Efficacious Web-Based Psychotherapy to Address Depression and Anxiety Among Patients Receiving Oncological and Palliative Care: an Open-Label Randomised Controlled Trial

Introduction Oncological and palliative care patients face unique stressors which increase their risk of developing depression anxiety. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) mindfulness has established success in improving this population’s mental health. Traditional face-to-face psychotherapy is costly, long wait lists, often lacks accessibility, strict scheduling, each can make attending physically, mentally, financially out reach for oncological patients. Web-based CBT (e-CBT) a promising alternative that shown efficacy other patient populations. Objectives To quantify the online experiencing anxiety symptoms. Methods Participants with or related to diagnosis were recruited from settings Kingston, Ontario, randomly assigned 8 weekly e-CBT/mindfulness modules (N= 25) treatment as usual (TAU; N=24). Modules consisted concepts, problem-solving, mindfulness, homework, personalised feedback therapist through secure platform (Online Psychotherapy Tool- OPTT) completed PHQ-9 GAD-7 weeks 1, 4, 8. (NCT04664270: REB# 6031471). Results Significant decreases scores within individuals support hypothesis efficacy. At time, 10 12 TAU have study. Decreases e-CBT group Specifically, decreased over 3 repeated measures (ANOVA, 2 groups, decrease was similarly large) Conclusions As hypothesized, results suggest an affordable, accessible, efficacious health population. The virtual, asynchronous delivery format particularly appropriate given barriers. Disclosure Interest N. Alavi Shareolder of: OPTT inc, Grant / Research from: department psychiatry Queen’s University, M. Omrani A. Shirazi: None Declared, G. Layzell: J. Eadie: Jagayat: C. Stephenson: D. Kain: Soares: Yang: Declared