Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2012 Jun 7;14(3):e86.
doi: 10.2196/jmir.2033.

Effectiveness of an online group course for depression in adolescents and young adults: a randomized trial

Rianne van der Zanden  1 , Jeannet Kramer, Rob Gerrits, Pim Cuijpers
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Effectiveness of an online group course for depression in adolescents and young adults: a randomized trial

Rianne van der Zanden et al. J Med Internet Res. .

Abstract

Background: Depression is a serious mental health problem, whose first onset is usually in adolescence. Online treatment may offer a solution for the current undertreatment of depression in youth. For adults with depressive symptoms, the effectiveness of Internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy has been demonstrated. This study is one of the first randomized controlled trials to investigate the effectiveness online depression treatment for young people with depressive complaints and the first to focus on an online group course.

Objective: To evaluate and discuss the effectiveness of a guided Web-based group course called Grip op Je Dip (Master Your Mood [MYM]), designed for young people aged 16 to 25 years with depressive symptoms, in comparison with a wait-listed control group.

Methods: We randomly assigned 244 young people with depressive symptoms to the online MYM course or to a waiting-list control condition. The primary outcome measure was treatment outcome after 3 months on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Secondary outcomes were anxiety (measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) and mastery (Mastery Scale). We studied the maintenance of effects in the MYM group 6 months after baseline. Missing data were imputed.

Results: The MYM group (n = 121) showed significantly greater improvement in depressive symptoms at 3 months than the control group (n = 123) (t(187 )= 6.62, P < .001), with a large between-group effect size of d = 0.94 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.64-1.23). The MYM group also showed greater improvement in anxiety (t(187 )= 3.80, P < .001, d = 0.49, 95% CI 0.24-0.75) and mastery (t(187 )= 3.36, P = .001, d = 0.44, 95% CI 0.19-0.70). At 12 weeks, 56% (68/121) of the participants in the MYM group and 20% (24/123) in the control group showed reliable and clinically significant change. This between-group difference was significant (χ(2) (1 )= 35.0, P < .001) and yielded a number needed to treat of 2.7. Improvements in the MYM group were maintained at 6 months. A limitation is the infeasibility of comparing the 6-month outcomes of the MYM and control groups, as the controls had access to MYM after 3 months.

Conclusions: The online group course MYM was effective in reducing depressive symptoms and anxiety and in increasing mastery in young people. These effects persisted in the MYM group at 6 months.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Rianne van der Zanden and Rob Gerrits are two of the developers of the online MYM group course, and the Trimbos Institute is a cooperation partner in MYM, but none of these derive financial income from the MYM intervention. There are no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of respondent selection. CES-D = Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale; MINI-Plus: Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview; MYM = Master Your Mood.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Mathers CD, Loncar D. Projections of global mortality and burden of disease from 2002 to 2030. PLoS Med. 2006 Nov;3(11):e442. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0030442. http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.003044206-PLME-RA-0071R2 - DOI - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bromet E, Andrade LH, Hwang I, Sampson NA, Alonso J, de Girolamo G, de Graaf R, Demyttenaere K, Hu C, Iwata N, Karam AN, Kaur J, Kostyuchenko S, Lépine JP, Levinson D, Matschinger H, Mora ME, Browne MO, Posada-Villa J, Viana MC, Williams DR, Kessler RC. Cross-national epidemiology of DSM-IV major depressive episode. BMC Med. 2011;9:90. doi: 10.1186/1741-7015-9-90. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/9/901741-7015-9-90 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. de Graaf R, Ten Have MVD, Van Dorsselaer S. De psychische gezondheid van de Nederlandse bevolking: NEMESIS II: Opzet en de eerste resultaten [The Mental Health of the Dutch Population: Netherlands Mental Health Epidemiological and Incidence study NEMESIS II: Design and First Results] Utrecht, Netherlands: Trimbos Institute; 2010.
    1. Meijer SA, Smit F, Schoemaker CG, Cuijpers P. Gezond verstand: evidence-based preventie van psychische stoornissen [Common Good: Evidence-Based Prevention of Mental Health Disorders] Bilthoven, Nerherlands: RIVM; 2006.
    1. Dopheide JA. Recognizing and treating depression in children and adolescents. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2006 Feb 1;63(3):233–43. doi: 10.2146/ajhp050264.63/3/233 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types