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Effect of Internet-Delivered Emotion Regulation Individual Therapy for Adolescents with Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Disorder : A Randomized Clinical Trial

Bjureberg, Johan ; Ojala, Olivia ; Hesser, Hugo ; Häbel, Henrike ; Sahlin, Hanna ; Gratz, Kim L. ; Tull, Matthew T. ; Claesdotter Knutsson, Emma LU ; Hedman-Lagerlöf, Erik and Ljótsson, Brjánn , et al. (2023) In JAMA Network Open 6(7).
Abstract

Importance: Nonsuicidal self-injury is prevalent in adolescence and associated with adverse clinical outcomes. Effective interventions that are brief, transportable, and scalable are lacking. Objective: To test the hypotheses that an internet-delivered emotion regulation individual therapy for adolescents delivered adjunctive to treatment as usual is superior to treatment as usual only in reducing nonsuicidal self-injury and that improvements in emotion regulation mediate these treatment effects. Design, Setting, and Participants: This 3-site, single-masked, randomized superiority trial enrolled participants from November 20, 2017, to April 9, 2020. Eligible participants were aged between 13 and 17 years and met diagnostic criteria for... (More)

Importance: Nonsuicidal self-injury is prevalent in adolescence and associated with adverse clinical outcomes. Effective interventions that are brief, transportable, and scalable are lacking. Objective: To test the hypotheses that an internet-delivered emotion regulation individual therapy for adolescents delivered adjunctive to treatment as usual is superior to treatment as usual only in reducing nonsuicidal self-injury and that improvements in emotion regulation mediate these treatment effects. Design, Setting, and Participants: This 3-site, single-masked, randomized superiority trial enrolled participants from November 20, 2017, to April 9, 2020. Eligible participants were aged between 13 and 17 years and met diagnostic criteria for nonsuicidal self-injury disorder; they were enrolled as a mixed cohort of consecutive patients and volunteers. Parents participated in parallel to their children. The primary end point was at 1 month after treatment. Participants were followed up at 3 months posttreatment. Data collection ended in January 2021. Interventions: Twelve weeks of therapist-guided, internet-delivered emotion regulation individual therapy delivered adjunctive to treatment as usual vs treatment as usual only. Main Outcomes and Measures: Primary outcome was the youth version of the Deliberate Self-harm Inventory, both self-reported by participants prior to treatment, once every week during treatment, and for 4 weeks posttreatment, and clinician-rated by masked assessors prior to treatment and at 1 and 3 months posttreatment. Results: A total of 166 adolescents (mean [SD] age, 15.0 [1.2] years; 154 [92.8%] female) were randomized to internet-delivered emotion regulation therapy plus treatment as usual (84 participants) or treatment as usual only (82 participants). The experimental intervention was superior to the control condition in reducing clinician-rated nonsuicidal self-injury (82% vs 47% reduction; incidence rate ratio, 0.34; 95% CI, 0.20-0.57) from pretreatment to 1-month posttreatment. These results were maintained at 3-month posttreatment. Improvements in emotion dysregulation mediated improvements in self-injury during treatment. Conclusions and Relevance: In this randomized clinical trial, a 12-week, therapist-guided, internet-delivered emotion regulation therapy delivered adjunctive to treatment as usual was efficacious in reducing self-injury, and mediation analysis supported the theorized role of emotion regulation as the mechanism of change in this treatment. This treatment may increase availability of evidence-based psychological treatments for adolescents with nonsuicidal self-injury. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03353961.

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publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
JAMA Network Open
volume
6
issue
7
article number
e2322069
publisher
American Medical Association
external identifiers
  • pmid:37440232
  • scopus:85164844339
ISSN
2574-3805
DOI
10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.22069
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
cb00e9ff-b7f2-4b53-9c09-852fb5ab5f97
date added to LUP
2023-09-11 14:58:30
date last changed
2024-04-20 04:12:45
@article{cb00e9ff-b7f2-4b53-9c09-852fb5ab5f97,
  abstract     = {{<p>Importance: Nonsuicidal self-injury is prevalent in adolescence and associated with adverse clinical outcomes. Effective interventions that are brief, transportable, and scalable are lacking. Objective: To test the hypotheses that an internet-delivered emotion regulation individual therapy for adolescents delivered adjunctive to treatment as usual is superior to treatment as usual only in reducing nonsuicidal self-injury and that improvements in emotion regulation mediate these treatment effects. Design, Setting, and Participants: This 3-site, single-masked, randomized superiority trial enrolled participants from November 20, 2017, to April 9, 2020. Eligible participants were aged between 13 and 17 years and met diagnostic criteria for nonsuicidal self-injury disorder; they were enrolled as a mixed cohort of consecutive patients and volunteers. Parents participated in parallel to their children. The primary end point was at 1 month after treatment. Participants were followed up at 3 months posttreatment. Data collection ended in January 2021. Interventions: Twelve weeks of therapist-guided, internet-delivered emotion regulation individual therapy delivered adjunctive to treatment as usual vs treatment as usual only. Main Outcomes and Measures: Primary outcome was the youth version of the Deliberate Self-harm Inventory, both self-reported by participants prior to treatment, once every week during treatment, and for 4 weeks posttreatment, and clinician-rated by masked assessors prior to treatment and at 1 and 3 months posttreatment. Results: A total of 166 adolescents (mean [SD] age, 15.0 [1.2] years; 154 [92.8%] female) were randomized to internet-delivered emotion regulation therapy plus treatment as usual (84 participants) or treatment as usual only (82 participants). The experimental intervention was superior to the control condition in reducing clinician-rated nonsuicidal self-injury (82% vs 47% reduction; incidence rate ratio, 0.34; 95% CI, 0.20-0.57) from pretreatment to 1-month posttreatment. These results were maintained at 3-month posttreatment. Improvements in emotion dysregulation mediated improvements in self-injury during treatment. Conclusions and Relevance: In this randomized clinical trial, a 12-week, therapist-guided, internet-delivered emotion regulation therapy delivered adjunctive to treatment as usual was efficacious in reducing self-injury, and mediation analysis supported the theorized role of emotion regulation as the mechanism of change in this treatment. This treatment may increase availability of evidence-based psychological treatments for adolescents with nonsuicidal self-injury. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03353961.</p>}},
  author       = {{Bjureberg, Johan and Ojala, Olivia and Hesser, Hugo and Häbel, Henrike and Sahlin, Hanna and Gratz, Kim L. and Tull, Matthew T. and Claesdotter Knutsson, Emma and Hedman-Lagerlöf, Erik and Ljótsson, Brjánn and Hellner, Clara}},
  issn         = {{2574-3805}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{7}},
  publisher    = {{American Medical Association}},
  series       = {{JAMA Network Open}},
  title        = {{Effect of Internet-Delivered Emotion Regulation Individual Therapy for Adolescents with Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Disorder : A Randomized Clinical Trial}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.22069}},
  doi          = {{10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.22069}},
  volume       = {{6}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}