Table 3 The study characteristics of effectiveness trials, stratified by study design
Fully powered randomized controlled trials (n = 3) | |||||||
Author, year, country | Participants | Setting | Intervention | Control/comparator condition | Follow up | Outcome measure(s) | |
Pot-Kolder 2018, [77•] Netherlands | Adults (aged 18–65) with a DSM-IV diagnosis of psychotic disorder, paranoid ideation in the past month and avoidance of shops, streets, public transport or restaurants | Dutch mental health centres | To establish the effectiveness of VR-CBT, compared with treatment as usual, in improving the quantity and quality of social participation in patients with psychotic disorders who experience paranoid ideation and social avoidance. | VR-CBT + treatment as usual (TAU) vs. waiting list + TAU only control group | - End of treatment: 3-month - Long-term follow up: 6-month | - Social isolation outcomes: amount of time spent with other people (assessed with Experience Sampling Method on a 7-point Likert Scale) - Other outcomes: momentary paranoia, perceived social threat, momentary anxiety, safety behaviour, paranoid thoughts, social interaction anxiety, social functioning, depression, quality of life and cognitive biases | |
Moeini, 2019, [78•] Iran | - Female students (aged 15–18 years) with mild to moderate depression levels | Female high schools within Hamadan City, west of Iran. | To examine the effectiveness of a web-based intervention for depressive symptoms in female adolescents; Application of the SCT that to our knowledge is one of the first studies of this type. | Intervention vs. no-treatment control | - Mid-term follow up: 12-week - End of treatment: 24-week | - Social isolation outcomes: perceived social support via Farsi version of Perceived Social Support Scale-Revised (PSSS-R) - Other outcomes: depressive symptoms, self-efficacy, outcome expectations, self-regulation, website satisfaction and usage | |
Kaplan, 2011, [79•] USA | Individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum or affective disorder | Mental health provider agencies, websites and e-newslists targeting individuals with mental illnesses | To examine the impact of unmoderated, unstructured Internet peer support on the well-being of individuals with psychiatric disabilities. | Peer support listserv vs. peer support bulletin board vs. waitlist control | - Mid-term follow up: 4-month - End of treatment: 12-month | - Social isolation outcomes: MOS-SSS - Other outcomes: recovery assessment quality of life, empowerment, depression and anxiety symptoms | |
Randomized comparative trials (n = 2) | |||||||
Author, year, country | Participants | Setting | Intervention | Control/comparator condition | Follow up | Outcome measure(s) | |
Van Voorhees, 2008, [80•] USA | Young people (aged 14–21 years) with persistent sub-threshold depression | Primary care practice sites in four USA states | To determine which primary care approach is more efficacious in reducing vulnerability of major depressive disorder as measured by pre/post changes in vulnerability factors. | CATCH-IT with brief advice from primary care physician (PCP-BA) vs. CATCH-IT with motivational interview (PCP-MI) | End of treatment: 4–8 weeks post-enrolment | - Social isolation outcomes: perceived family social support and perceived peer social support from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (ADHEALTH) - Other outcomes: symptoms of other mental disorders with binary questions, depressive symptoms, closeness to parents, social acceptance, closeness to classmates and level of school impairment related to depressed mood | |
Saulsberry, 2013, [81•] USA | Young people (aged 14–21 years) with persistent sub-threshold depression | Primary care sites across Southern and Midwestern USA | To determine one-year follow up outcomes of the CATCH-IT intervention | CATCH-IT PCP-MI vs. CATCH-IT PCP-BA | Long-term follow up: 1-year | - Social isolation outcomes: loneliness (single item rated on a 4-point scale) - Other outcomes: depressive symptoms clinically significant depressive episodes, self-harm ideation and hopelessness | |
Randomized controlled trials (not fully powered) (n = 3)a | |||||||
Author, year, country | Participants | Setting | Intervention | Control/comparator condition | Follow up | Outcome measure(s) | |
Marasinghe 2012, [82•] Sri Lanka | Individuals aged 15–74 years, having been admitted to the hospital after self-harm attempt and with significant suicidal intent | Colombo South Teaching Hospital, Sri Lanka. | To test whether a Brief Mobile Treatment (BMT) intervention can improve outcomes relative to usual care among suicide attempters | Immediate vs. delayed brief mobile treatment (IBMT vs. DBMT) | - Long-term follow up: 6- and 12-month | - Social isolation outcomes: Medical Outcomes Study-Social Support Scale (MOS-SSS) - Other outcomes: suicidal intent, depressive symptoms, alcohol use, drug use | |
Kaplan, 2014, [83•] USA | Mothers over the age of 18 with a diagnosis of a mood or schizophrenia spectrum disorder | Websites and e-news lists of the Temple University Collaborative and partners | To explore the effect of an Internet educational intervention for mothers with serious mental illness. | Intervention vs active control | End of treatment: 3-month | - Social isolation outcomes: MOS-SSS - Other outcomes: parenting efficacy, parenting skills, coping skills, parental stress | |
Interian, 2016, [84•] USA | - Veterans: veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)/Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), with a positive screen on the PTSD Checklist (PCL) (≥50) - Family member/partner: designated by participants | VA New Jersey Health Care System | To assess a brief Internet-based intervention that provided Veterans’ families with psychoeducation on postdeployment readjustment | Control group VS intervention group | Long-term follow up: 2-month | - Social isolation outcomes (Veterans): perceived family support via Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) - Other outcomes (Veterans): mental health service use, perceived criticism - Other outcomes (family members): perceived criticism, family empowerment, perceived efficacy to carry out tasks targeted by the intervention (assessed with a 7-item measure) | |
Mixed-methods trial(s) (n = 1) | |||||||
Author, year, country | Participants | Setting | Aim | Control group | Follow up | Data collection method | |
Quantitative:outcome measure(s) | Qualitative | ||||||
Ellis, 2011, [85•] Australia | Undergraduate students (aged 18–25 years) suffering from low-to-moderate levels of distress | Department of Psychology and Faculty of Health Sciences at The University of Sydney | To assess the efficacy of a brief online CBT intervention (MoodGYM) compared with an online support group (MoodGarden) in decreasing symptoms of depression and anxiety, and improving dysfunctional thoughts, social support, and CBT literacy in young adults. | Online CBT (MoodGym) vs. online peer support (MoodGarden) vs. no-treatment control | End of treatment: 3-week | - Social isolation outcomes: Online Social Support Scale (OSSS) - Other outcomes: depression, anxiety, stress, automatic negative thoughts | - Open-ended questions to evaluate the best and worst aspects of the intervention |