@Article{info:doi/10.2196/27865,
author="Scholl, Julia
and Kohls, Elisabeth
and G{\"o}rges, Frauke
and Steinbrecher, Marc
and Baldofski, Sabrina
and Moessner, Markus
and Rummel-Kluge, Christine",
title="Acceptability and Feasibility of the Transfer of Face-to-Face Group Therapy to Online Group Chats in a Psychiatric Outpatient Setting During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Longitudinal Observational Study",
journal="JMIR Form Res",
year="2021",
month="Jul",
day="23",
volume="5",
number="7",
pages="e27865",
keywords="online; group chats; COVID-19 pandemic; psychiatric outpatient setting; online interventions; e-mental health; COVID-19; pandemic; mental health; psychoeducation; online chat",
abstract="Background: At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, several mental health care providers were obliged to shut down outpatient services, including group therapy and psychoeducational sessions. The lockdown in many countries is a serious threat to people's mental well-being, especially for individuals with severe mental illnesses. Discontinued outpatient treatments and disruption of daily routines are considered to be risk factors for destabilization of patients with mental illness. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the acceptability, usability, and feasibility of a group chat program to replace cancelled face-to-face group sessions in an outpatient psychiatric department. Methods: Participants (N=33) were recruited in the outpatient department of a large university medical center in Leipzig, Germany. Former face-to-face group participants were invited to take part in a therapist-guided group-chat for 4 weeks (8 sessions) and were asked to evaluate the program via self-administered standardized questionnaires at baseline (T0, preintervention), after every chat session (T1), and posttreatment (T2, after 4-6 weeks). The chat groups were specific to the following mental disorder diagnoses and based on the same therapeutic principles and techniques as the former face-to-face groups: anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Sociodemographic measures, attitudes toward the COVID-19 pandemic, depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire-9), quality of life (abbreviated World Health Organization Quality of Life assessment), treatment credibility/expectancy (Credibility Expectancy Questionnaire), and participants' satisfaction (Client Satisfaction Questionnaire-8 [ZUF-8]) were measured. Results: Participants joined an average of 5 out of 8 offered chat sessions. Participation rates in the respective groups were highest in the ADHD group (8.6/11, 78{\%}) and lowest in the anxiety group (3.7/9, 41{\%}). The overall preintervention level of depressive symptoms was moderate and showed a slight,nonsignificant improvement at posttreatment (T0: mean 10.7, SD 5.5; T2: mean 10.2, SD 5.5).A similar result was observed regarding quality of life (T0: median 41.7-68.8; T2: median 50-70.3). Treatment credibility and expectancy scores were medium-high (T0: meancredibility 18.1, SD 3.8; meanexpectancy 11.2, SD 5.1; T2: meancredibility 17.1, SD 4.8; meanexpectancy 10.3, SD 5.8). Further, significant correlations were detected between posttreatment expectancy score and posttreatment PHQ-9 score (r=--0.41, P=.02), posttreatment physical quality of life (r=0.54, P=.001), and posttreatment psychological quality of life (r=0.53, P=.002). Overall, participants' satisfaction with the program was very high, both after chat sessions and at posttreatment (ZUF-8: mean score 20.6, SD 1.0). Of all participants, a majority (27/31, 87{\%}) rated the program as excellent/good and indicated they would recommend the group chat program to a friend in need of similar help (23/31, 74{\%}). Conclusions: A therapist-guided group chat program to substitute outpatient group setting treatment during the COVID-19 lockdown was shown to be feasible, usable, and highly acceptable for participants. Web-based programs such as this one provide an easy-to-implement tool to successfully stabilize participants during a difficult time, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Trial Registration: German Clinical Trials Register DRKS00021527; https://tinyurl.com/3btyxc2r ",
issn="2561-326X",
doi="10.2196/27865",
url="https://formative.jmir.org/2021/7/e27865",
url="https://doi.org/10.2196/27865",
url="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34161252"
}