AUTHOR=Sæther Solbjørg Makalani Myrtveit , Knapstad Marit , Grey Nick , Smith Otto R. F. 

TITLE=Twelve Months Post-treatment Results From the Norwegian Version of Improving Access to Psychological Therapies

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02303

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02303

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Objectives</title><p>Prompt Mental Health Care (PMHC) is the Norwegian version of the England’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT). Both programs have been associated with substantial symptom reductions from pre- to post-treatment. The present study extends these findings by investigating symptom levels at 12 months post-treatment, as well as treatment outcome in relation to low- vs. high-intensity treatment forms.</p></sec><sec><title>Design and Outcome Measures</title><p>A prospective cohort design was used. All participants (<italic>n</italic> = 1530) were asked to complete the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 questionnaire (GAD-7) at baseline, before each session during treatment, at final treatment, and at 12 months post-treatment. Cohen’s d was used as effect size measure. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to examine the impact of the high missing data rates at post-treatment (≈44%) and 12 months post-treatment (≈58%).</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>A large symptom reduction was seen from baseline to 12 months post-treatment for both PHQ (<italic>d</italic> = −0.98) and GAD (<italic>d</italic> = −0.94). Improvements observed at post-treatment were largely maintained at 12 months post-treatment (PHQ (Δ<italic>d</italic> = 0.10) and GAD (Δ<italic>d</italic> = 0.09). Recovery rates decreased only slightly from 49.5% at post-treatment to 45.0% at follow-up. Both low- and high-intensity treatment forms were associated with substantial and lasting symptoms reductions (−1.26 ≤ <italic>d</italic> ≤ −0.73). Sensitivity analyses did not substantially alter the main results.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>The findings suggest long-lasting effects of the PMHC program and encourage the use of low-intensity treatment forms in PMHC like settings.</p></sec>