Patients need reminders for online depression self-help
Websites that only offer self-help for people suffering from depression can be effective as those that also offer external clinical guidance, as long as patients are reminded to use them, according to a new study published this week.
Researchers at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research studied a group of 250 people with self-diagnosed depression, and sent telephone or postcard reminders to a randomised group asking them to visit their Overcoming Depression on the InterNet (ODIN) site over a period of four months.
Among participants who received reminders by telephone or postcard, there was a 20% reduction in those who moved from clinically depressed to normal after a period of 16 weeks. This was in contract to the researchers’ previous study, in which subjects were not reminded to use ODIN, and usage dropped off significantly after a few weeks.
“The low incremental costs of delivering this Internet program makes it feasible to offer this or similar programs to very large populations where Internet access is widespread,” argued the researchers. “Interventions with a small average effect may have substantial public health impact when applied to a large number of people.”
Read more at Patients need reminders for online depression self-help
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