Consensus statement on defining and measuring negative effects of Internet interventions

• Purpose: Internet interventions provide a potential for promoting mental health and alleviating emotional distress. A large number of clinical trials have demonstrated their efficacy for several psychiatric conditions, and Internet interventions will likely become a common and valuable alternative within the regular health care. In the meantime, research has paid little attention to the possibility that some treatments might be associated with different types of negative effects. Evidence from face-to-face treatments suggests that 5-10% of all patients deteriorate despite receiving best available care. In addition, other forms of negative effects may exist as well, e.g., social stigmatization, interpersonal difficulties, and decreased self-esteem. However, a lack of agreement on how to define and measure negative effects has left researchers without practical guidelines for monitoring and reporting deterioration and adverse events in clinical trials, warranting a consensus for conducting research on negative effects.Method: The objective of the current paper is to provide recommendations that could promote the study of negative effects in Internet interventions. Ten leading experts in the field of Internet interventions were invited to participate and share their perspective on how to explore negative effects, using the Delphi technique to facilitate a dialogue and reach an agreement.Results: The importance of conducting further research on negative effects is discussed, and suggestions on how to classify and measure negative effects are provided, involving methods from quantitative and qualitative research. Potential mechanisms underlying negative effects are also presented, differentiating factors shared with face-to-face treatments from those unique to treatments delivered via the Internet.Conclusion: Negative effects should be expected and need to be recognized to a greater extent, and researchers are advised to systematically probe for negative effects whenever conducting clinical trials involving Internet interventions, as well as to share their findings in scientific journals.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

internet interventions

consensus statement

negative effects

Psychology

psykologi

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)