustment Disorder (AD) is a highly prevalent health problem that causes a great suffering
and can result in suicidal thinking and/or behavior. However, unlike mood and anxiety
disorders, AD has received little attention from scientific community and very few studies
have been carried out to develop evidence-based treatments (EBT) for this problem. Besides,
although a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) protocol is currently available for the
treatment of AD, many patients with this diagnosis remain untreated. There is therefore an
evident need to design strategies that guarantee the patients receive adequate treatment. A
feasible solution might be self-administered computerized CBT (cCBT).
A growing body of research has found that cCBT is highly effective for anxiety and depressive
disorders, achieving clinical improvements similar to those obtained with traditional
face-to-face interventions. The use of internet to administer EBT allows reducing the contact
time between the patient and the therapist and this way reach people who otherwise would not
receive treatment. Therefore, the development of a cCBT for AD will mean an improvement in
the delivery and dissemination of the current treatment programs. This is especially relevant
for this problem considering the scarce attention received by the scientific community and
the high interference caused in the patients' life. As far as we know, there is no cCBT
program specifically designed for the treatment of AD. As a consequence, further research in
this area is needed.
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