Implementation of a Digital CBT Intervention for Medical Students

• Published in: Procedia computer science 2024, Vol.248, p.22-29
• Main Authors: Duffecy, Jennifer, Medrano, Gustavo R., Fokuo, J. Konadu, Xie, Weiyang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: digital mental health interventions; medical students; mental health
• ISSN: 1877-0509; 1877-0509
• DOI: 10.1016/j.procs.2024.10.359

Medical school is a period of high psychological distress for many students, yet fewer than 16% of students with depressive symptoms seek treatment. While some of the barriers are common to most who seek mental health care (e.g., time, cost), others are unique to their student position in the healthcare system, such as privacy concerns or concerns about reporting requirements for licensure. Digital mental health interventions offer a unique opportunity to provide evidence-based mood intervention tailored to the specific needs of medial students. The ThinkFeelDo – Medical Student Intervention (TFD-MSI) was previously designed and tested with students in two published feasibility trials. TFD-MSI is a mobile accessible web application consisting of 16 lessons (e.g., behavioral activation, cognitive restructuring) and five tools (e.g., activity scheduling, goal setting). Based on feedback from a pilot with medical students, the self-directed intervention was rewritten to focus on stress management and coping skills with medical student specific examples and content, such as managing text anxiety and preventing burnout. The intervention has been available to students since December 2019, and results indicate that medical students are interested in and will utilize digital mental health tools. 149 students have signed up and 98 (68%) have accessed the intervention. The mean number of logins was 3.24 (SD=3.30) with a range of 1-16 logins, with a mean of 3.75 lessons read, ranging from 1-18. Of students who sought mental health services at the university, 23% were aware of the digital tool and 32% endorsed interest in coached support to use a digital tool. Given the need for medical student health services and these results, more work is merited to better integrate digital modes of care into available services for medical student mental health, along with improving adherence.