Routine Online Psychological Therapy in an Insurance-Based Care Setting: Retrospective Service Evaluation of...

Depression, anxiety, and stress-related difficulties represent a major global health burden. Online psychological therapy has emerged as a promising approach to increasing access to care, yet evidence from routine, real-world clinical settings, particularly for services delivered without standardized treatment protocols, remains limited.

This study aimed to describe symptom change and patient-reported satisfaction associated with routine online psychological therapy delivered within an insurance-based care setting.

A retrospective observational service evaluation was conducted using deidentified routine care data. Clients aged 15 years and older who initiated online psychological therapy and completed baseline and end-of-treatment assessments on all 3 outcome measures were included. Symptoms of depression, anxiety, and perceived stress were measured using the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), and 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), respectively. Changes in symptoms were examined using paired sample t tests, within-sample effect sizes (Cohen d and Cohen d_z with 95% CIs), and reliable change indices. Robustness was assessed with therapist-clustered mixed models and attrition sensitivity analyses. A ≥50% reduction in symptom scores was reported as a descriptive response criterion. Patient satisfaction was assessed with single-item ratings at the end-of-treatment assessment.

A total of 1221 clients were included. Clients completed a mean of 4.7 (SD 1.67) therapy sessions over an average treatment duration of 62.7 (SD 40.4) days. Significant reductions with large within-sample effect sizes were observed for depression (Cohen d=1.25, 95% CI 1.17-1.32), anxiety (Cohen d=1.49, 95% CI 1.41-1.57), and perceived stress (Cohen d=1.46, 95% CI 1.38-1.54). A ≥50% symptom reduction was observed in 60.7% (741/1220) of clients for depression, 67.5% (824/1221) for anxiety, and 30.8% (376/1221) for perceived stress. At the end-of-treatment assessment, 80.7% (985/1221) scored below the clinical cutoff for depression (PHQ-9<10) and 79.2% (967/1221) for anxiety (GAD-7<8). Reliable improvement was observed in 56% (688/1221) to 65% (794/1221) of clients, with deterioration below 2% on all measures. Mean patient-reported satisfaction scores ranged from 8.55 (SD 1.71) to 8.96 (SD 1.45) on a 10-point scale, and mean recommendation likelihood was 8.61 (SD 1.88). Therapist-level intraclass correlation coefficients were ≤0.029; effect sizes were 1.27-1.50 under inverse-probability weighting and 0.41-0.50 under zero-change imputation for baseline-screened clients without end-of-treatment assessments.

Routine online psychological therapy delivered within an insurance-based care setting was associated with substantial pre-post symptom reductions, high proportions of clients meeting a descriptive ≥50% reduction criterion and showing reliable improvement, and high patient-reported satisfaction. Because the evaluation used an uncontrolled pre-post design restricted to clients with paired assessments, observed changes cannot be attributed causally to treatment. High satisfaction among responding clients is consistent with acceptability of the model to those clients; feasibility was not formally assessed, and inferences about comparative effectiveness require controlled designs.