Computerised cognitive-behavioural therapy for adults with intellectual disability: randomised controlled trial.

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Psychology
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Computer-assisted cognitive-behavioural therapy (cCBT) is established for the general population.
• Adaptation of cCBT for adults with intellectual disabilities is lacking.
• Intellectual disability populations often have unmet mental health needs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the effectiveness of a computer game-based cCBT intervention.
• To evaluate cCBT utility for adults with mild to moderate intellectual disability.
• To measure changes in anxiety and depression symptoms.

Main Methods:

• Randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 52 adults with intellectual disability.
• Comparison of computerised CBT (cCBT) versus treatment as usual (TAU).
• Assessments at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and 3-month follow-up.

Main Results:

• Significant reduction in anxiety symptoms favoring cCBT over TAU.
• Medium to large effect sizes for anxiety reduction post-treatment and at follow-up.
• Clinically significant changes observed in the cCBT group compared to TAU.

Conclusions:

• This computerised CBT intervention is the first of its kind for adults with intellectual disability.
• The cCBT computer game is a potentially useful tool for reducing anxiety in this population.
• Further research may explore its efficacy for depression in this group.