Abstract
Background and aim
Recently, the availability and usefulness of mobile self-help mental health applications have increased, but few applications deal with COVID-19-related psychological problems. This study explored the intervention efficacy of a mobile application on addressing psychological problems related to COVID-19.
Methods
A longitudinal control trial involving 129 Chinese participants with depression symptoms was conducted through the mobile application “Care for Your Mental Health and Sleep during COVID-19” (CMSC) based on WeChat. Participants were divided into two groups: mobile internet cognitive behavioral therapy (MiCBT) and wait-list. The primary outcome was improvement in depression symptoms. Secondary outcomes included improvement in anxiety and insomnia. The MiCBT group received three self-help CBT intervention sessions in one week via CMSC.
Results
The MiCBT group showed significant improvement in depression and insomnia (allP < 0.05) compared with the wait-list group. Although both groups showed significant improvement in anxiety at the intervention’s end, compared with the wait-list group, the MiCBT group had no significant advantage. Correlation analysis showed that improvement in depression and anxiety had a significant positive association with education level. Changes in insomnia were significantly negatively correlated with anxiety of COVID-19 at the baseline. CMSC was considered helpful (n=68, 81.9 %) and enjoyable (n=54, 65.9 %) in relieving depression and insomnia during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Conclusions
CMSC is verified to be effective and convenient for improving COVID-19-related depression and insomnia symptoms. A large study with sufficient evidence is required to determine its continuous effect on reducing mental health problems during the pandemic.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, Anxiety, Depression, cognitive behavioral therapy, Insomnia, 【초록키워드】 Efficacy, pandemic, therapy, Trial, mental health, CBT, Intervention, Symptom, outcome, Symptoms, COVID-19 outbreak, Sleep, psychological problem, change, association, Evidence, Analysis, cognitive, Psychological problems, Primary outcome, Chinese, participant, positive, WeChat, effective, secondary, Result, significantly, required, conducted, determine, reducing, correlated, had no, baseline, both group, mental health problem, 【제목키워드】 therapy, Trial, mental health, self-help, cognitive,