VU: digital intervention more effective against depression in refugees

Most IDPs with mental disorders in low- and middle-income countries are not receiving effective care and their access to care has deteriorated during the coronavirus pandemic. However, digital interventions in mental health are scalable when digital access is adequate, and can also be delivered securely at a distance (such as during a pandemic), according to the report. an article on the website of the VU.

Effectiveness of digital interventions

Using this premise, the research group studied whether and to what extent a new WHO-led digital intervention for mental health care was effective in reducing depression among displaced persons in Lebanon. It’s about the toepassing Step-by-Stepwhere participants were supported by a non-specialist helper.

According to VU professor Cuijpers, depression is a major public health problem, exacerbated due to the corona crisis† The rates of depression among people who have been forced to flee are even higher. Syrian refugees in Lebanon are said to be about 22 percent of the group. A series of factors underlie this. This includes being displaced itself, lack of food and shelter and their often unclear future. Added to this are dangers such as physical and sexual abuse, unmet basic needs, language barriers, uncertainty about the future, social isolation and discrimination.

However, effective treatment of depression is hardly available for this group of people, says Cuijpers. Therefore, digital mental health treatments can be a viable solution for refugees suffering from depression. The WHO guided step-by-step treatment that has been studied should also be made available to refugees who have digital access, such as via a mobile phone, according to the professor.

Effects last longer

The researchers randomly assigned 569 displaced persons to the digital tool or to a control group that received only usual care. They found that people who received the digital tool were much less depressed after the intervention than people who only received usual care. “We also found important and statistically significant effects on anxiety, impaired functioning, post-traumatic stress and well-being,” the researchers write. Most of the effects lasted three months after the intervention.

The conclusions of the study are:

• A guided, digital intervention is effective in reducing depression among displaced persons in Lebanon.
• The studied intervention could be an important tool to reduce depression in IDPs who have digital access.
• However, the findings should be interpreted with caution due to the large number of participants who dropped out of the study.

The results were published in Plos Medicine.

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