Work

IBD-specific Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Sustainability of effect after three years

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Background and Aims ‘Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)-specific-Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy’ (CBT) is effective in improving Quality of Life (QoL) and in decreasing anxiety and depression in IBD-patients with poor mental QoL, one month after completing CBT. Main aim was to examine the sustainability of treatment effects up to three years after treatment with CBT. Method Participants (n = 118) of a previously conducted randomized-control-study on the effects of ‘IBD-specific-CBT’ for IBD-patients were contacted for a long-term follow-up assessment on main outcomes: generic and IBD-specific-QoL (SF-36, IBDQ), anxiety and depression (HADS, CES-D) and DSM-IV disorders (SCID-I). Change over time was examined with multilevel-regression-analyses. Results Three years after finishing ‘IBD-specific-CBT’, 61 IBD-patients (response rate 52%) completed the follow-up SCID-I assessment and 52 patients (response rate 44%) completed the assessments for symptomatology. There were no differences between dropouts and participants at three year follow-up, except for a longer disease duration in dropouts. At three-year follow-up the chance of patients having a DSM-disorder significantly decreased with an estimated 48% (from 87% at baseline to 38% at follow-up). Multilevel analyses showed a significant improvement between baseline (n = 118) and follow-up measurements (n = 52) on outcomes: IBDQ-Total (Cohen’s d effect-size = .89), SF-36 Physical (d = .54), and SF-36 Mental (d = .69), HADS-A (d = -.77), HADS-D (d = -.65) and CES-D (d = -.55); all p < .01. QoL outcomes showed further improvement between completion (n = 90 for IBD-specific QoL and n = 91 for generic QoL) and follow-up measurements, with significant improvements for IBDQ-Total (d = 0.31) and SF-36 Physical (d = 0.32). Conclusions Sustainable positive effects of ‘IBD-specific-CBT’ for IBD-patients with poor mental QoL were found and the prevalence of mental conditions substantially decreased over three year follow-up.

Source: Clinical Psychology in Europe

DOI: 10.32872/cpe.14717