Accuracy of self-referral in health anxiety: comparison of patients self-referring to internet-delivered treatment versus patients clinician-referred to face-to-face treatment

What impact do self-referral and direct access pathways for patients have on health inequalities?

BACKGROUND

There is increasing interest in self-referral and direct access as alternatives pathways to care to improve patient access to specialist services. The impact of these pathways on health inequalities is unknown.

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this systematic review is to explore the impact of self-referral and direct access pathways on inequalities in health care use.

DESIGN

Three databases (Ovid Medline, Embase, Web of Science) and grey literature were systematically searched for articles from January 2000 to February 2023, reporting on self-referral and direct access pathways to care. Title and abstracts were screened against eligibility criteria to identify studies that evaluated the impact on health inequalities. Data were extracted from eligible studies after full text review and a quality assessment was performed using the ROBINS-I tool.

RESULTS

The search strategy identified 2948 articles. Nineteen records were included, covering seven countries and six healthcare services. The impact of self-referral and direct access on inequalities was mixed, suggesting that the relationship is dependent on patient and system factors. Typically self-referral pathways and direct access pathways tend to widen health inequalities. White, younger, educated women from less deprived backgrounds are more likely to self-refer, exacerbating existing health inequalities.

CONCLUSIONS

Self-referral pathways risk widening health inequalities. Further research is required to understand the context-dependent mechanisms by which this can occur, explore ways to mitigate this and even narrow health inequalities, as well as understand the impact on the wider healthcare system.

Internet-Delivered Therapy for Parents With Health Anxiety by Proxy: Protocol for a Single-Case Experimental Design Study

BACKGROUND

Health anxiety (HA) by proxy is described as parents' obsessive worries that their child is severely ill although this is not medically confirmed. Research on HA by proxy suggests that it is highly distressing for the parent and that the child may be at risk of developing maladaptive symptom coping strategies. No targeted treatment for this group exists. We developed PROXY, an 8-week psychological internet-delivered treatment for parents with HA by proxy. The treatment components of PROXY are informed by cognitive behavioral therapy as well as acceptance and commitment therapy, and it was developed in collaboration with parents experiencing HA by proxy and clinical experts.

OBJECTIVE

This paper describes the protocol for a study investigating the potential effects of PROXY on parents' worries about their children's health using a single-case experimental design (SCED).

METHODS

Five parents clinically evaluated as experiencing HA by proxy will be included. A replicated randomized SCED study will be conducted in which each participant will be randomized to receive treatment after a baseline period of between 7 and 26 days (phase A). The treatment phase duration is 8 weeks for all participants (phase B), followed by a follow-up phase lasting between 14 and 33 days (phase C), ensuring that all participants remain in the study for 96 days. Participants will report daily anxiety level by SMS text message throughout the study. They will also answer self-report questionnaires, including questions on HA by proxy and own HA, 4 times during the study. Data will be submitted to structured visual analysis to inspect anxiety level, the variability of anxiety, trends, the overlap of data points among phases, when effects occur, and the consistency of data patterns across participants. Furthermore, randomization tests will be conducted for each participant to test the null hypothesis that PROXY will have no effect on participants' anxiety.

RESULTS

The recruitment of parents began in June 2022. As of March 2, 2023, a total of 4 parents have been included in the study. Data collection was expected to cease in April 2023.

CONCLUSIONS

To the best of our knowledge, this protocol describes the only study of treatment for HA by proxy. As the prevalence of this condition is still unknown, a SCED was chosen because this method allows the inclusion of very few participants while still providing information on effects and treatment courses. Conducting the study with a replicated randomized phase design enables methodologically sound testing despite the inclusion of very few participants. The results will inform researchers on individual treatment courses and effects, which may direct future research in terms of the possible mechanisms of change, ideas for how to refine the treatment content, and how the treatment may be offered to patients in the future.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04830605; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04830605.

INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID)

DERR1-10.2196/46927.

Cost Effectiveness of Internet-Delivered Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Patients with Severe Health Anxiety: A Randomised Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND

Health anxiety is a prevalent and debilitating disorder associated with extensive use of healthcare services and reduced quality of life (QoL). Regional variability in specialised clinics or specialist healthcare providers limits access to evidence-based treatment, which may be overcome by internet-delivered Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (iACT).

OBJECTIVE

This study investigated the cost effectiveness of iACT for severe health anxiety in adults.

