Williams contemporary study UPD

AO1 points (GR)

• The study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a brief 7 day online programme called Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM-I) in helping people with depression, both stand-alone and in combination with more traditional CBT involving a 10 week iCBT program 

•  69 participants were randomised to either the intervention, or wait-list control group. The intervention group completed the 7 day CBM-I program first, and then the 10 week iCBT program. The wait-list control group waited during the CMB-I phase, and only completed iCBT 

• All participants first completed baseline measure questionnaires on their depression, for example the Beck Depression Inventory and Scrambled Sentences Test. Participants in the intervention group then completed a 7-day CBM-I course, after which they completed another round of questionnaires. Following this, there was a 10-week iCBT course, alongside regular homework tasks - all completed with post-iCBT questionnaires including the Repetitive Thinking Survey 

AO1 points (AVE)

• 65% of participants who had the combined treatment had a significant reduction in their depression compared to 36% in the wait-list group 

• Combined intervention was effective in reducing depressive symptoms, distress and anxiety in patients diagnosed with depression. CBM is feasible to be integrated into existing iCBT treatment programmes 

• Protection from harm  

Generalisability AO3

• Study could be said to have good generalisability, as a large sample size was obtained. Williams used internet recruitment, so was able to recruit participants from all over Australia, which is more representative of the target population, and therefore results can be generalised to wider society. 

• However no data for other cultures, responses may be different, important to generalise with caution 

Reliability AO3

• The study could be said to have good reliability as Williams used a highly standardised procedure, giving all participants the same course of CMB-I and iCBT, and all participants completing the same surveys – using a triangulation of several primary and secondary measures to increase reliability. The surveys have a set question list with Likert scale answers, which allows his study to be repeated and similar results obtained  

Applicability

• There is a shortage of cognitive behavioural therapists, which leads to long waiting lists for CBT. Face-to-face therapy may be time consuming and expensive, also a difficult option for individuals whose depression restricts them from leaving the house. These findings would help to make CBT more accessible for all, meaning less would be suffering alone.  
  (However simultaneous risk of a lack of human contact – would this exacerbate the symptoms of the condition? Becoming reliant on technology for good mental health has risks) 

Validity AO3

• The final questionnaire was self-report and not diagnostic, so may be subject to demand characteristics or social desirability bias, which would affect the internal validity of the results. 

• Out of the 69 participants, 25 withdrew and dropped out, which would affect the validity of results 

• However, Williams did attempt to control some extraneous variables to improve reliability, such as face-to-face contact with another therapist. 

Ethics AO3

• Williams attempted to protect participants from harm by not including the most vulnerable patients with severe depression or suicidal tendencies.  

• However, the wait-list group had to wait for 11 weeks until treatment, which could be argued to be unethical as they had no assistance to help them manage their depressive symptoms in this time, and may have been mentally struggling