A systematic review of digital and face-to-face cognitive behavioral therapy for depression

Kambeitz-Ilankovic, L., Rzayeva, U., Völkel, L., Wenzel, J., Weiske, J., Jessen, F., Reininghaus, U., Uhlhaas, P. J. , Alvarez-Jimenez, M. and Kambeitz, J. (2022) A systematic review of digital and face-to-face cognitive behavioral therapy for depression. npj Digital Medicine, 5, 144. (doi: 10.1038/s41746-022-00677-8) (PMID:36109583) (PMCID:PMC9476400)

Abstract

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) represents one of the major treatment options for depressive disorders besides pharmacological interventions. While newly developed digital CBT approaches hold important advantages due to higher accessibility, their relative effectiveness compared to traditional CBT remains unclear. We conducted a systematic literature search to identify all studies that conducted a CBT-based intervention (face-to-face or digital) in patients with major depression. Random-effects meta-analytic models of the standardized mean change using raw score standardization (SMCR) were computed. In 106 studies including n = 11854 patients face-to-face CBT shows superior clinical effectiveness compared to digital CBT when investigating depressive symptoms (p < 0.001, face-to-face CBT: SMCR = 1.97, 95%-CI: 1.74–2.13, digital CBT: SMCR = 1.20, 95%-CI: 1.08–1.32) and adherence (p = 0.014, face-to-face CBT: 82.4%, digital CBT: 72.9%). However, after accounting for differences between face-to-face and digital CBT studies, both approaches indicate similar effectiveness. Important variables with significant moderation effects include duration of the intervention, baseline severity, adherence and the level of human guidance in digital CBT interventions. After accounting for potential confounders our analysis indicates comparable effectiveness of face-to-face and digital CBT approaches. These findings underline the importance of moderators of clinical effects and provide a basis for the future personalization of CBT treatment in depression.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. We acknowledge support for the Article Processing Charge from the DFG (German Research Foundation, 491454339).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Uhlhaas, Professor Peter
• Authors: Kambeitz-Ilankovic, L., Rzayeva, U., Völkel, L., Wenzel, J., Weiske, J., Jessen, F., Reininghaus, U., Uhlhaas, P. J., Alvarez-Jimenez, M., and Kambeitz, J.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Psychology & Neuroscience
• Journal Name: npj Digital Medicine
• Publisher: Nature Research
• ISSN: 2398-6352
• ISSN (Online): 2398-6352
• Published Online: 15 September 2022
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © The Author(s) 2022
• First Published: First published in npj Digital Medicine 5: 144
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License