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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2018 Feb;27(2):191-200.
doi: 10.1007/s00787-017-1035-6. Epub 2017 Aug 3.

Upper secondary school students' compliance with two Internet-based self-help programmes: a randomised controlled trial

Carl Antonson  1 , Frida Thorsén  1 , Jan Sundquist  1 , Kristina Sundquist  2   3
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Upper secondary school students' compliance with two Internet-based self-help programmes: a randomised controlled trial

Carl Antonson et al. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2018 Feb.

Abstract

Psychiatric symptoms and stress are on the increase among Swedish adolescents. We aimed to study the potential effect and feasibility of two Internet-based self-help programmes, one mindfulness based (iMBI) and the other music based in a randomised controlled trial that targeted adolescents. A total of 283 upper secondary school students in two Swedish schools were randomised to either a waiting list or one of the two programmes, on their own incentive, on schooltime. General psychiatric health (Symptoms Checklist 90), sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), and perceived stress (Perceived Stress Scale) were assessed before and after the interventions. In total, 202 participants answered the questionnaires. Less than 20 logged into each intervention and only 1 performed a full intervention (iMBI). No significant differences in any of the scales were found between those who logged in and those who did not. The potential effect of Internet-based self-help programmes was not possible to examine due to low compliance rates. Adolescents seem to have a very low compliance with Internet-based self-help programmes if left to their own incentive. There were no associations between the psychiatric and stress-related symptoms at baseline and compliance in any of the intervention groups, and no evidence for differences in compliance in relation to the type of programme. Additional studies are needed to examine how compliance rates can be increased in Internet-based self-help mindfulness programmes in adolescents, as the potentially positive effects of mindfulness are partly related to compliance rates.

Keywords: Adolescence; Compliance; Internet; Mindfulness; Psychiatric symptoms; Psychological stress.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Funding

The Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life, and Welfare (In Swedish: Forte) and the Swedish Research Council to Jan Sundquist.

Ethical standards

We obtained the ethical permission for the study from the local ethics committee (Etikprövningsnämnden) in Lund, Sweden (Reference No. 2011/345). The study was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov before it commenced (Reference No. NCT01457222). The study was designed and performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Written informed consent was provided by each participant.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
CONSORT flowchart of the study in terms of compliance to the interventions. The participant who logged into both interventions was excluded after the randomisation. The percentages in the intervention groups are the proportions of the randomised participants assigned to each intervention. Interventions: iMBI Internet-based mindfulness-based intervention, iMT Internet-based music therapy, and WL waiting list
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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