Predictors of Disengagement and Symptom Improvement Among Adults With Depression Enrolled in Talkspace, a Technology-Mediated Psychotherapy Platform: Naturalistic Observational Study (Preprint)

Abstract

Depression is a common psychiatric condition with an estimated lifetime prevalence for major depression of 16.6% in the US adult population and is effectively treated through psychotherapy. The widespread availability of the internet and personal devices such as smartphones are changing the landscape of delivery of psychotherapy; however, little is known about whether and for whom this type of therapy is beneficial, and whether having synchronous video-based sessions provides additional benefits to clients above and beyond messaging-based therapy.

This study examined the outcomes associated with the use of a digital platform (Talkspace) for technology-mediated psychotherapy. We examined the duration of client engagement in therapy and client depression score trajectories over 16 weeks. We explored the association of client characteristics, therapist characteristics, and service plan type with time-to-disengagement and trajectories of change in depression scores.

This naturalistic observational study assessed data collected routinely by the platform between January 2016 and January 2018 and examined psychotherapy outcomes among a large representative sample of adult clients with clinically significant depression. Treatment disengagement was defined as a lack of client-initiated communication for more than 4 weeks. Clients completed the Patient Health Questionnaire-8 item (PHQ-8) at intake and every 3 weeks via an in-app survey. Cox regression analysis was used to examine the time until and predictors of disengagement. Changes in depression scores and predictors of change over time were examined using mixed-effects regression.

The study included 5890 clients and 1271 therapists. Client scores on the PHQ-8 declined over time, with the average client improving from a score of 15 to below the clinical cutoff of 10 by week 6. At the same time point, 37% of clients had disengaged from the therapy. When combined into a final Cox regression model, those who were more likely to disengage were clients aged 18 to 25 years versus those aged ≥50 years (odds ratio [OR] 0.82, 95% CI 0.74-0.9; <i>P</i>&lt;.001), had higher education (OR 1.14, 95% CI 1.06-1.22; <i>P</i>&lt;.001), had been in therapy before (OR 1.09, 95% CI 1.02-1.17; <i>P</i>=.01), and were living with a partner but unmarried versus single (OR 1.14, 95% CI 1.02-1.27; <i>P</i>=.02). Having a therapist with &gt;10 years of experience was related to lower odds of disengagement (OR 0.87, 95% CI 0.8-0.94; <i>P</i>=.01). When combined into a final regression model predicting improvement in depression scores over time, clients showing more improvement were those with an associate’s degree or higher (linear estimate=−0.07, <i>P</i>=.002) and higher intake PHQ-8 scores (estimate=3.73, <i>P</i>&lt;.001). There were no differences based on the plan type.

Our findings add to the growing literature showing the benefits of technology-mediated psychotherapy over a relatively brief period (16 weeks).