METHODS

Based on a Danish randomised controlled trial (March 2016-March 2017), the economic evaluation compared costs and effects between iACT and an active control condition (iFORUM). Effectiveness was measured using self-report questionnaires. The cost analysis applied a societal perspective. Resource use and healthcare costs were extracted from the Danish National Registries. Linear regression analysis was applied using change in costs/effectiveness outcomes as the dependant variable. Time, group, and interaction between time and group were independent variables. The primary outcome was the proportion of clinically significant improvements, defined as a ≥ 25% reduction in two measures of health anxiety. The probability of cost effectiveness was presented in a cost-effectiveness acceptability curve for a range of threshold values for willingness to pay.

RESULTS

No significant differences were detected in healthcare costs between groups; however, the iACT group significantly improved in all effectiveness outcomes. The economic analysis showed that, from the healthcare perspective, iACT was associated with an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of €33 per additional case of clinically significant improvement compared with iFORUM and that, from the societal perspective, iACT dominated iFORUM because it was more effective and less expensive.

CONCLUSIONS

We found no statistically significant differences in costs between groups; however, iACT for severe health anxiety may be cost effective, as evidenced by significant differences in effect.

TRIAL REGISTRY NUMBER

Clinicaltrials.gov, no. NCT02735434.

Efficacy of internet-delivered acceptance and commitment therapy for severe health anxiety: results from a randomized, controlled trial

BACKGROUND

Health anxiety is common, disabling and costly due to patients' extensive use of health care services. Internet-delivered treatment may overcome barriers of accessibility to specialized treatment. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of internet-delivered acceptance and commitment therapy (iACT).

METHODS

A randomized, controlled trial of iACT versus an internet-delivered discussion forum (iFORUM), performed in a Danish university hospital setting. Patients self-referred and underwent video-diagnostic assessment. Eligible patients (≥18 years) with health anxiety were randomized to 12 weeks of intervention. The randomization was blinded for the assessor. The primary outcome was between-group unadjusted mean differences in health anxiety symptoms measured by the Whiteley-7 Index (WI-7, range 0-100) from baseline to 6-month follow-up (6-MFU) using intention to treat and a linear mixed model. The study is registered at clinicaltrials.gov, number NCT02735434.

RESULTS

A total of 151 patients self-referred, and 101 patients were randomized to iACT (n = 53) or iFORUM (n = 48). A mean difference in change over time of 19.0 points [95% confidence interval (CI) 10.8-27.2, p < 0.001] was shown on the WI-7, and a large standardized effect size of d = 0.80 (95% CI 0.38-1.23) at 6-MFU. The number needed to treat was 2.8 (95% CI 1.8-6.1, p < 0.001), and twice as many patients in iACT were no longer clinical cases (35% v. 16%; risk ratio 2.17, 95% CI 1.00-4.70, p = 0.050). Adverse events were few and insignificant.

CONCLUSIONS

iACT for health anxiety led to sustained effects at 6-MFU. The study contributes to the development of easily accessible treatment options and deserves wider application.

Internet-delivered Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for anxiety and depression in cancer survivors: Predictors of treatment response

BACKGROUND

The present study investigates possible predictors of treatment response in an Internet-delivered Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (iMBCT) intervention with therapist support. This iMBCT program, a fully online delivered intervention with asynchronous therapist support, has previously been shown to be efficacious in reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression in women treated for breast cancer and men treated for prostate cancer.

METHODS

Eighty-two breast- and prostate cancer survivors experiencing psychological distress received 8 weeks of therapist-guided iMBCT. Primary outcomes were improvement in anxiety and depression scores from baseline to post-treatment and from baseline to six-months follow-up. Clinical predictors included levels of depression and anxiety at the time of screening and at baseline, as well as time since diagnosis. Demographic predictors included age and educational level. Therapy-related predictors included working alliance, self-compassion, and five facets of mindfulness. Mixed Linear Models were employed to test the prediction effects over time.

RESULTS

Higher levels of baseline depression were associated with increased treatment response in anxiety at post-treatment, and lower levels of self-compassion were associated with increased treatment response in depression at post-treatment. None of the proposed predictors significantly predicted treatment response at six-months follow-up.

CONCLUSION

The findings suggest that iMBCT can be provided for cancer survivors regardless of their age, educational level, and time since diagnosis (up to five years) and that therapeutic alliance is not crucial for treatment response. We did not identify characteristics predicting treatment response, although many factors were tested. Still, other characteristics may be predictors, and given the relatively small sample size and a large number of statistical tests, the results should be interpreted with caution.