Positive results from an e-therapy study for depression, social anxiety and panic disorder

Fresh results from the 2021-2024 e-therapy study, are now available. The study includes patients who have received treatment at one of the four health authorities Helse Bergen (Haukeland University Hospital), Vestfold Hospital, Innlandet Hospital and St. Olavs Hospital. The study has examined both patient satisfaction and cost-effectiveness.

The results show that patients who have received treatment for depression, social anxiety and panic disorder, at group level, had satisfactory symptom and functional improvement, as well as increased health-related quality of life. The four health care trusts had similar results.

At the same time, the results show that patients were largely satisfied with the treatment eBehandling. All in all, these are positive and good results in view of the ongoing national implementation of eBehandling. The study covers the offer that was previously called eMeistring.

Overall, 78% of patients responded that they were “fairly satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the treatment of depression, social anxiety and panic disorder in eMeistring.

Results on cost-effectiveness in the treatment eBehandling

Under the auspices of Forhelse SFI’s work package two (cost-effectiveness), preliminary results have recently been presented to both health service partners, corporate partner Checkware and at the National Leadership Conference for Mental Health Care on February 6 in Trondheim. A shortened version of the presentation “Effect and patient satisfaction, eBehandling” is available here (pdf).

In addition, the first of three scientific articles has now been submitted for review to the Journal of Medical Internet Research: “From controlled trials to real-world experience: Costs and outcomes of a therapist-guided internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy program”.

The results show that the level of cost per patient is heavily dependent on the number of patients treated in a given year. This is because the infrastructure cost per year is fixed and becomes lower per patient the more patients are treated.

For the health authorities, it is important to have a strong focus on the intake system and generally ensure that all relevant referrals are assessed with a view to digital health treatment. While there have been significant differences between health trusts in infrastructure costs per patient as a result of differing patient volumes per year, treatment costs per patient are largely the same. The latter is a natural consequence of the fact that the therapy “eBehandling” has so far been a standardized treatment plan.

Business partner CheckWare has developed this e-processing tool.