Age, Motivation, and Emotion Regulation Skills Predict Treatment Outcome in an Internet-Based Self-Help Intervention for COVID-19 Related Psychological Distress.

Brog, Noemi Anja; Hegy, Julia Katharina; Berger, Thomas; Znoj, Hansjörg (2022). Age, Motivation, and Emotion Regulation Skills Predict Treatment Outcome in an Internet-Based Self-Help Intervention for COVID-19 Related Psychological Distress. Frontiers in Public Health, 10, p. 835356. Frontiers Research Foundation 10.3389/fpubh.2022.835356

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Introduction

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.

Methods

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 p < 0.05 were entered in linear multiple regression models. Baseline scores of the respective outcome measure were controlled for.

Results

The mean age of the participants was 40.36 years (SD = 14.59, range = 18-81 years) with the majority being female (n = 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.

Conclusion

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.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Psychology > Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy
07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Psychology
07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Psychology > Psychological and Behavioral Health

UniBE Contributor:

Brog, Noemi Anja, Hegy, Julia Katharina, Berger, Thomas (B), Znoj, Hans Jörg

Subjects:

100 Philosophy > 150 Psychology
600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health

ISSN:

2296-2565

Publisher:

Frontiers Research Foundation

Language:

English

Submitter:

Pubmed Import

Date Deposited:

28 Jun 2022 10:52

Last Modified:

29 Mar 2023 23:38

Publisher DOI:

10.3389/fpubh.2022.835356

PubMed ID:

35757638

Uncontrolled Keywords:

COVID-19 depressive symptoms (DSs) internet-based self-help psychological distress resilience

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/170969

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/170969

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