Deady M, et al. – The purpose of this systematic review and meta–analysis was to assess the impacts of eHealth prevention interventions for anxiety and depression. Researchers reported that eHealth prevention interventions for anxiety and depression were related to small but positive effects on symptom reduction. However, there was inadequate evidence on the medium to the long–term effect of such interventions, and importantly, on the reduction of incidence of disorders.

Methods

• Between 2000 and January 2016, a systematic search was conducted on 4 relevant databases to identify randomized controlled trials of eHealth interventions aimed at the prevention of anxiety and depression in the general population.
• Using pooled effect size estimates obtained from a random effects model, the quality of studies was evaluated and a meta-analysis was performed.

Results

• 10 trials were incorporated in the systematic review and meta-analysis.
• All investigations were of adequate quality and utilized cognitive behavioural techniques.
• At post-treatment, the overall mean difference between the intervention and control groups was 0.25 (95% confidence internal: 0.09, 0.41; p = 0.003) for depression outcome studies and 0.31 (95% CI: 0.10, 0.52; p = 0.004) for anxiety outcome studies, showing a little however beneficial outcome of the eHealth interventions.
• It was noted that the effect sizes for universal and indicated/selective interventions were similar (0.29 and 0.25 respectively).
• There was inadequate evidence to recommend that such interventions have an effect on long-term disorder incidence rates.