624 - PROMES-U: EFFECTIVENESS AND ADHERENCE OF A GUIDED ONLINE INTERVENTION FOR DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY SYMPTOMS IN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
CIBERESP/ISCIII; Hospital del Mar Research Institute; Universitat Jaume I; FISABIO-Universidad de Valencia; IUNICS-IDISBA Universitat de les Illes Balears; Universidad Miguel Hernández/Universidad de Elche; Universidad de Málaga; Universidad de Zaragoza; Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
Background/Objectives: Symptoms of depression and anxiety are common among university students. We carried out a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) to evaluate effectiveness of a minimally guided preventive mental health intervention for depression and anxiety symptoms in Spanish university students.
Methods: Two-arm multicenter pragmatic RCT in students with symptoms of depression (5 ≤ PHQ-9 ≤ 14) and/or anxiety (5 ≤ GAD-7 ≤ 14) from 6 public Spanish universities (UIB, UJI, UMA, UMH, UNIZAR, UPF). Students were evaluated for eligibility through a web-based survey assessing mental health symptoms. Participants were equally randomly allocated to: Intervention (8-week CBT-based intervention, app (MyMoodCoach™), with minimal asynchronous feedback) and Control (treatment as usual plus self-monitoring component of the app only). Outcomes: Primary: 3-month change depression and/or anxiety symptoms scores; Secondary: Adherence and acceptability of the intervention. Analyses were conducted on an Intention-to-treat (ITT) basis.
Results: 3,010 students were evaluated, and 760 fulfilling inclusion criteria accepted to participate and were randomized: 382 (intervention), 378 (control). 193 and 199, respectively, completed the 3-month evaluation. At baseline, 81,4% participants were female, mean age was 20.7 (SD = 3.3) and 39% were first year students. Only a half of the participants in each arm downloaded the study app. No significant differences were found between RCT arms. At 3-months both groups marginally improved in PHQ-9 and GAD-7 symptoms (effect size range 0.1-0.2) without significant differences among RCT arms, except for GAD-7 improvement, which was statistically significant for the intervention group only.
Conclusions/Recommendations: Minimally guided CBT-based MyMoodCoach online intervention is only marginally more effective than mood monitoring in reducing symptoms of anxiety among university students in the campus context. Further secondary analyses are needed.
Funding: ISCIII and cof. EU PI20/00006; AGAUR2021SGR00624; CIBERISCIII (CB06/02/0046), Subdir. Gral d'Addiccions Sec. S. Pública, Dep. Salut, GenCat.
Disclosures: Margalida Gili received research funding from the European Union, and Spanish Ministry of Economy, Commerce and Business.
